At 10am, you’re already grumpy, tired, with sore feet and there’s still a long line of people in front of you. No, it’s not Christmas shopping, but visiting a gallery or museum.
Why do we go? Because it’s something to do, to impress people, or—shock horror—to learn something and perhaps be changed by the experience. While the Mona Lisa is unlikely to inspire a bestseller (or maybe so!), making the effort to travel halfway across the world can be more rewarding than Frequent Flyer points.
For some tourists, visiting museums and galleries reads like an itinerary for a Vogue photoshoot, leading to as many tantrums and diva antics due to exhaustion. The common frustrations of visiting museums and galleries are a result of long lines, too many people, tiredness, and the feeling of ‘anticlimax’.
For example….
‘Great, the freakin’ Mona Lisa. I can’t even bloody see it! Too many tourists. Is that it? It’s tiny! Dammit I need a cuppa right now and I gotta pee.’
There are some tips though to ensure you remember the exquisite detail of Roman sculptures rather than how many blisters you had.
Do’s
- Check the opening times. Europe has a habit of closing things on Monday or Tuesdays.
- Check the dress code. The Vatican doesn’t let short-skirted skimpy types into the buildings. Temples in Asia also have rules/courtesies.
- Dress in layers. It may be hot outside, but air-conditioning can leave you goosebumped and miserable.
- Wear comfortable shoes and clothes. Seems obvious, but I saw a woman wearing stilettos in the Louvre. If she slipped on the marble floor at least her bouffant hairspray bleached hair would have cushioned the fall.
- Drink water. Crowded rooms make you feel woozy if you are dehydrated.
- Go to the loo before you look; the lines to go are long.
- Take earphones for audio guides. Some have two outlets so you can share and save money.
- Agree on meeting point and time for others in the group so you don’t waste time looking for cousin Carl rather than Caravaggio.
- Go early and/ or pre-book tickets: If you thought Disneyland space mountain lines in summer were long, it’s nothing compared to the Uffizi in Florence in August. Booking can be done online or phone, or via tour companies.
Don’ts
- Take in the pocket knife you use to open wine bottles. Security will find it when you walk through the beepy things, and you’ll forget to pick it up at the end.
- Try to see everything in one day. The Louvre allegedly has only 10 percent of what it has on display. If you were to look at the 35,000 objects on display for less than a second each, you’d be there for 10 hours, as Marcus from www.hereorthere.com noted. Just see what intrigues you and when you’ve had enough, go outside and walk the lanes, see a performance, relax on a beach.
- Take pictures for the sake of it. Remember, Michelangelo’s David exists in books, souvenir statues and keyrings. It’s not like you’ll forget it. Take the time to see with your own eyes; to search into every nook and willy and contemplate the perfection of each inch. Go in as close as the sensors will allow on a Van Gogh painting to see the thick paint. Close your eyes in a cathedral and hear the echo of the choir. Touch the cobbled shores of the Nice beach and smell herbs at the markets. Don’t waste gigabytes and blocked vision with a camera. Save it for people photos.
- Go if you don’t want to. You’ll only make the other person/people feel bad and ruin their time like trying to keep a vegetarian happy at a bullfight.
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Going to the effort of seeing something special requires more planning than popping down to the shops. But doing so ensures you enjoy the experience more and live to walk another day, in another place.
