The Nazi Museum

Leonardo da Vinci is in Atlanta right now at the High Museum. We went there with our homeschool group on Friday. There were a few rules. Just a few. No food or drink for one. Our guide gathered us together and then had everyone place their water bottles and snacks and coolers and backpacks in a big tub for later pick up. Which was fine. Until I saw the lady eyeing my friend's toddler's sippy cup. You can't take a sippy cup away from a toddler in a museum. That's what keeps the toddler happy in your museum. But she took it away. The toddler was not happy for the rest of her visit at the museum.

No gum. And a trash can was passed around for gum deposits. I get that rule too. You don't want silly kids amusing themselves by sticking ABC gum to multi-million dollar works of art. Of course, if some rascally kid was really bent on defacing a Picasso, he might just stow away a fresh stick of gum in his pocket and chew it later. Anyway. I'm just sayin'. You can't address every potential problem with a rule.

There was no running permitted either. I get that one too. I just didn't appreciate the rude guard telling me and my grown-up friend not to run. We weren't running. Our kids were perhaps walking really fast, but we were definitely not running.

And then there were the photography rules. I had to sign a rule list in order to obtain a tag which gave me permission to take photographs. I ended up not taking any because the use of the flash was prohibited, and it wasn't all that bright in the museum. The rules did not apply outside the museum, however, so I was able to capture the giant horse with a few of our many children.


Rules aside, the museum experience was more fascinating to some than others. All of the kids enjoyed the dramatic play we were treated to in the theater at the beginning of our tour. The da Vinci exhibit itself, however, held my boys' attention for a nanosecond. I couldn't blame them. Years ago, I was very unimpressed by the Mona Lisa; I don't think it met my expectations. Audrey was enthralled for a few moments over the headset she got to wear which narrated information about each item in the exhibit. Alex, though, of course soaked up all of the information. I know she paid a lot more attention than I did. But then, I'm usually just there for the socialization.

Yes, this was another opportunity for me to get socialized...Nazi pools, nazi museums...restrictive as they may be, I always have a great time because I get to hang with the other moms. I suppose it would be a cheaper socialization opportunity if I just invited all my friends to my house to hang out. But then there would be the mess. Of course, I could always impose my own Nazi list of rules...