The Museum of Fine Art (MFA) had a free day on Saturday with a bunch of cultural events to celebrate the Year of the Horse.  I thought we should go check it out because we’ve tried to make it to the MFA a bunch of times and somehow we just never get there.  This time it was free and on a Saturday.  Also… we needed to get in about 3 days of skipped “Get Fit” workouts minuets.  So we walked. 2 miles there and 2 miles back.  It was 20 degrees outside.  Weather.com said it felt like 8 degrees.

We bundled our son up good with lots of blankets, his coat, two hats and his stroller windshield and set off. I tried to convince my husband to turn back because I was cold, for about the first mile, but he kept telling me it wasn’t that bad, and the baby wasn’t complaining, and we could make it. So we kept walking.  The sidewalks and the path through the park that we were suppose to take were all covered in snow so we enjoyed a chilly detour, but we made it.

I thought the museum was fantastic, though we only ended up seeing fraction of it because it didn’t seem like the best place to let Mr-wiggly-buns-I-want-to-touch-everything run free.  We started by seeing the ancient Egypt stuff.  The have a ton of artifacts thanks to the museums connection with Harvard and the many excursions they’ve funded.  It was cool and crazy to see the ancient Egyptian writing and tombs.  I love the little glimpses into the life of other cultures hundreds of years old.

Then we took a tour of the Greek statue gallery.  If I was a bajillionair I would totally have a statue gallery.  I love walking among the stately figures carefully carved from stone.

Finally we took a brief tour of the ancient Chinese artifacts, since that was the reason for the free exhibit that day, and they were also fantastic.

All in all I loved it and we will definitely go back another day because my husband said there are tons and tons of paintings that I missed seeing this time around.

Things to Note:

1.  Price
$27/Person – Adults
$23/Person – Students
Free – 17 years old and younger depending on the day

*For youths ages 7–17, admission is free during weekdays after 3 pm, weekends, and Boston public school holidays; otherwise admission for youths is $10.

FREE DAYS – Wednesday nights after 4 pm, admission is by voluntary contribution (suggested donation $25). The Museum is free to all visitors on the following Open House days: Monday, January 19, 2015 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day Open House); Saturday, February 21, 2015 (Lunar New Year); and Monday, May 25, 2015 (Memorial Day Open House); Monday, October 12, 2015 (Fall Open House).

2. Kid/Stroller Friendliness
We were able to bring our stroller without a problem, but there were a lot of people there (probably because we went on a free day) and space was often tight.  A number of the exhibits are safe from tiny finger being behind cases, but there are many that are merely roped off so if you’ve got a little one you’ll need to watch them like a hawk.

3. Size
This museum is huge.  I don’t think you should expected to be able to take it all in in one day.  There are tons of floors and tons exhibits to see and they are all amazing.

Summary and Rating: ★★★★★

Five Stars.  I though this place was breath taking and there is so much to see and so much to learn about.  It’s fairly expensive if you pay to go, but totally worth seeing and great to go on the discount or free days.  We had a really good time with our toddler and I’d like to go again when he’s a little bit older and better at not trying to touch everything.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Phone: 617-267-9300
Website: http://www.mfa.org/