A Guide to the Houston Museum District

The Houston Museum District is a great place to spend a day off or to bring relatives from out of town. There are 18 different museums to choose from that cover a diverse array of interests, so finding one to suit your fancy will not be difficult. Some are free and the ones that are not are usually inexpensive. The best thing is that many of them are in walking distance to each other, so if you finish with one, you can take a stroll down the road to another museum. The area is very scenic, shaded with large, wide-branching trees.

The Health Museum is a member institution of the Texas Medical center. Their exhibits are very dynamic and engaging, very much like a children's museum. The Amazing Body Pavilion, which is a giant ribcage under which you can participate in interactive displays about our organ systems. Planet You is currently being featured in the McGovern 4D Theater, and it is a 3D film about the strange world of microscopic life that lives on your skin. You: The Exhibit features an internal body scanner, an aging program that shows how you would look in 30 years, and a life-span-o-meter that predicts how long you will live based on your current lifestyle. Adults cost $8 for admission, children older than 2 and senior citizens are $6.

The Contemporary Art Museum is a free-admission museum housed in an architecturally unique building basically shaped like a stainless steel wedge of cheese. The exhibits change periodically; often they showcase the work of several artists around the globe at one time, and sometimes they dedicate an entire floor for the exhibit of a single artist's work. The Brown Foundation Gallery is floor level, and the basement level is home to the Zilkha Gallery and the bookstore.

The Museum of Fine Arts is almost across the street from the Contemporary Arts Museum. Come on a Thursday if possible because admission is free on that day of the week; otherwise it's $7 for adults and $5 for seniors and children over 5 years. It is one of the largest art museums in America, housing 57,000 works of art in several museums, art schools, and even a garden in the Houston area. Most visitors go to the Caroline Wiess Law building, which is the one on Bissonnet. Plan to spend at least a few hours browsing inside its walls, which contains art from civilizations spanning many continents and many centuries.

The Menil Collection is some ways away on the other side of US59 North. This free-admission museum opened in 1987 to display the diverse art collection of John and Dominique de Menil. Exhibitions include art from all over the globe, from many different eras in history, from ancient Egypt to tribal Oceana, to the more modern works of Pablo Picasso and Rene Magritte. Most displays are permanent, although the museum does host special programs and exhibits from time to time.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is also a particularly large museum that you may want to devote an entire day to. Plan to visit on a Tuesday, when admission is free after 2:00pm for the permanent exhibits. These exhibits are a number of halls covering many different aspects of science, from paleontology to space science to Texan and African wildlife. The Museum of Natural Science changes its special and seasonal exhibits rather often, so it might be a good idea to get a membership in order to save money on visits. Some special exhibits that have been featured in the past are BodyWorlds, The Chronicles of Narnia and Genghis Khan. Be sure to also get a look at the Cockerel Butterfly Museum, the Burke Baker Planetarium and the Wortham IMAX Theater; admission for these attractions is separate.

The Houston Zoo is a great place to bring the kids, but it is rather large, so bring a stroller or wagon for small children and make sure to wear comfortable shoes. Adults' admission is $11, children older than 2 are $7, and seniors are $6. The habitats are grouped according to the branches of the animal kingdom, so monkeys and apes are in the same section, large herbivores such as giraffes are in the same section, and obviously there are the aquariums, the lizard house and bird houses. You might decide to bring your own food if you don't want to overpay at the zoo cafes.

The Houston Children's Museum is also an ideal family attraction, and it won't just be the kids who are entertained! FlowWorks is an exhibit that challenges you to figure out how operate a number of machines and contraptions with water energy. Kidtropolis is an exhibit where kids can have jobs and run a city. McGovern Kids' Hall is a place for children to make and display their artwork. For the little ones, TotSpot is an interactive play area where toddlers and babies don't have to worry about being trampled by big kids (this is a parent-supervised area). These are only a few of the exhibits available at the Children's Museum. Admission is $7 per person and $6 for seniors. Babies under one are free.

This isn't even all of the museums that comprise the Houston Museum District. Check out www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org for more information about these and the other museums available. Happy musing!