Syadristy Microminiature Museum, Kiev
 

For cool, this museum, one of several at the worthy Pechersk Lavra monastery site in Kiev, tops my list. Couldn't find a direct website, but here are some reviews:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...seum-Kiev.html

Its a small museum, all of the displays are viewed through microscopes, and are all from the microminiaturist Mykola Syadristy. Displays include:

Chess set wrought in gold, set on the head of a pin
Preserved flea, with shoes of gold
Rose on a stem, inserted into a hollowed out human hair
etc., etc.

I went to the Natural History museum in Frankfurt last month. Fascinating place. Spent 5 hours there.

the spy museum is interesting, but the "cover" thing is nonsense. you pick someone at the beginning and are asked multiple choice questions at the end. there is nothing else along the way.

My favourite musea
 

1. Beit Hatefutzot: The Museum of the Diaspora, Tel Aviv,
http://www.bh.org.il/

2. Russell Cotes Museum, Bournemouth,
http://russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk

3. Aquarius Water Museum, Mülheim an der Ruhr,
http://www.erih.net/nc/countries/det...pi2%5BshowUid%

4. Dennis Sever's House, London www.dennissevershouse.co.uk

In Florence, La Specola.
You´ll see marvelous wax anatomy figures made for teaching lessons in the 18th century.
Not a very popular museum in this city of museums, but is well worth a visit and not far walking distance from Ponte Vecchio...

The Pharmacy Museum (forgot the exact name) in New Orleans.

Who knew that heroin and cocaine were once prescribed by doctors?

USAF Museum (technically the National Museum of the United States Air Force) in Dayton, Ohio.

Largest and oldest military aviation museum in the world. Three main hangars, a fourth that'll be built soon, and two additional hangars on the active base. They have pretty much every spectacular aircraft ever built - including the B-29 Bockscar (dropped the bomb on Nagasaki in WWII), B-17 Memphis Belle, XB-70 Valkyrie, the only B-2 on display anywhere in the world, the original Air Force One that carried JFK's body back from Dallas, etc.

If you're an aviation nut, it's a must-visit!

Of you can't visit, they have a spectacular virtual tour:
http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/full/tour-std.html

Some photos I've taken during my many visits there:
http://amileofrunway.blogspot.com/se.../USAF%20Museum

You know they still are, right? Diamorphine is heroin, Benzoylmethylecgonine is cocaine.

The former is incredibly widely used, the latter has much more limited medical use, as there are now better alternatives, but it is still sometimes used.

I'm a big fan of the La Moneda museum in Santiago, Chile. It features travelling exhibits and I have seen some amazing things there including a fantastic display of the Chinese Terra Cotta warriors. I visit it twice a year and I love that I never know what I'll see next.

Although I haven't actually been in person, I do aspire to go. Perhaps next time I'm in Boston.

It is without question the best museum website I've ever seen:

Museum of Bad Art

Also in Santiago, one of Pablo Neruda's houses (La Chascona). Built with a nautical theme and has a bar in every room.

- The New York Transit Museum in New York City. And not just because it's in a former subway station and you can go on a ton of ex-subway cars, but because they have period advertisements in the cars and those are my favorite part.

- The World War I Museum in Kansas City, MO. One of the best military museums I've seen and very honest about America's actual role in the war including a fair portrayal of how we weren't around for the first three years.

- The Newseum in Washington D.C. I could spend all day looking at their Pulitzer Prize winning photos.

Everything in Berlin's Museum Island.

I second the recommendations for The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles and The Glass Museum in Takoma, Washington.

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, which specializes in outsider art, is interesting and is especially good for their special events (e.g. the kinetic scupture race).

I spent the better part of a day at the newish Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.

In general, I can enjoy almost any small town history museum. They usually have an odd mix of historical photos and collections donated by local people. The one in Loudon County, Virginia (Leesburg to be precise) has an interesing collection of letters written by former slaves who emigrated to Liberia to their previous masters, for example.

MOMA in New York City. We took our kids and rented the children's audio guide. They loved it so much they insisted on returning there the next day. The audio guide was engaging and entertaining.

I enjoyed visiting the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Cool airplanes like the SR-71 and B-17 up close, with the Spruce Goose to top it off. Went midweek, so no crowds. My kids didn't seem to care much except for the 3D IMAX movie "Legends of Flight".

I enjoyed the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan.

They have random things such as doll houses, castles, paintings, etc. that are incredibly tiny with a lot of detail put into them. Even the world's smallest working TV is there, and it's the size of a postage stamp! :D

The Terror Museum in Budapest, Hungary.

Really a museum unlike anything - if you are expecting something to put you in a good mood, this is not your place. However, it does a fantastic job at showing the cruelty that took place in Europe during the iron curtain.

It will leave you thinking for the rest of your day about what really happened to people during that time.

TripAdvisor link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...-Budapest.html

The Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden: The Vasa was a 17th century warship that sank on its maiden voyage--in fact, it never even made it out of the harbor. It was raised in the late 1950s and now sits in its own museum. It's not just the only surviving example of a genuine 17th century ship, although that it pretty amazing. It's the rest of the exhibits: a film about the salvage and restoration, depictions of 17th century life on board a ship and ashore, lessons learned from the restoration process, a wall-mounted exhibit of what the original painted decorations must have looked like, even facial reconstruction and analysis of the skeletons recovered from the ship. I budgeted an hour for the museum, thinking it would be just the ship, but I ended up staying for three.

The Shitamachi Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo: This is a hands-on museum of everyday life in working class Tokyo before World War II. It consists of mock-ups of shops and homes furnished exactly as they would have been in the old days. That's right down to what would be in the drawers and closets. Small but worthwhile.

The Norwegian Resistance Museum in Oslo, Norway. You have to admire the ingenuity and courage of the people who found ways to bring in news from the outside world or smuggled political activists to the Scottish Shetland Islands, of the teachers who went to Arctic prison camps rather than teach Nazism in the schools, of the pastors who continued to hold services in the woods after their churches were closed for refusing to preach Nazism, and of all the other people who "just said no." The museum even tells about the collaborators.

If you are ever in or near Nara, Japan, in October, don't miss the annual exhibition of the Shosoin treasures at the Nara National Museum. The Shosoin is a wooden storehouse built in the 8th century that somehow creates perfect temperature and humidity for storing all kinds of objects. Every October, a selection of these 1200-year-old objects, including some brought over the Silk Road from as far away as Persia, is taking out for public viewing.

The York Castle Museum in York, England, has nothing to do with the castle, which has long been reduced to a pile of stones. Instead, it's a museum of everyday life in the past. As you enter, there's a series of furnished rooms from various eras, up to the 1950s. There's also a street of typical shops from the past and a collection showing the history of customs connected with birth, marriage, and death. When I went in 2006, the special exhibit was about the history of cleanliness (or uncleanliness in the earliest years).

The Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, AZ is really great. You're taken through a simulated missile launch and you can tour the silo as well as the above ground facilities and they have a museum too. Excellent time.

I really really really want to go to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. I love medical stuff to the point that some people would find it a bit creepy.

Someone has already mentioned The City Museum in St. Louis, and I have to say it is one of my favorite places ever. Even if you don't have children, it's worth checking out. It really is indescribable. The "creator" of this amazing place passed away last year, which was a huge loss for the whole city. He's created some other cool things around the area, but nothing compares to the City Museum.

The art and history museums in St. Louis are quite nice too, and are both free (as is our zoo, and all three are located in the same park!).

A few suggestions, at least for those who might tend toward the nerdy pursuits:

1) Kraków, PL - Museum Podziemia Rynku
A museum dedicated to the history of the main square of Kraków, excavated under the main square. Nice mix of exhibits, excavations, and multimedia.

2) Fredrichshafen, DE - Zeppelin Museum
I loved this one, because I'm a gigantic nerd. But it was fascinating to see the history of the zeppelin.

3) Midleton, IE - Jameson Distillery
Interesting if you love whisky, and a great excuse to drink in the morning: The tours are less busy and at the end eight people from each group get a whisky tasting (the rest just get one).

I'd really love to make it there sometime - also to see the boneyard.

On a related note, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (mentioned earlier ITT) in McMinnville, OR also has an awesome missile launch simulation.

HMS Victory, the oldest commissioned ship in the Royal Navy, at Portsmouth, UK.

This was Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805.

The Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio:

It's set up in an old Packard dealership restored to early 20th century design. It has a lot of old Packards and details about them and some excellent docents who will tell you great stories about the cars. Definitely one of the more fun off the beaten path places I've been

Classic Car Collection in Kearney, Nebraska. It is on the NE side of the Cabela's store on the east end of town.

Downtown "on the bricks" we have MONA (Museum of Nebraska Art).

Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha.

Loveland Museum and Gallery in my hometown of Loveland, CO.

The National Air and Space Museum in D.C. was pretty cool when I was there many years ago. Pretty much any of the Smithsonian museums are worth going to as well.

Lilliesleaf farm in rivonia south Africa outside of Johannesburg. It was a farm where Nelson Mandela and other anti apartheid activists lived and planned resistance activities. Eventually they were captured and put on trial in the infamous treaon trails. It has been turned into a museum with some great interactive exhibits and interviews with All sides including the Afrikaner police.

Ho chi minh city. Musurm of the American war period. Gives you a totally different perspective of what happened.

Easter island. Really just one big outdoor archaeological museum.

And closer to home any and all presidential libraries. Been to JFK Reagan Nixon ford Clinton. Want to see all It doesn't matter your politics it provides a lens of America during the years Of each presidency.

My fiance and I really enjoyed the Amsterdam Museum when we were there in January — it has tons of interesting information and interactive exhibits that are way beyond the norm for a history museum.

I'm also fond of the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA; one of the employees randomly gave us a personal tour and shared all kinds of trivia that we never could have gotten by ourselves.