Tour the East Coast from Your Living Room for Free
Don’t let being stuck at home stop you from exploring the world, or at least the east coast of America. Virtual tours and online courses are excellent ways to have fun from home. Browse the ideas below to take a look around our neighbors to the east!
NYC
The Metropolitan Opera
Every day from now until April 5, you can view a new recording of a live opera on their website! Operas like Die Walküre, Carmen, and La Bohème have been streamed already, but you can view the entire schedule of operas here. What better way to end your day than with a professional opera singer performing a world-famous ballad for you?
Central Park
Experience nature without getting rained on by strolling through Central Park virtually! See if you can spot the Alice in Wonderland statue near the heart of the park. Cars aren’t allowed into the park, so try to count all the other modes of transportation people use in Central Park!
Historic Richmond
This cultural institution has an entire page full of quarantine activities for the whole family. You can take virtual tours, learn how to make historically-accurate bread, or view a whole collection of historic photos. The content is updated daily, so check back for new things!
Washington, DC
National Gallery of Art
Google Arts & Culture has allowed people to view collections at many museums, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. You can browse the library of images at random or by the specific categories they appear within. There are also two collections you can see with a written commentary alongside them!
Cherry Blossoms
Washington, DC is famous for its beautiful cherry blossoms near the Washington Monument. You can take this panoramic tour and experience them for yourself with City 360. There are many other panoramic tours that other people have uploaded, so you can see the city from other periods of time as well.
The White House
Walk through the famous halls where our presidents have strolled through your computer screen. There are three virtual tours to show you various aspects of the buildings, so you can spread out the fun over multiple days!
New England
Yale Courses
The famed “happiness class” from Yale is now available for free through Coursera. In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change.
New England Aquarium
Their daily presentations are posted on their Facebook every day at 11 am. For even more updates and stories, you can follow them on Twitter and Instagram. On their website you can view past special presentations as well, so you don’t need to set alarms every day just to see the octopi!
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Nightly at 8pm, (you do need to be on time for these as they’re not saved!), you can tune in for a performance from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They have a schedule posted on their website, so you can pick and choose which pieces strike you fancy as you settle in for the night.
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