Whether you've been stuck in an apartment with no power and water or you've been forced to work from home for days because of the transit disaster, chances are you're probably experiencing a serious case of cabin fever. Many of NYC's incredible museums, gardens and movie houses have made a point of opening today, to help relieve some of tension from being cooped up for almost a week. Here's a list of the some places to enjoy, even if just for a few hours.

Fine Art Institutions

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Met opens for regular museum hours today until 5:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. In addition to their vast permanent collection, be sure to visit the Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, with 45 works by Warhol and over 100 interpretations of his work by other artists.

  • Museum of Modern Art: Things at MoMA are business as usual today until 5:30 and tomorrow from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. with Target Free Fridays happening from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. This might be the perfect time to check out Edvard Munch: The Scream as the museum will likely be quieter than the usual mob scene.

  • The Whitney: The museum's vast collection of American Art is undergoing renovations at this time, but the retrospective of Richard Artschwager's enigmatic sculpture and painting is well worth the price of admission, which happily is reduced to $12 until November 14. See the show today until 6 p.m. or Friday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. with "Pay-What-You-Wish" in place tomorrow from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

    • 110112gugg.jpg
    (ryan muir/Flickr)
  • The Guggenheim Museum: Frank Lloyd Wright's majestic building opens for normal operating hours tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Both the Picasso Black and White and Kandinsky 1911-1913 shows are not to be missed.

  • The Neue Galerie: Open regular hours daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and currently showing Ferdinand Hodler: View to Infinity, the largest exhibition ever devoted to a major Swiss artist.

  • American Folk Art Museum: If you've never been to this charming UWS museum, now is a great time to check out their Foiled: Tinsel Painting in America, which features "reverse paintings on glass with smooth or crumpled metallic foil applied behind translucent and transparent areas." Visit today until 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon until 7:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 6 p.m.

  • El Museo del Barrio: See the Carribean: Crossroads of the World exhibition today, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

  • The Brooklyn Museum: The museum opens for modified hours this week but you can still view Mickalene Thomas: Origin of the Universe today until 8 p.m., tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. This is the Brooklyn-based artist's first solo museum show and "highlights recent bodies of work that examine interior and exterior environments in relation to the female figure."

  • The Frick Collection: Housed in the New York City mansion built by Henry Clay Frick, this lovely house-turned-museum currently has van Gogh's "Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier)" on special loan. See it today until 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • The Cloisters, the Jewish Museum, the Morgan Library, the Queens Museum of Art, and the Rubin Museum are all closed until further notice.

110112transit.jpg
(SpecialKRB/Flickr)
Specialty Museums
  • New York Transit Museum: To make up for all the transportation drama we've been experiencing, the museum will open its doors completely gratis today until 4 p.m. Regular admission prices resumes Friday (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Saturday/Sunday (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) but it's a very reasonable $7. [The museum site is taken over for MTA alerts; the Transit Museum is located at 130 Livingston Street in Brooklyn.]
  • New-York Historical Society/DiMenna Children's History Museum: Got some cooped up kids going bonkers in your apartment? Consider taking them to these two institutions today until 6.m. and tomorrow until 8 p.m. where kids under 13 get in free. The Historical Society currently houses a touring collection of magnificent Hudson River School paintings plus the not-as-kid-friendly WWII & NYC show, which explores the impact of the war on the city and how NYC helped in the war effort.

  • Museum of the City Of New York: We have a special place in our hearts for this New York-centric uptown gem, especially their compelling Activist New York show, which chronicles the city's social, political and religious activism and how it shaped our city. Catch the show daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

  • American Museum of Natural History: The spiders are waiting for you daily from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

  • Staten Island Museum: The Island took a serious beating but you can't keep Shaolin down for long! The Colman Rutkin: A Visual Journey show is up now, providing an " intimate journeys through nature, memory and myth" through painting, drawings and prints. You don't have to be an Islander to enjoy this museum, especially since it's located right near the ferry, which will probably be running in the next day or so. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

  • Asia Society: The paintngs and sculptures at the Bound Unbound: Lin Tianmiao show are both beautiful and haunting. Learn more about Tianmiao's unique technique daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (9 p.m. on Fridays) now that the Asia Society has opened again. The postponed event "Performing Debates: New Forms, New Ideas" has been rescheduled this Monday on the eve of the election.

  • The National Museum of the American Indian, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the Museum of Sex and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum are all closed until further notice.

110112ppzoo.jpg
(bexatious/Flickr)
Zoos and Gardens
  • The New York Botanical Garden: The gardens took a heavy beating during the hurricane but that didn't stop them from opening their doors today. Stop by until 6 p.m. today and get a half off All-Garden Pass for just $10.

  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden: The gardens are closed today but will reopen tomorrow with free admission that extends through the weekend. Tomorrow the gardens are open from 8 a.m to 4:30 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

  • Prospect Park Zoo: The Sea Lions are as loud as ever over in Brooklyn! Stop by any day from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to bark along with them.

  • Bronx Zoo: The animals must be lonely after so long without company so definitely head north on Saturday when the zoo opens back up again from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

  • Staten Island Zoo:Staten Island Chuck survived the storm and will be ready to bite the Mayor next spring! For now, go visit him and his other animal friends daily from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

  • The Queens Zoo is reopening on Friday.

  • The Central Park Zoo is also reopening Friday.

  • The Queens Botanical Garden is open and free until March.

  • The New York Aquarium will be closed indefinitely.

110121momi.jpg
Museum of the Moving Image (archidose/Flickr)
The Silver Screen