Because I am an ex-pat painter constantly looking for ideas and inspiration, my children have seen many of the great art gallery collections of Europe, so here is my advice if you want to have fun with yours as you get the eye candy you're looking for on vacation with children:
Either bring your own art supplies, or if you're in the mood, let your children go straight to the gift shop, and buy a sketchbook and drawing materials. If they don't feel like sketching and they promise to be good, perhaps they're allowed in at the end with pocket money....
When sketching fades (although these days some schools seem to approach all outings with clipboards anyway.) make up games : How many paintings with children in them, or dogs, or beds, can you find? Which one would you like to take home from this room, or which is your least favourite and why? Can you help me make a map and find all the Matisses or Max Beckmans or Mary Cassats in this gallery? Who can sketch this Chagall fastest ? Where's the oldest one in the room? How does this colour make you feel? Who does he remind you of?
Mix up indoor spaces with outdoor. Amsterdam has good walks and vistas with cafes and shops in between.. some rare and stunning miniature doll houses and four Vermeers at the Rijksmuseum...look for the quiet corners with short movie docs in them for when they need a rest....
I love Madrid for its zoo, with similar open-space vistas, good food, Retiro Park, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, with pale peach walls and many paintings which don't travel, including some cheerful (?!) Munchs, and the Museo Nacional del Prado, which includes many fine Velasquezs, Goyas, and the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch; amazing., that it's so very surreal, futuristic, and dated 1580. Google just put many of the paintings online in detail..Guides there are very kind to children.
Vienna has a good double-decker bus tour, marvelous street markets, with handmade toys (watch out for the ones made of cat or dog fur) and, yes pretzels, beer, weiner schnitzel, and the best people-watching at the Cafe Central. Last season's manolos are always on sale at a small boutique on the second floor opposite the Chloe store....
Paris's best galleries at a manageable size for children are the Picasso and the Marmatton, as well as the L'Orangerie for the huge Monets (which stood in place with sensors on the them during the recent renovations) and a small Impressionist collection downstairs. The Tuileries gardens surround, and include a playground and trampolines. The best-kept secrets for shopping there are the high-end arrondisements' second-hand shops, and the best park is the slightly-across-town Jardin d'Acclimation (inside the Bois de Bologne) -- with games, driving lessons, rides, AND arts, crafts and gardening. Don't do the seaworld, too many videos: Lisbon has the best sea world, and fish-surgery videos!
One vista is lined with water-spraying volcanos left over from a recent expo, for when it's too hot, and Lisbon boasts the best neighbourhood bakery, Belem's, from 1710, with an ancient "secret" vanilla tart recipe. The up and down streetcars, (number 11 for the most views) feel like San Francisco; there is coastal rainforest hiking, surfing, and a giant old toy museum, with so many toys the collection rotates continually.There are indoor and ruined castles to hike between there and Sintra, all along the coast...
Always take the audio guides; at least for the gadget-factor they are good for short-term distraction. Some have touch-photos and video on them now...Prague has the quirkiest and most under-rated architecture...the best people-watching is on the Charles bridge, where there's a small playground nearby and a great restaurant almost in the river.
Always, always take snacks and water, and try the double-decker city bus tour for an overview, especially in Rome, where you can't miss the Villa Borghese and surrounding parkland -- the most gorgeous tiny gallery, as is any gallery that used to be a house, so is a manageable size; any Garabaldi along the French and Italian coasts, the Villa Kerala in Cap Ferrat, the Villa Picasso in Antibes, the Beaux Arts in Nice, the Peggy Guggenheim in Venice, the port-side Impressionist collection in St. Tropez....where the nearby merry-go- round and ice cream appeal to all ages...Giverney, with a house and a garden, and benches to sit on and sketch....
Most important of all, start your trip by booking into the best hotel you can afford with a pool. The day can start any way you want if the children can look forward to a swim at the end of it. Travel with weighted toys to dive for. Find empty water bottles to throw. When YOU don't get enough exercise from walking tours you can always swim lengths even when there's no break from child care.
Remember it's all memory-building, and to tell them, "SOMEtimes mummy gets to choose, too!"
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