On Sunday Chris drove up to San Francisco from Monterey. He and a friend toured a couple of museums in Golden Gate Park, the Science Academy and the de Young Art Museum. Golden Gate Park is a large urban park, roughly halfway in size, between New York’s smaller, but older Central Park and Saint Louis’ larger Forest Park. Like Forest Park, Golden Gate Park is home to museums and other tourist attractions. Included with this post are photographs of the two museums, both taken by Chris and descriptions of each of these institutions, paraphrased from their respective websites.
The de Young Arts Museum was founded in 1895 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the de Young Museum has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the city and a cherished destination for millions of residents and visitors to the region for over 100 years. In 2005, the de Young Museum re-opened in a state-of-the-art new facility that integrates art, architecture and the natural landscape in one multi-faceted destination that will inspire audiences from around the world. Designed by the renowned Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and Fong & Chan Architects in San Francisco, the new de Young provided San Francisco with a landmark art museum to showcase the museum’s priceless collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries, textile arts, and art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
The California Academy of Sciences is a world-class scientific and cultural institution based in San Francisco. The Academy recently opened a new facility in Golden Gate Park, a 400,000 square foot structure that houses an aquarium, a planetarium a natural history museum and a 4-story rainforest all under one roof. The new facility is also home to the Academy’s staff of world-class scientists, an education department that provides a wide range of student and teacher services and an extensive science library with over 26 million specimens and artifacts.
Meanwhile, back here in Swamp Louis, people are beginning to crack under the steady down pour. My fellow commuters were noticeable more irritable during Monday’s drive times. Many of my Facebook friends seem to have water on their brains. Even I now require background noise to drown out the steady drumbeat upon the roof. At least the roof continues to hold, emergency patch and all. So, how long did Noah have to endure the rain?