Here’s the thing. Our fabulous new California Academy of Sciences is finally ready – the Opening Weekend Celebration starts tomorrow, Saturday, the 27th of September, 2008. Admission is going to be free for the whole day from 9:30 AM to 9:00 PM, after an 8:30 AM Opening Ceremony that will feature:

Executive Director Greg Farrington, Board Chair Bill Patterson, Architect Renzo Piano, Mayor Gavin Newsom,  a Native American blessing, a butterfly release, and more.

So fine, get up early, follow the Penguin Trail from the N-Judah or the 5-Fulton bus and check out the spectacle tomorrow morning.

The already-famous living roof, a science experiment in itself. What flora and fauna will appear over the months and years?  The similarity to Teletubbyland could attract Tinky Winky and his friends. An artist’s conception, click to expand:

But you’re not going to be able to see the CAS the way it’s meant to be seen. What you’re going to see is a whole bunch of other people, just like yourself. And that’s fine, there’ll be a lot of stuff to see outside of the CAS. (Plus there’s the nearby de young Museum to check out, but it will be busy too.)

Plan on coming back another day if you want a chance to see and explore the CAS itself in a more relaxed environment. Is admission (they’re going to start charging people starting this Sunday) worth the $25? Heck yeah. Take my word on that.

What’s that? You got a family and all these tickets add up to big bucks? Well then get a membership for a year. Try it out. Even the $99 Individual Membership seems like a good deal since you can always bring a friend along for free.  

If that’s too much money anyway, then there’s always the Free Days. The third Wednesday of the month will generally be reserved for free Wachovia Wednesdays. And there will be Free Days customised just for your zip code.

The people at the California Academy of Sciences have bent over backwards to provide you with opportunities to check things out for free. That’s all they can do.

See you there!

Tags: academy, Aquarium, california, california academy of science, California Academy of Sciences, CAS, golden gate park, Kimball, Morrison, morrisson, museum, Museum of Natural History, opening, penguins, San Francisco, science, sciences, Steinhart

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 7:15 am and is filed under museums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.