Though it’s old news by now, the California Academy of Sciences recently reopened after a nearly 5-year reconstruction.  I was there for opening day of the new building on Saturday, 2008 September 27.

You can find the full gallery of photos here: Gallery Link

I was expecting a long line, and sure enough when I got off the #5 Muni at the northern edge of Golden Gate Park (around 10:30am) there was a throng of people stretching way past around the corner.  That’s okay I thought, I’ll just walk to the end…

But the line kept going.  And going…

After about 15 minutes of briskly-paced walking I finally reached the end…

The line was arduously long.  About an hour and a half in (having moved just a couple hundred feet), a man from the Academy came out and passed out some candy bars for rations.

I passed by a few musicians who had taken to perform alongside the line during the wait.  A young boy was playing violin about halfway through, and an older man played a didgeridoo/oboe/bassoon not too far past that:

I had a lot of time in line so I was snapping photos of just about everything.

 After what seemed like an eternity, I did eventually get to the front.

By this time the Academy was over-capacity, and they were giving out rainchecks to come back to the Academy later on in the day.  So for the time being I settled for this picture in front of the entrance.

Here’s a map of the line I stood in.  It ended up being exactly a mile long, and took 5 hours to get through all of it.

The ticket I got was for a 7:00pm entrance, and it was 3:30pm, so I had about 3 and a half hours to kill.  They had some art performances and booths set up on the old Music Concourse, so I decided to take a look around.

I didn’t go into the de Young museum, but there was a Chihuly exhibit on display and one of the pieces was outside at the entrance:

I took a short walk up north to grab a bite to eat (ended up eating a sandwich at a cafe… eh).  By the time I got back it was 6:30, and they were letting anyone with a ticket in (which makes me wonder how much earlier I could have gotten in…).  So after 8 long hours, I was finally in the Academy of Sciences.  Here’s just a sample of some of the pictures – you can find the full set of photos on my gallery.

 I didn’t actually get to the rainforest – byt the time I had gotten around to it they had closed the line.  So it’s on my to-do list for the next visit.

 I disappointing area of the academy was the new aquarium.  Those who ever visited the old Academy probably remember the huge multi-story spiraling aquairum.  There’s nothing of the same scale at the new academy – instead there are many smaller tanks which probably makes things easier to manage and maintain.

 I spent just about 2 and a half hours there (the Acadmy closed at 9pm), and I really didn’t even get a chance to explore probably the two biggest attractions – the Indoor Rainforest and the Planetarium.  I suppose I’ll have to head there again for another trip someday.

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