Surreal! just exquisite architecture! you will feel like in a movie.

The Palace of Fine Arts was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Today the site features a classical Roman rotunda with curved colonnades in an idyllic park setting. Visitors may picnic, stroll by the lake, or visit the Exploratorium's hands-on science exhibits in the adjacent museum.

Great for picnics . . . a real stunner.

Constructed as a temporary attraction for the 1915 Pan-Pacific International Exhibition, this Grecian temple of a monument continues to enchant and enhance the city. The original plaster, which made up the bulk of the monuments exterior, has been gradually replaced with funds raised by bond measures and the donations from the Marinas well-heeled residents who were loath to lose such a graceful part of their landscape. Swans in the adjoining lagoon glide by the soaring ochre-tinted colonnades and the imposing dome ringed with panels of centaurs and warriors engaged in battle over nubile maidens. Those column-top statues of sorrowing maidens turned away from prying eyes are using their tears to water the long-gone oaks that originally stood in the planters that they surround. Stroll inside the dome, clap your hands and marvel at the uncanny acoustics, then enjoy a picnic lunch on one of the park benches scattered to provide an unparalleled view of this gem. EXPLORATORIUM: Developed by physicist Frank Oppenheimer and opened in 1969, this innovative, interactive museum, located behind the Palace of Fine Arts, is dedicated to art, science, and human perception. The hands-on displays unveil the mysteries of science and language (trace hundreds of languages through family trees!). The exhibits present theories simply and succinctly. For a different kind of hands-on experience, check out the tactile dome, a labyrinth of different textures that explorers negotiate in the dark. Seminars on quirky subjects are offered on weekends.

There are few places more picturesque in the city. Stop by here on the way to the ceremony for some good photo opps, and to see the ducks.

If San Francisco had a palace, the beloved Palace of Fine Arts would be the place. Designed by Bay Area architect Bernard Maybeck to be a romanticized Roman ruin, San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts is surrounded by lush gardens and a lagoon and the whole dynamic has an otherworldly and transportive effect. Originally meant to be a temporary open-air art gallery for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibit, the Palace has been built and rebuilt, a testament to the love San Franciscans have for their ruddy masterpiece. While currently not a gallery, the Palace of Fine Arts' theater does host film festivals, concerts and performing arts as well as being home to the Exploratorium.