Balboa Park Resident Free (5th Tuesday)

Hey There:

A few times per year there will be a 5th Tuesday in the calendar, since this is not a common occurrence all museums are at their normal rate. Nevertheless families can still enjoy a few museums that are always free to the public

• Timken Museum
• Botanical Building
• Walk Around!

Timken Museum

This museum is always free to the public and it features a beautiful permanent collection with European old master painting, Russian icons and American art. The artwork is breathtaking and their current exhibition is a loan from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: Francisco de Goya's Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta on display until September 9th. Photography is not permitted inside the museum, the following images were taken directly from Timken's site.

Portrait of Marguerite de Sève, Wife of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil, 1729, 
Nicolas de Largillierre 

The Magnolia Blossom, 1888, Martin Johnson Heade

The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 16th Century, Moscow School 

Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta, 1820, Francisco de Goya

Botanical Building

Nature as a work of art, the Botanical Building is one of the most recognizable structures in Balboa Park with beautiful displays year round, a huge koi pond and during December the building is full of poinsettias. Movie trivia: a scene was filmed in this building in the 2000 film Traffic with Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Walk Around 

Of course, the best thing about Balboa Park is all the places you can walk around and take pictures. So even  on the 5th Tuesday of the month, there is a lot to see and do!

Check out what Balboa Park has to offer during the month:

• 1st Tuesday - RHF Science Center, Centro Cultural de la Raza, SD Model Railroad, SD Natural History
• 2nd Tuesday - Musuem Photographic Arts, SD History Center, Veteran's Museum and Memorial
• 3rd Tuesday - SD Art Institute, Mingei, SD Museum of Art, SD Museum of Man, Japanese Friendship Garden
• 4th Tuesday - SD Air & Space Museum, SD Automotive Museum, SD Hall of Champions

Balboa Park Resident Free Tuesday (4th Tuesday)

Hey There:

So now we come to the last Tuesday of the month for Free Museums for San Diego residents. This Tuesday we have:

• San Diego Air & Space Museum
• San Diego Automotive Museum
• San Diego Hall of Champions
• Select House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

San Diego Air & Space Museum

In this museum, my favorite exhibitions have to do with Space, the final frontier...sorry, had to add that, and with the early history of airplanes. But seems like more than half the museum is dedicated to planes used in all the different wars and that's when I loose interest and leave the museum feeling queasy. But if you're into that, then you'll love this museum!

San Diego Automotive Museum

This one has pretty neat exhibits and it's one of the cheapest museums to get into, with admission tickets ranging from $4 to $8. While I'm more of a person who thinks a car is just to get from point A to point B, I have to admit, these cars look awesome. While here I haven't taken too many pics, after all, they're only cars...I do have some images of current exhibitions, the Steam Punk thing going on now looks interesting.

San Diego Hall of Champions

OK, so I will admit I haven't been to this one yet, not a sports fan and doubt any of the names will ring a bell, other than Junior Seau and I only know about him because of his restaurant in Mission Valley and his recent demise. But anyone whose into sports will get a thrill at looking at the displays and San Diegans contributions to greatness.

House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

Only select cottages are open today, but the main fun here is every Sunday, when all the cottages are open with native people from the different countries ready to talk about their country and culture. Each country one day out of the year a Lawn Program where they showcase their music, dance and food. Here's an example of the Lawn Program offered by the House of Ireland

Check out the rest of the Tuesdays:

1st Tuesday - RHF Science Center, Centro Cultural de la Raza, SD Model Railroad, SD Natural History.
2nd Tuesday - Musuem Photographic Arts, SD History Center, Veteran's Museum and Memorial.
3rd Tuesday - SD Art Institute, Mingei, SD Museum of Art, SD Museum of Man, Japanese Friendship Garden.
5th Tuesday - Timken Museum, Botanical Building, walk around!

Balboa Park Resident Free Tuesday (3rd Tuesday)

Hey There:

This is my favorite Tuesday of the month, I've spent up to 5 hours at Balboa Park because the following museums are Free for San Diego residents:

• San Diego Art Institute
• Mingei International Museum
• San Diego Museum of Art
• San Diego Museum of Man
• Japanese Friendship Garden

San Diego Art Institute

This museum focuses on art created by contemporary artists, they're mission is to "advance the visual arts through exhibition, education and outreach". They have all kinds of programs so people can have easy access to art, for example, there will be a day trip to the Getty Museum in September and I just saw on their website something about the Sony Artwalk, will have to check that out:

"An annual community arts festival event sponsored by SDAI and a variety of corporate entities to showcase the visual and performing arts in four downtown neighborhoods linked by trolley. Ticket proceeds benefit all non-profit partners".

Mingei International Museum

Such a fascinating museum, full of lovely things from all over the world. The hardest part for me is to avoid touching everything in sight! Since picture taking is not allowed, these images were taken from their website, though I did take a few pictures outside. There's so much to say about this museum but at the same time, everything can be summed up by saying it's a fascinating museum!

San Diego Museum of Art

Another super fascinating museum, their exhibits are exquisite. Thanks to this museum I've seen the great works of many Mexican artists like David Alfaro Siqueiros, and recently I saw an exhibition called From El Greco to Dali, which featured Spanish art spanning five centuries.

San Diego Museum of Man

Such a fun museum and it's all about us, maaaan! I remember there used to be a time when they made hand-made flour tortillas in the museum, you could purchase and eat them right there. And really, tortilla making is a dying art, my Mom stop making them 20 years ago and neither my sister or I ever learned, I doubt I'll be learning any time soon! But I digress, this museum is great for everyone because you can touch and play with things. My favorite permanent exhibition is Footsteps Through Time which shows a journey from human-like creatures alive 65 million years ago all the way to C-3PO. And of course there's the mummies, Mayans and Kumeyaay permanent exhibition.

What I like about this museum is that it celebrates humanity at its core, everything we do as a living beings is fascinating and it makes you look at your own not-so-clean apartment as a work of art and history.

Japanese Friendship Garden

I always like to leave this museum for last, after all day of walking and looking at art, it's nice to come here, sit down for a bit, relax and meditate. The pathways are lovely, they have a Koi Pond, bonsai trees, Japanese art exhibitions and the trails for this garden are being expanded. Now, I know I have a lot of pictures from this garden, and for the life of me, can't find them! Guess I have to go back and take some pics.

To check out the other Free Tuesdays:

1st Tuesday - RHF Science Center, Centro Cultural de la Raza, SD Model Railroad, SD Natural History

2nd Tuesday - Musuem Photographic Arts, SD History Center, Veteran's Museum and Memorial

4th Tuesday - SD Air & Space Museum, SD Automotive Museum, SD Hall of Champions

5th Tuesday - Timken Museum, Botanical Building, walk around!