Located in downtown San Jose so parking on a weekend can be tough to find on the street or pricy in…read morenearby garages. Inside the museum is pretty great. It's a compact place with exhibits across 3 floors. And an IMAX theater showing short movies. The schedule was posted by the theater entrance. They even have popcorn like a real movie theater. IMO The exhibits would be for kids 8 and up. It's great that the tech exhibits have tech and biotech. The interactive stations are great for kids to focus and learn. It would probably take a solid 3 hours during low crowd time to try everything. It is a place where kids roam and touch everything so some surfaces will be sticky or gross feeling. Staff at the museum were all very friendly and helpful. Overall, the place was inviting with lots of great learning and info for everyone interested.

Uniqueness: Sadly, a lot of the original exhibits and contraptions have been replaced. But at least…read morethe Human Body Exhibit is still here! Wait Time: [x][x][x][x][x] Service: [x][x][x][x][ ] Setting: [x][x][ ][ ][ ] Cost: [x][x][x][ ][ ] Recommendation? Sadly, for a musuem recommendation for the kids, it feels quite limited in what they have to offer and other museums in the Bay Area have more to do for the kids and even the adults. I was quite disappointed at how much has changed at the Tech Initiative (not Tech Museum) recently. It felt like a lot of the key exhibits and attractions of the museum have been replaced or lost vs what it used to be a couple years ago. The museum felt unusually more spacious i.e. a lot of empty space than before due to exhibits being removed and interestingly, it felt slightly outdated. The Human Body exhibit was still there so that was nice to walk through and the Rube Goldberg exhibit outside was exactly as it was years back. The gift store was pricey and didn't have as much interesting gifts but the IMAX show felt just like before & was included in the admission, which was nice. With all the changes that this museum has gone through, I unfortunately won't be coming back here in a while until there's something new that's rolling through.

What would your dream trip to Paris include? I had a dream trip, told Celine Glon of Et Voila Paris…read moreabout it, and she made it happen. I had very specific ideas. I'm a writer and have just finished the first draft of a mystery novel that involves the life of Georges Bizet, composer of the opera, Carmen. I wanted to go to Paris and various places there to see where Bizet lived and worked so I could add such settings to my book. Celine made an itinerary for me, got me wonderful guides to drive me to these places and to tell me about their histories and even explore with me. NOT ONLY THAT, Celine got me introduced to people knowledgeable about Bizet, and she got me into places where people normally can't go. For example, there is a house in the town of Bougival near Paris where Bizet lived when he wrote Carmen. Celine got me a private tour of this privately owned house (not open to the public) AND an introduction to a board member of a society that promotes art and artists as part of the memory of Georges Bizet. She also got me introduced to a gentleman who speaks excellent English and who is extremely knowledgeable about classical music and opera so he could go with me to meet with the board member and see the home. There are many other things I could mention about the Bizet part of the trip, like my private tour of the Opera Comique (where Carmen opened in 1875) and lunch with the Comique's dramaturge. Again, the Opera Comique is not open to the public for such tours, but Celine arranged it all. Celine also booked me private guides to take me other places just for fun, such as Chantilly, which has the biggest collection of French paintings after the Louvre, and Malmaison, the home of Josephine and Napoleon Bonaparte. I could go on and on, but that would make this review too long. I'll close by saying that I would recommend Celine to anyone, including my closest family and friends. I trust her totally to come up with customized trips that will fit any needs. I highly recommend her. She has a million connections and I can see she is an expert in the art of making people's dreams come true in Paris and all over France.

We had a great tour of Versailles , its park , and the " Petit Trianon , of Marie Antoinette" with…read moreEt voilà Paris in June 2017. We highly recommend Celine and her guides for anyone wishing an amazing journey in France and through time!!

Wasn't able to go due to a schedule conflict and had to cancel the day before. Sandy, their Senior…read moreGuest Relations Host, not only got the tour canceled and refunded, but she emailed me right away to let me know everything was handled. Appreciate the wonderful customer service, looking forward to being able to go visit sometime!

I have come here for the Halloween special and their regular guided tours…read more For their Halloween event, I highly enjoyed it! They make a lot of effort to decorate and set up a spoooky ambiance. The cast were really into character and it was really fun. I also enjoyed their Halloween styled drinks - it truly set the mood! For the regular tours, I was pretty disappointed. For the following reasons: - tour was WAY too big (could not hear and it was hard to follow along) - tour content was a bit lacking. I came in with a rough idea of who Sarah Winchester was and didn't learn much beyond that. Might be different if you don't know anything about the area though - tour guides were kind of cranky. Our tour guide seemed pretty annoyed throughout the whole thing and I saw multiple other tour guides (ours included) yell at guests which was super awkward Nonetheless it is amazing to have such a historic landmark nearby. The staff do an amazing job of preserving it and it is very well maintained. You can tell they all take pride in working their and in conservation of the house, which was nice to see

Great museum with friendly staff and interactive exhibits! They do a great job of making each…read moresection super interactive. For example, they have a place where you can play ancient Egyptian games with friends, exhibits that require guests to push buttons / ask questions, and even a passport book where people can collect stamps and write notes! It doesn't just have to be for kids - I was entertained as an adult doing these activities They have a lot of artifacts, model replicas, and even a mock tomb area. It was great for being able to 'visualize' what everything would have looked like back then. It did seem like quite a few artifacts were casts of the real thing though. There was plenty to see and we spent a few hours there. The staff are also very friendly and passionate about the subject. Even when we were just looking at exhibits, they told us about different facts / activities that the museum was hosting. Outside, there was plenty of parking and even a garden you could visit. I really enjoyed coming here and highly recommend visiting if you get the chance!

The Rosicrucian Museum has the finest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the country. The docents…read moreare knowledgeable and helpful. The stone tomb is atmospheric. I felt like I was in ancient Egypt. A person can learn a lot about Egyptian history by going there. The garden grounds are lovely. I enjoy walking through them. Be sure to bring a camera. There is ample parking so there is no need to worry about parking on the street. Visitors from outside the area will delight in the experience.

ICA is a large cool funky art space that also hosts events…read more Among the many cool restaurants and bars along south First Street are the cool artsy venues. The Institute of Contemporary Arts (i.e. ICA) is fantastic. It showcases local Bay Area artists' works among others. Super friendly staff are on hand and have the latest scoop on upcoming happenings. Go online to see upcoming events at the ICA. You may discover some cool-funky talks and art shows. Happy adventures!

Feeling arty-farty, I decided to go check out the Institute of Contemporary Art. It's located in a…read morereally cool area of First St. Admission is free which is always nice. I wanted to donate and the friendly guy asked if I wanted to sign up to get information, but I declined. I was the only one in there. The exhibit was called "Allegedly the Worst is Behind Us" which featured 12 artists and their work expressing intergenerational trauma. The work was very personal and moving and inspiring too. The work was much more interesting than the San Jose Art Museum. I felt the work would definitely resonate with others who may have experienced the same thing. Since I saved $20 on the last museum, I put it in the donation box in the front. Great place to come to!

I like that its only for kids at a young age, so they don't get overwhelmed with being around older…read morekids. Love that there's so much for the Littles to discover. We've been here twice and my son loved when they had the curious George attraction. He also absolutely loved the water station, be prepared to bring an extra change of clothes and towels for the little ones. And let them play in the water area last cause my son will not play elsewhere after he discovers the water station!

This place is awesome! I've only been twice so far and have already signed up for a membership…read morebecause I can see myself coming here with my family more during the warmer summer months. My 1.5 year old's favorite exhibits are the water/ball area, outdoor bubbles, market stand with the pretend food, and the dancing room. They also have a room that you can rent out for birthday parties, which would be so fun for all the guests!

5 stars because it's free and I enjoyed my time…read more Pretty chill art museum I liked all the variations of soccer balls and one painting really caught my attention. I appreciate that it is free. They close early so go before 5pm. I was late and only had 30 minutes to end it that was enough time. I ended up sitting outside and just journaled about my day. Such a relaxing evening.

This was actually my second time ever at this museum, I came a couple years back when they had a…read morechalk festival. If you ever get the chance to come show up both days so you can see the artist outlines, and when they start everything, and then day two to see the finished product!! This particular day I went with my dad and Brother to check out what new art pieces they had. We spent about an hour walking through and looking at everything. My brother, major in art and could tell us about different types of oil/paint that was used and how it would last over certain decades or fall off and crack ! Lol so I found the history of how well each artist project with withstand the time of life very interesting as well. I will definitely come back when this gallery changes to another theme! It also has a very nice park. I just wish there was a coffee shop or Matcha shop nearby! Hee

This place is a hidden gem in Palo Alto, in an industrial area surrounded by factories. It is a…read moremuseum of the work of Tony Foster, an artist from UK who paints beautiful watercolor landscapes. It's free, and a nice place to visit for an hour or so ... highly recommended.

What to do after brunch on Sunday in Palo Alto? Head to the Foster! Parking is a breeze, the…read moreadmission is free, and the experience works for all ages! As a dabbler in watercolors, I was transfixed--some of these paintings are huge--and he does not use photographs! As an educator, my mind was brimming with opportunities to integrate his work into humanities and human geography classes. The Foster website has excellent resources. This is a must see if you are in the area!