Paulo Dutra

It's a bit of a walk from the metro station. It advertises the food as being MSG-free, fresh, and organic. Basically, healthy eating. The atmosphere is relaxing and comfortable. Servers are nice. Food is great. Had 2 different flavors of fried chicken, and enjoyed it. It's a nice place

Fairly far from any nearby metro station. It's a park reconstructed from the details out of the classic Chinese novel "Dream of the Red Chamber". The book stands as 1 of the 4 great books of Chinese literature. This has a lot meaning to the Chinese. Mannequins of the main characters stand within recreated scenes. All the tourists are Chinese; I was the only foreigner. Gate fee is higher than other garden parks. For example Beihai is 10 RMB but the fee here is 40 RMB. The flowers are not in full bloom. I think another week or two.

If you're familiar the novel, then you would enjoy.

It's a 1.2km (20min) from exit B2 of the Shuanjing metro station on line 10. The museum is small and can be viewed within an 1 hour. Personally, modern art doesn't resonate with me. You'll find blobs on paper, everyday gadgets encased in resin, computer graphic renderings here. There is ample space and none of the art pieces are crowded together. Access the museum at building No. 2

It's a 1.2 km walk (20 min) from exit A of the National Library metro station on line 4 or 9. The museum is located inside of the Wanshou Temple (Temple of Longevity). The museum is small and can be quickly viewed in less than an hour. The permanent exhibits are organized well and display a few English signs. The collection is sparse with a few examples on enamels, jade carving, lacquer ware carving, ivory carving, and wood carving. There's is also a temporary exhibit on Liaonan shadow puppet theater with no English details.

The temporary exhibit is housed in a center building that is labeled "Beijing Art Museum Gallery". The permanent exhibits are housed along the outer buildings with no English signs to distinguish them from general rooms. Just poke your head in to find the rooms, the folks in the rooms will just shake their heads if you entered incorrectly.

Also, that bathrooms are squatters. Just yucky.

The entrance ticket includes admittance to the temple. On Wednesdays, the first 200 visitors are free. Otherwise 20 RMB for adults.

It's a small museum in the downtown, pick up a Starbucks and walk a block over.
Open only on Saturdays 1-4pm. Given the limited hours, you'll need to remember to go here otherwise a casual drop-in is not possible. There's local artifacts (it's hard to say artifacts since most items are within the last 50 years) of San Carlos High School, the 1961 Pony baseball team, etc. If you live in San Carlos, it's very meaningful to connect historical figures and recognize their names on the street map. Who knew that the old San Carlos High cheerleader outfit looks like the USC Trojan's sweater?

A 20 minute DVD of San Carlos history runs on a loop.