The California Academy of Sciences in the Golden Gate Park

Once again, I took the bus going from my hostel via the Golden Gate Bridge to the Golden Gate Park. This time, I wanted to see the California Academy of Scienes. I had already seen the building on my last visit to the park, however, I still got a bit lost trying to find it today. So instead of finding the right way to the museum, I discovered a cute little rodent which looked out of a small hole in the ground. I watched it for a while - it seemed to be building something, since it sometimes vanished into the hole only to come back a few seconds later with a load of soil. While watching, I started to talk to a woman who lived nearby and who also enjoyed watching that rodent. She gave me a few tips on what to see in the park.

After the rodent had vanished into its hole for good, I quickly found the Academy of Sciences.
At first, I went into a big sphere, in which a tropical rainforest was recreated. Apart from several amphibians in glass boxes, there were butterflies and birds flying freely within the sphere and among the visitors. If it wasn't for the heat in the artificial rainforest, I could have spent forever watching these animals.
After the rainforest, I went to the aquarium. Here, you could see many local fishes as well as more exotic ones.
There was also an exhibit on earthqukes. After waiting in line for way too long, I could go into a room where the 1906 and the 1989 earthquakes in San Francisco were simulated.
The roof of the Academy is also a quite interesting sight: There are small hills as well as a collection of beautiful local flowers, serving as the habitat of many insects and birds.
In the African exhibit you could watch some real penguins. There was a very fluffy penguin at the top of the rock, which apparently wanted to go into the water. However, it just didn't dare to jump in. So for about 10 minutes, I watched that penguin walk along the edge of the rock, looking yearningly into the water without ever jumping in. In the end, I gave up watching since the penguin didn't make any progress.
I finished my visit to the museum with a really cool movie in the planetarium on astroids and our cosmic origins. Apart from being very educational, the movie made you feel like you were actually floating in space, as it was shown in a huge theater with a round screen that made up the whole ceiling of the theatre. Watching the movie in there was really a unique experience.

It was akready 4:30 PM when I left the museum. After eating a snack, I walked west, in the direction of the Stow Lake. Getting there turned out a bit more complicated than I had expected. However, once I had arrived there, I could enjoy a nice view from the top of the hill in the middle of the lake. There was an unusually big amount of squirrels in that area. At one time, I saw about five squirrels together.
My next goal was the Bison Paddock, which was actually a bit disappointing since the bisons were just lying far away, hidden in the grass.
I kept going west. Just at the end of the park, there was a big, dutch windmill.
There is a beach at the west end of the Park. As it was already quite late and I was pretty exhausted from walking all day long, I just took  few pictures of the beach and then looked for the next bus back to the hostel.

Back at the hostel, I went into the Cafe to eat a quiche and a soup. After that, I went to the front desk to ask them once again about a lower bed for my last two days in San Francisco. As it turned out, there has been a cancellation so that I don't have to move hostels within the city anymore. What is more, I can even stay in the bed I currently occupy.