Photo by Gary Soup on Flickr

My commute on Muni always becomes a little less boring once I spot this behemoth of a building approaching Mid Market. For months now, I've stared at it wondering what it could be and when it would open. I hoped its dramatic facade meant something big was coming to San Francisco. Once the International Art Museum of America sign went up, I knew we were in for a treat.

You can only imagine my excitement this morning when I saw that the paper had been torn down from the windows. The bus I was riding moved too quickly to examine what was inside for long, but I definitely spotted some large themepark-esque structures inside. Wha???

According to SF Citizen, the museum is owned by a Buddhist temple. The downstairs hosts a Chinese Garden and a "flowing water exhibit" (which is closed until September, when the whole museum opens to the public), but you can visit the upstairs now, which is sort of like a Buddhist shrine or "mini mausoluem" with lots of gold paint. SFist has an awesome photo of the Chinese Garden.

Seems worth checking out!