Tickets are still available for the six excursions that have been planned for the 2007 ICA Conference in San Francisco, California, USA. In particular, ICA encourages conference attendees to register for the special evening reception at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco on Friday, May 25, at 7:00 pm.

The Asian Art Museum is one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Western art. But it is more than just an art museum-it is your ticket to Asia. Travel through 6,000 years of history, trek across seven major regions, and sample the cultures of numerous countries. You can join your colleagues in a special evening reception. ICA has arranged to have the entire museum available to conference attendees for this one evening. The evening includes a spread of Asian-inspired food; premium beer, wine, and nonalcoholic beverages; and the Muramoto World Jazz Fusion Ensemble, a group that blends American jazz with traditional and contemporary Japanese music.

Also, a special exhibit will be opening during the weekend. From Edo to Meiji presents a hundred prints by Taiso Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) dating from the turbulent last decades of Edo Japan to the westernizing Meiji era. The exhibition is built around two series that deal with the supernatural, one from the beginning of Yoshitoshi's career, the other from the end-stylistically so different that they could be by different artists. Through the prints, a picture emerges of traditional Japanese society moving at a breakneck speed into the modern world.

Tickets for the Museum reception are available for only $25.00 USD. (All attendees must be 21 years of age or older.) The Museum is located in the Civic Center, only nine blocks from the Hilton Hotel in Union Square; however, for those who do not wish to walk the nine blocks to the museum, special bus transportation will be provided. Buses will begin leaving the hotel at 6:40 p.m. and will begin returning from the museum at 8:15 p.m.

In addition to the reception at the Asian Art Museum, there are five other excursions available during the Conference:

Alcatraz and San Francisco City Tour
(Thursday, May 24, 12:30 - 5:00 pm)
Alcatraz Island is a 25-acre island located just 1 1/4 miles from San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. Alcatraz is best known as the infamous and notorious former federal prison-home to the likes of Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelley, and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud. From 1933 to 1963, the Federal Bureau of Prisons used the facility as a maximum security prison. For 30 years it was the most infamous prison in the country. It housed prisoners too notorious or dangerous to be held elsewhere. It was closed in 1963 due to its expense.

Your trip to Alcatraz departs on a ferry from the dock at Fisherman's Wharf. The ferry across the San Francisco Bay takes about 10 minutes. Upon arrival, a National Park Ranger will provide a brief welcome and orientation. You are then free to explore the island and the prison at your own pace. We recommend that you stop at the theatre to see the Alcatraz video following the orientation. The video provides an excellent overview of what you will see. The 35-minute audio headset tour of the Alcatraz cell block is a real highlight (for those who purchase the ticket that includes the Audio Tour). This tour is available in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. During the tour, you will hear stories from former inmates and prison guards as you walk through the cellblock. After the Cell Block tour, there is time to see all the sites around the island and visit the Alcatraz museum and bookshop.

Tickets are available for $60.00 USD (including R/T transportation, tour director, and tickets to Alcatraz with audio tour). Buses will pick up and drop off participants from the Hilton Hotel lobby.

Walking Tour of Chinatown and Dim Sum Luncheon
(Friday, May 25, 12:00 - 3:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 26, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.)
The walking tour takes you past buildings of historical and architectural interest (admire our pagoda style buildings and hear about their history), including an Herbal Pharmacy, the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, Stockton Street Food Markets, and an authentic Buddhist Temple; Waverly Place, a famous Chinatown alley full of temples, private clubs, and secret societies); the Chinese Language School, a Tea Tasting Demonstration and Lecture at the only authentic tea house in the U.S. (subject to availability); an insider's list of recommended shopping and restaurants in Chinatown; and a hosted 10-course Dim Sum luncheon at one of Chinatown's most popular restaurants.

It's important that you anticipate and savor the wonderful Dim Sum dishes we've selected for you, so here is the menu. (If you have dietary restrictions, the restaurant can make substitutions upon your request): Deep Fried Minced Pork Dumpling, Pork and Shrimp Dumpling, Steamed Shanghai Baby Dumpling, Ha Gow Steamed Shrimp Dumpling, Steamed Pork Roll Wrapped with Bean Curd Skin, Steamed Barbecued Pork Bun, Platter of Seasonal Vegetables, Chicken Chow Mein, Dessert Sesame Ball filled with Black Bean Paste, and Specialty Teas: Jasmine and Chrysanthemum Tea.

The cost for the walking tour is $40.00 USD. Participants in either tour should meet in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel.

Media Education: Playfulness and Critical Citizens: An Interactive Tour @ ZEUM
(Saturday May 26; 6:30 p.m. -8:00 p.m.)
Sponsored by the Conference Theme Committee, this event is an opportunity to get to know ZEUM (http://www.zeum.org/), its way of working, and the vision of the people behind it.

Today's youth are confronted with an overwhelming amount of information from multiple media sources. They need the learning opportunities and literacy skills that will help them to navigate their rapidly changing world. ZEUM tries to provide youth with the opportunity to develop these skills. San Francisco's Arts and Technology Museum was founded on the assumption that the creative tools and processes associated with the arts and technology are especially useful for cultivating the kind of critical thinking and imagination youth need. ZEUM provides the environment for hands-on learning and creative self-expression, using animation, sound and video production, theatre and live performance, and visual arts, to encourage, build, and articulate the voice of children and youth. After a presentation of the ZEUM and a debate on the museum as a tool for stimulating media literacy, there is room for a guided tour. Hands on, of course!

Tickets are available for $20 USD (including a reception with appetizers, sweets, and soft drinks). ZEUM is located at 221 Fourth Street-the corner of Fourth and Howard-an easy 20-minute walk from the Hilton. When subscribing for this excursion, please indicate if you do not wish to walk.

Motorized Cable Car Tour of San Francisco
Sunday, May 27, 1:45 p.m.
Enjoy a 2 1/2 hour narrated tour aboard an authentic Motorized Cable Car or hop on and off of our San Francisco trolley car. See Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach, Nob Hill, Downtown, Chinatown, the Waterfront, Palace of Fine Arts, Union Square, Golden Gate Bridge, The Marina District, San Francisco Bay, Presidio National Park, Golden Gate Park, Cliff House, Ocean Beach and Pacific Ocean, Victorian Homes (Painted Ladies), Cable Cars, City Hall, Opera House, Financial District, Coit Tower, Twin Peaks, and Ghirardelli Square. During the tour their will be a couple of opportunities for the group to get off the trolley and take pictures of famous sights; stops are TBD, but typical photo stops include Ghiradelli Square, Golden Gate Park ( the cable car cannot go across the GG Bridge so stops on the city side for photos) Union Square, and Fisherman's Wharf.

Cost for the Cable Car tour is $40.00 USD. Participants should meet in the lobby at the Hilton Hotel at 1:30 p.m. Your tour director will meet you at 1:45, and you will board the motorized cable car at 2:00, returning at 5:00.

Musee Mechanique
Sunday May 27, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
This excursion is cosponsored by the ICA Game Studies Interest Group and the Theme Committee. The Musée Mechanique (http://www.museemecanique.org/) is one of the world's largest privately owned collections of mechanically operated musical instruments and antique arcade machines. Owner Dan Zelinsky will take you on a journey from turn of the century hand-cranked music boxes to modern video-arcade games. A surprise guest from the Games Studies Interest Group will give a talk on the games collection of the Musee Mechanique. You can look (and listen), but you can touch as well. Only a quarter a game.

Tickets for the Musee Mechanique are $15 USD. The museum is located at Pier 45 Shed A at the end of Taylor Street, Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. To keep things mechanical, we will take a cable car to the museum at Fisherman's Wharf. And back. Or maybe you'd rather stay and play?

For more information or to register for the Asian Art Museum any of the other conference excursions, visit the ICA Conference Registration site at http://www.icahdq.org/conferences/2007/confregistration.asp.