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Unless you are a student at Stanford, you won't get into classes for free at this acclaimed university, but there are some events and lectures open to the public each month. Parking can be hard to come by close to the venues of events, but the university runs a free shuttle bus, called the Marguerite, that picks up passengers at several locations including the Palo Alto Caltrain station and deposits them within easy walking distance of most event sites. The online schedule of lectures and events is updated frequently and usually lists at least five to seven upcoming free happenings.
The 1,940-acre Baylands Preserve brings you to the edge of San Francisco Bay and is a component of the critical wetlands needed to preserve wildlife and marine life in the San Francisco region; it is a great place to hike, bike, watch birds and enjoy an afternoon. The Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center has interesting educational programs for children and adults. Take Embarcadero Road east to the very end to get there.
This restored garage is a museum, California Registered and National Historic Landmark -- the site where Hewlett-Packard was founded and the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley." You can only see this from the street.
A nationally recognized visual arts center that offers a variety of exhibitions, classes, workshops and art education programs. Exhibitions include the best of contemporary fine art, craft, design and new art forms, with a particular emphasis on the art of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Fans of the classic cult film, Harold and Maude should head to St. Thomas Aquinas Church, the oldest church in Palo Alto (built in 1902). Intimate and beautiful, with ornate wood ceiling crossbeams and gorgeous stained-glass panels, the sanctuary is the perfect place to step out of the modern world and take a moment for peaceful solitude and reflection.
The other birthplace of Silicon Valley. The first transistors were made here. It was later an international grocery store, but is now vacant. William Shockley was a brilliant researcher, but a lousy manager. His team - which included Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce (co-founders of Intel), Eugene Kleiner (founder of Kleiner-Perkins), Jean Hoerni (founder Union Carbide Electronics), Sheldon Roberts, and others - left to start Fairchild Semiconductors, which led to Intel and many other companies. It was the silicon transistor that created Silicon Valley.
A prestigious university that is sometimes nicknamed the "Harvard of the West". Offers cultural, athletic, natural and educational resources to Palo Alto visitors. For example, Outdoor Sculpture at Stanford University includes a very large collection of large scale works by Rodin in a garden immediately adjoining the Museum of Art, which is also home to a large collection of Rodin sculptures including one of his most famous works, Le Penseur (The Thinker). Look for Andy Goldsworthy's River of Stone a few steps from the museum's front entry. A guided outdoor sculpture tour is conducted the first Sunday of each month at 2PM, rain or shine. The tour lasts about 1½ hours, and begins at the entrance of the Main Quad (where The Oval meets Serra Street). The New Guinea Sculpture Garden, created by New Guinean tribes people, is a beautiful collection of wooden sculptures (next to Roble Dormitory, near the intersection of Lomita Drive and Santa Teresa Street).