Today was our day to visit Oakland and Berkeley. We started with a visit to GB Rattos in Oakland. It seems to be a lot smaller than I remembered it to be. We also had fun visiting the bookstore of the Friends of the Oakland Library and some other stores in the neighborhood. While at Rattos, we met kaottic97, who brought me some neat books from the MTC. We then walked down to Oakland’s Chinatown, where we had dim sum for lunch at Restaurant Peony. After some more shopping in Oakland, we then headed off to Berkeley.
Our first stop in Berkeley was Lacis. I didn’t see much museum, but gf_guruilla had fun exploring. However, our visit was cut short by the limited parking: there were only 24 minute spaces available. All the 2 hour spaces were taken, or when they would open up, they would be refilled before I could even get to my car. GFG wishes she could have spent more time there.
We next went over to Shattuck St. While GFG visited Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics, NSS&F and I walked to the Hall of Health. That was a disappointment, as it was oriented too much for the little kids. After everyone was done, we went over to Telegraph just below the university. I had fun at Amoeba Music, and it was neat looking at the stores.
Looking at the Berkeley community made me sad for what Westwood was, and what is has become. When I was at UCLA, Westwood was this neat community, with stores such as Old World, the Bratskeller, University Bookstore, A Change of Hobbit, and lots of neat theatres. Nowadays, it has become dead, filled with chain stores and no more college charm. RIP the glory days of Westwood. At least Sepi’s still exists.
Tomorrow is our last full day. Current plans (always subject to change) are to visit the San Jose Quilt Museum, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and the San Jose Museum of Art, and quite likely, Japantown San Jose. They all seem to be close to each other. We’ll try to do dinner with Jon and Von.
Friday, it is breakfast/brunch with ellipticcurve‘s parents, and then down 101 back to Northridge.
