Things we would do if you came to visit

I've kept a running list in my head of things we would go do/see in Berkeley if you were here and now I'm going to write them down for the next time you are here.

Day 1:
1. Go to this place: https://universitypressbooks.com/ It's a bookstore called Ten Thousand Minds on Fire. Apparently it is one of the few academic bookstores left in the whole country. They do awesome stuff like read essays of Montaigne around a dinner table on Saturday nights, while eating and drinking. It appears to be the nerdiest of nerd bookstores. I couldn't hold my own there, but with you by my side we would be alll right.

Our minds would be alight with new ideas after we visit this bookstore!

2. Then when we would feel like we need a spot of tea, we would pop into The Musical Offering next door. This place is a cafe-bistro that always has "early music" playing. I think that is a fancy way to say classical music. They are also a CD and records stop, so we could peruse their music collection once we've had our lovely hot drink.

3. The in the evening we would put on our best frocks and have a night at the theater! There are several old, historic theaters to choose from in Oakland. One of them is the Paramount Movie Theater which shows movie classics for $6, Wurtlizer organ included! Other fancy theaters include The Grand Lake Theater and the Alameda Theater. Grand Lake Theater has $5 movies on a Tuesday night and the Alameda Theater also has a movie classics series.

 Alameda Theater. This theater is from the Art Deco period.

Classic Movies shown at Alameda Theater.

 Grand Lake Theater. It's 90 years old.

 Paramount Theater.


3. Depending on how late our movie got out, we would take a stroll around Lake Merritt in Oakland, which is nearby the Grand Lake and Paramount Theaters. Aah. Isn't it heavenly?

Day 2: Beach!
1.So far my favorite beach has been Ano Nuevo state park. It's rather isolated and not that far from Santa Cruz. Also Ano Nuevo State park has elephant seals, and during the mating season apparently things get pretty crazy. Bull fights, pups being born, mating. Tour guides take you to various vantage points of the beaches and you get to see the circle of life before your very eyes. There is a beach free of elephant seals that seems fun to hang out on and have a picnic, and unlike Monterey or Santa Cruz, it is not overrun with human tourists.

Tourists getting some sun.

2. If we wanted to grab some lunch, we could stop in Pescadero and get tacos at Mercado y Tacqueria De Amigos. This place is THE BOMB. It doubles as a Mexican mart and tacqueria, and believe me, only the most legit tacquerias are run out of mexi-marts. I know from experience. This is because in order to find the tacqueria you have to know that tacquerias sometimes exist in mexi-marts (or you Yelp it, like me, haha). This way the tacqueria weeds out all the hipsters who only go to places that are aesthetically pleasing and would never go to a convenience store for their one of a kind culinary experience. No my friend, in Mercado y Tacqueria De Amigos you will only find construction workers, old white people who popped in to buy a soda and then stayed for lunch once they realized "Why, yes. I think a taco sounds good right now," and us. Do not be fooled by the unassuming store front! So many people pass Mercado up for the Pinterest-inspired "country market store" down the street that has artistic chalkboard menus and sells $12 kale sandwiches or whatever trendy people are eating these days.

 Say what, there is a tacqueria in here?

Oh yeah there is! And they have the best tacos ever!

Avoid avoid avoid! Don't be fooled by it's cuteness. Pescadero Country Store will charge you out the nose.


Day 3 (Pretending we have infinite days together, let's keep this vacation going).
1. We would take a secret stair walk detailed in this wonderful book:

We would walk up stair cases that look like this (this is literally 1/2 mile from my apartment!)

And see views like this once we get to the top of the staircases

So fun!
2. Then we would take our ease and go to Bette's for a late brunch:

or if we were feeling in the pie and pastry mood, swing over to Fat Apples, a bakery that sells apple pies that look like this.

3. In the evening we would revel in civic engagement and attend one of Albany's free "Music in the Park" nights. Sadly, they don't have bagpipes, but they do have this really cool band playing on Sept 21 (so if you could make it by then, that would be great). https://www.reverbnation.com/kickinthemule
From the program:
Kickin the Mule is "Old school New Orleans R&B witha  twist of blues and '50s rock 'n roll."

Aa! So much more to do, so little time. But for now dear friend, here is an idyllic three day itinerary of all the little nooks and crannies I've been wanting you to see. Come visit soon!