Lake Merritt

I'd read some good reviews of the park at Lake Merritt across in Oakland, so today, I decided to visit it and follow the trail around the lake.

Since it's in Oakland, I had to use BART to get there, but bizarrely, I don't seem to have been charged for the journey, with the fare gates displaying "Pass Accepted", which can only be the MUNI passport that I've got, but which isn't usually valid.  It's possible that it just hasn't come through to my card yet, but the balance has not changed.

It doesn't take that long to get there, though.

It was just a lake with a paved path around the edge, but there's nothing really there apart from the lake, which isn't much.   The lake is surrounded by office blocks.

The best part of it was the garden on the north side of the lake which is maintained by students.

There were some nice dahlias in particularly.  There was quite a wide range of different areas.

The dahlias were the most colourful, although there were some dry gardens that were full of succulent plants.

The roses and camellias were past their best, and there was even a section full of bonsai although that was closed when I was there.

There was a nice water garden too.

I had expected there to be a lot more to this given the website advertising it.  It wasn't nearly as exciting as Forest Park, though. 

After I got back, I went to the Franciscan Crab for dinner up on Fisherman's Wharf.  This year, I was able to pay by just tapping my card on their reader, which is a great improvement on last year's shenanigans involving photocopying passports and credit cards!

One reason for going there was to watch the sunset, although I was set back from the window a bit, so couldn't see it all that well, but it was still pretty.