Part of the Berkeley Part of the Commute

Update: Darn this thing. The photos and text are no longer in place and I've done nothing to change things.

Due to the previous post's inability to look half-way decent, I've decided to post the Berkeley Commute in Photos in a couple of parts. This also keeps me from delving into subjects like politics as I search for something somewhat interesting to write about.

Today I took a slightly different route home than the usual. Instead of Telegraph all the way to Berkeley, I took Shattuck where it starts (and exactly where I previously broke my bars), and then took the Milvia which is part of the Berkeley bike boulevard routes. Ah, the bike boulevards! On the boulevards, we must get along with motorists as is the norm, BUT bicycles have priority here. This means the city takes pains to make these streets less friendly to motorists, and aside from too many stop signs (which large numbers of riders ignore), they are the place to ride safely and with confidence.

This is the view north on Milvia near the south end of Berkeley. I'm not sure you can see it in this reduced image, but in the original you could see plenty of riders. The farmer's market a few blocks up hadn't yet started, so no pictures.










Berkeley City Hall. Where all the nuttiness starts (or ends.) Note the bikes parked out front. There is also a fenced-in section on the other side with bike racks. Yay Berkeley! And if you disagree, then Yay for beer!












Still on Milvia here, but north of downtown. Note the traffic-calming engineering. The street is not striped in a straight manner, and bump-outs are built into the street and filled with trees and plants. This causes motorists to have to actually pay attention to driving. Can you believe such craziness?







Typical architecture found in the area. I won't ask Mrs. Smudgemo for an estimated value of this type of place, but suffice to say it is a lot.













More local architecture. Cedar-shingled homes which (nicely enough) have not been painted over. For your inner-carguy amusement, check out the old Toyota Land Cruiser. That kind of thing is totally normal around these parts.











Are you in a car? Sorry, can't go through. Only emergency vehicles and bicycles. This kind of thing is common on the bike boulevards and diverts traffic off these select streets.













I don't usually take this exact route, but I felt like something different today. This is the top of Solano Avenue looking west. In the distance you can see the bay and Marin. You want food? This is the #2 place to be in the Berkeley area. The #1 place is on Shattuck, north of downtown. There are more awesome places to eat than you could hit in a month. Well, unless you want anything in a chain, because aside from Starbuck's, I can't think of anything you'd like. Do notice all the cars. This isn't particularly busy, either.


That's it. My flat commute portion of Berkeley. Part III is going to be the hilly portion of the commute. It's the part I like the best, and the part that never lets me skip a good sweat.