San Francisco Bay Bridge at 4am

The view from our room at the Claremont was so good that I couldn't bring myself to close the curtains when I went to bed last night. The lights of the bay and the city struck me as even better at 4am, so I fumbled around with my camera in the dark, discovered some new settings that I never knew I had, and took some pictures. The new span from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island, with the brighter, whiter lights, was just completed last year. The old section from Yerba Buena Island to San Francisco has more mellow lights on its suspension sections. The old cantilever section, which was replaced, is still standing and mars the view of the new one during the day, but fades into the darkness at night. It is slated to be torn down at some point, but it wouldn't surprise me if arguments on alternative uses for it rage on for decades.

Although we lived in Berkeley for 50 years, the only time I had a view of the bay and the city beyond, was in my student days when I lived in a dorm in the hills. The buildings are still there, but are no longer student housing.

For years Ozzie and I walked in the Berkeley hills and had wonderful views, in all directions, but we never walked at night.

Nothing like moving away from a place to stop taking it for granted….