Marin County & the Bay Area - California - page 322

North Berkeley
Not too far north of campus is a neighborhood filled with lovely garden-front homes,
parks and some of the best restaurants in California. The popular Gourmet Ghetto
stretches along Shattuck Ave north of University Ave for several blocks, anchored by Chez
Panisse. Northwest of here, Solano Ave , which crosses from Berkeley into Albany, is lined
with lots of funky shops and more good restaurants.
On Euclid Ave just south of Eunice St is the Berkeley Rose Garden and its eight ter-
races of colorful explosions. Here you'll find quiet benches and a plethora of almost per-
petually blooming roses arranged by hue. Across the street is a picturesque park with a
children's playground (including a very fun concrete slide, about 100ft long).
The Berkeley Hills
Tilden Regional Park PARK
( GOOGLE MAP ; www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden )
This 2079-acre park, in the hills east of town, is Berkeley's crown jewel. It has more than
30 miles of trails of varying difficulty, from paved paths to hilly scrambles, including part
of the magnificent Bay Area Ridge Trail. There's also a miniature steam train ($3), a chil-
dren's farm, a wonderfully wild-looking botanical garden, an 18-hole golf course
(510-848-7373) and environmental education center. Lake Anza is good for picnics, and
from spring through late fall you can swim ($3.50).
AC Transit bus 67 runs to the park on weekends and holidays from the downtown
BART station, but only stops at the entrances on weekdays.
UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley GARDENS
( GOOGLE MAP ; 510-643-2755; www.botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu ; 200 Centennial Dr; adult/
child $10/2; 9am-5pm, closed 1st Tue each month)
With 34 acres and more than 12,000 species of plants in the Strawberry Canyon hills, the
garden is one of the most varied collections in the USA.
A fire trail is a woodsy walking loop around Strawberry Canyon that has great views of
town and the off-limits Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Enter at the trailhead at