Ashley, one of Kaleb's good friends from Pennsylvania, was in San Francisco for a week and wanted to meet up with us at Oakland Coliseum to watch Giants vs A's - yes, we were "game"!
Saturday's exhibition was going to start at 12:05pm, so I figured it was better for us to spend Friday night in Oakland so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic coming into the Bay Area the morning of. Plus, it would be fun to play tourist, as I had never visited Jack London Square but had seen it so many times on TV during KTVU channel 2's Ten o'Clock News.
We headed out Friday afternoon to arrive in time to shop at the
Mountain Hardwear Company Store in Richmond. Kaleb had an admission pass from work. Though still expensive compared to other brands (even with the company store discount), we love wearing
Mountain Hardwear and appreciate the quality workmanship. We were able to get what we needed - a couple of windbreakers and socks - and fought the temptation to buy more.
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| entrance to the company store, with hexnut logo |
Our home for the night was at the
Oakland Marriott City Center, booked using a travel agent rate since I didn't have enough points to redeem. Not all Marriott properties offer this rate (especially not popular ones or resorts), so I was happy it was honored here.
I originally wanted to valet the car, but there were no attendants in sight. Many cars were waiting for valet along the driveway and surrounds, so I went for the parking garage. It was hard to find the entrance to it. I circled the building several times due to one-way streets, and eventually found one entrance on Clay Street (unmarked, save for a "Clearance" sign) and one on 11th Street (marked as "Public Parking - Convention and Hotel", with no Marriott logo). While checking in, we found out that the
Burning Man Global Leadership Conference was going on that weekend, which explained the overworked staff, guests wearing interesting outfits, themed decor in the public areas and conference rooms bustling with activity.
The hotel rooms were recently updated in a contemporary style.
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| water not complimentary |
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| ticket for free breakfast given to Gold/Plat elites |
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| room service menu side 1 |
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| room service menu side 2 |
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Of course with any new place we visit, I research tasty places to eat! Just across the street from the Marriott was a highly rated Japanese restaurant called
AS B-Dama, located inside
Swan's Market. It was a busy place, and we were lucky to find a couple of seats in the communal dining area after we placed our order. It would be hard for a large group to sit together, unless you came very early and saved seats.
As for the food, it was delicious. I definitely would want to try everything on the menu.
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| long line to order at AS B-Dama |
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| found a couple of seats at a communal table |
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| small hari hari nabe |
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| sashimi and grilled pork belly |
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After dinner, Kaleb and I walked eight blocks south on Broadway to
Jack London Square. The atmosphere was as expected for a night in the city. There were a couple of homeless tents set up under the freeway bridge, surprisingly across the street from a police station (which looked closed for the night). A
free shuttle going up and down Broadway was available weekdays until 10pm, but it wasn't a long walk.
We traversed the square to check it out. Much of the excitement was at a beer garden called
Plank that also had bowling and bocce. It was very busy there, so we ended up having drinks and snacks at
Forge Pizza. I was surprised that there wasn't much more going on at the square - perhaps in the daytime?
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| drinks at Plank |
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| these cheese curds are the bomb |
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The next morning, we redeemed our ticket for a complimentary breakfast buffet at the hotel. The usual offerings were available along with fresh fruit and pastries. Being a Marriott Gold member has its benefits! I received that status not by staying the required number of nights, but through the
American Express Platinum Card. The card grants you free
Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status upon request, which you can match to Marriott Gold by linking your memberships online.
Afterwards, we headed down to the
12th Street BART station and got on a train to the
Oakland Coliseum. A skybridge connecting to the stadium was very convenient. We met up with Ashley and her friend Jen, found our seats and enjoyed the game. Go Giants! It was exciting to see catcher Nick Hundley hit a grand slam in the fourth inning.
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| skybridge |
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| inside the coliseum |
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360 photo of Oakland Coliseum, taken with the
Ricoh Theta S:
Giants vs A's in Oakland - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
After the game, we all decided to have dinner back at Jack London Square. We took BART and thought we got off at the closest station to the square, but it ended up being a lot of walking compared to last night.
The Warriors game was on so we tried to find seating at Plank, but it was terribly busy. We eventually nabbed a table as someone was leaving, but the service was slow, so we ended up moving over to the bar at
Lungomare. Jen's husband Ken met us there. We had a good time watching the game, conversing and enjoying happy hour drinks and tasty food.
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| forest mushroom pizza |
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| lava cake |
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Our friends took an Uber back to San Francisco. We walked back to the hotel garage to retrieve our car. Parking was pricey at $70, since we went over a full day's rate and had to pay more for the extra few hours.
What's next? I take a quick trip to Honolulu. Stay tuned!
***
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