Yes, this photo has been done. And yes, it's been done better. What can we say? Just look at that view! The Bay Area may not be the Best Place on Earth, as an ad campaign once famously claimed, but on a sunny spring day, when the sailboats are on the bay and the hills are rolling and green, when the International Orange of the bridge looks bright red and the white city really does look Mediterranean — if you open your eyes, it's easy to imagine that this may be one of the best places on Earth. Anyway, this picture was taken from Battery Spencer (below is an iPhone wallpaper taken from a few hundred yards behind, above Kirby Cove). In the distance is the city of San Francisco, including the Presidio and, behind that, Mt. Sutro and its namesake TV tower.

It's clichéd to call Lake Merritt the "jewel" of Oakland; even a bit condescending. If the central city of the East Bay weren't so overshadowed by San Francisco, Oakland's diverse, historic and scenic neighborhoods would be featured prominently in guidebooks, and its urban ills wouldn't define the city. Still, how many U.S. cities are built around such a shimmering ... jewel? This view is from the southeast side (east, in East Bay parlance) of the former tidal flat. To the left is Downtown Oakland, including the Alameda County Courthouse at far left, the Broadway/City Center core in the distance (the landmark Tribune Tower and City Hall are just visible), and in the center, along the Lake itself, Oakland's tallest towers and the new Cathedral of Christ the Light. To the right is Lakeside Park, the Adams Point district, and the Oakland Hills.