ACCOMMODATIONS: We offer special room rates at the four facilities below. You should identify yourself as attending the Spirit of Lyot astronomy conference to receive these special rates.
1) Durant Hotel - (510) 845-8981
50 single rooms @$126+12% tax +$141.12 per night (all rooms with queen size bed). Final cutoff date - May 4 5-10 minutes walk from I-house
2) The Bancroft Hotel - (510) 549-1000
10 single rooms @ $129+12% tax = $144.48 per night (all rooms with queen size bed). Cutoff date - no cutoff date. 5-10 minutes walk from I-house.
3) The Hotel Shattuck Plaza - (510) 845-7300
40 single rooms @$89+12% tax = $99.68 per night (within US Federal per diem rate) (all rooms with queen size bed). 10 double rooms @$99+12% tax = $110.88 per night (rooms have two twin size beds). Cutoff date - May 3. 15-20 minutes walk from the I-house, very close to the Berkeley BART station.
4) Stern Hall - (510) 642-4444
RESERVED for STUDENT ATTENDEES. 30 double rooms $28.50 per person (no tax) (rooms have two twin size extra long beds). 10 single rooms $57 per night (no tax) (room has one twin size extra long bed) Cutoff date - May 4. ~10 minute walk to I-house.

Note that Berkeley has many more accommodations. Accommodations in San Francisco are another option. The BART (underground) from San Francisco takes roughly ~30 minutes, and it's another 15-20 minutes to walk to I-house from the Berkeley BART station

AIR TRAVEL: The closest airports are San Francisco International (SFO) and Oakland (OAK). Berkeley may be reached by BART ($5-$6; www.bart.gov), by shuttle (www.bayporter.com), and by car ($70 and $50 for a taxi from SFO & OAK, respectively). Rental cars are available at the airports and from locations in Berkeley. However, parking near the UC Berkeley campus will cost at least $15/day. Far and away the best way to reach Berkeley from either SFO or OAK
airports is to ride the BART train. The SFO BART station is located in garage G adjacent to the International Terminal, accessibly by foot or airport shuttle train from the other terminals. From OAK, follow the signs to the AirBart bus stop just outside the airport, and pay $3 for a ride to the Oakland airport BART station. From either OAK or SFO, you should then ride the BART train to Downtown Berkeley station (not "North Berkeley"), costing $3-5. All the conference hotels are within a short walk (< 10 min) of Downtown Berkeley, or there is a taxi stand immediately next to the station exit if you wish to be driven to your hotel (~$5). Click here for a map of Berkeley with the local venues marked.

BANQUET: We have an evening banquet for registered guests scheduled for Wednesday, June 06, at the UC Berkeley Faculty Club. Banquet tickets for extra guests are $20, payable at the door by check or cash. We request that you inform Lorraine Dowling (ldowling@astron.berkeley.edu) in advance so that we know how many extra people to expect and their meal preferences.

BICYCLING: Please click here for information provided by the city of Berkeley. For bicycle rentals, see Solano Avenue Cyclery (~$140/wk for a mountain bike).

CHILDREN: For suggestions on activities and daycare, you may search through the Berkeley Parents Network. Overall, Berkeley has a multitude of playgrounds and activities. For swimming, Lake Anza and Strawberry Creek Canyon (outdoor pool, walking distance) are two options.

COFFEE: The International House has a coffee shop with indoor and outdoor seating. One block downhill is Strada (next to the Bancroft Hotel), with nice outdoor seating and free wireless internet access. For Lavazza espresso you would have to go to Nefeli's, on Euclid near Hearst.

DINING: The New York Times recently had an article about snobby and annoying people, where one such person claimed that for the best food in the world, only Berkeley and the entire country of France mattered. Chez Pannise is one of Berkeley's famed restaurants. For views of the Bay at sunset try Skates. For Beer Gardens try Rayleigh's on Telegraph or Jupiter's on Shattuck. In general, see the entry for "Shopping" below, since these areas also have a number of good restaurants.

DRIVING: Click here for directions to UC Berkeley. Berkeley is one of the few cities in the U.S. where just about everything is accessible by walking or public transit. Drivers should be aware that pedestrians have right of way in crosswalks, and pedestrians will often expect cars to stop. Many of Berkeley's smaller streets are blocked in order to keep cars on the main thoroughfares. Also, during morning and afternoon rush hour periods, if you have three or more human beings in your vehicle, you may use special fast lanes on the motorways and through the toll plazas of bridges.

HOSPITALS: Alta-Bates is the closest hospital. It's on Ashby between Telegraph and College, approximately 20 minutes walk from the conference site.

INTERNET CONNECTION & POWER: Chevron Auditorium will have wireless connectivity, but since this is a large room, the availability of power strips will be limited. Free internet connection is also available at Strada, the coffee shop adjacent to the Bancroft Hotel.

LOCATION: The Spirit of Lyot conference will be in the Chevron Auditorium within the International House. Berkeley is located in Northern California, just East of San Francisco. Within a few hours drive attendees may also visit Santa Cruz, Napa, Sonoma, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, and many other areas of interest. The closest airports to Berkeley are San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Oakland International Airport (OAK).

MAPS: For a map of Berkeley with our conference venues marked, please click here. Also helpful is a map of the UC Berkeley campus.

MEETING FACILITY: The Chevron Auditorium within the International House will be the main venue for oral presentations and posters. The facility is located on the Eastern side of the UC Berkeley Campus, near restaurants and hotels.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:These are too diverse and numerous to list, but we note that the San Francisco Union Street Festival
occurs before the conference, and the Haight-Ashbury Festival occurs right after. For your convenience, here is a list of other points of interested with estimated driving times in hours:
Location / Drive Time
Muir Woods / 1.0 - 2.0
Stanford University / 1.0 - 2.0
Lick Observatory / 2.0 - 2.5
UC Santa Cruz / 2.0 - 2.5
Napa Valley / 2.0 - 2.5
Lake Tahoe / 3.0 - 4.0
Yosemite National Park / 4.0 - 5.0
Los Angeles / 5.0 - 6.0

PARKING: Click here for campus parking information, and here for City parking information. Bancroft Way has various public lots and campus lots between College and Fulton (note on the map that Bancroft Way is a one-way street). The nearest campus lots to the International House are the MLK Student Union and the RSF Garage, both with entrances on the north side of the Bancroft Way. Call your hotel for additional parking arrangements. Note that the residential areas around campus require resident permits for parking >2 hrs during working hours.

POSTERS: Our poster panels are 46" high and 72" wide. To accommodate as many posters as possible, we request that the poster widths are set to <36" (0.9 m). However, we do not expect you to reprint an existing poster and we can accommodate a larger size. Poster presenters will each have 120 seconds to talk about their poster on Monday and Tuesday. Please e-mail Christian Marois (cmarois@igpp.ucllnl.org) a pdf, ppt, html, or keynote file with the presentation you would like to make, if any.

RECEPTION: We have a reception with drinks and snacks scheduled for 6-8 PM, Sunday, June 03, at the Bancroft Hotel. Guests of registered attendees are also welcome.

REGISTRATION: Your registration fee includes lunch on Monday and Thursday of the conference, the Banquet Dinner on Wednesday night, a notepad and laser pen, as well as a black fleece vest.

SAFETY: For all emergencies, dial 911. However, since this number may be busy, you may also dial (510) 981-5900 to reach the Berkeley Police & Fire department. The University has its own police department which can be reached at: (510) 642-3333. In general it is not safe to walk through dark areas of campus after dark, particularly when carrying a laptop.

SHOPPING: Berkeley's Fourth Street (one block north of University) attracts people from all over the world. The eastern portion of Solano Avenue, Shattuck Avenue on either side of University, and College Avenue near the intersection with Ashby are other shopping streets. For outdoor gear try REI, at San Pablo and Gilman.

TAXI: You can try (510) 528-9999. They have flat fee rates between Berkeley and SFO (~$55), and between Berkeley and OAK (~$45).

TRAFFIC:You may listen to 740 AM for traffic reports every ten minutes. You may find traffic webcams and other resources at local news sites such as ABC and NBC.

WEATHER: There is a significant temperature gradient from East to West. Therefore at any given time it may be warm at the International House (East) and cold in San Francisco (West). Moreover, low temperatures occur when there is fog in the morning or in the afternoon.