There isn’t much irony like that of the weather. You could have your whole day planned out and then it rains on your parade, literally. This is what happened to me when I visited New York at the start of May this year. Just my luck that it should be sunny for over a week and then start raining as soon as I land. So my first tip to all readers is to always keep a small pocket umbrella with you while travelling. It’s quite the useful companion. And you also want to have some alternative plans. Mine was to visit this amazing brunch spot in Brooklyn, Westville.
I was in New York for about 10 days and we were staying in Brooklyn. For those of you who would be choosing to stay in Manhattan itself, you should definitely make sure to go visit Brooklyn as well. Here I’m just going to be talking about the Brooklyn part of my trip. My second post will cover New York.
The most popular attraction of Brooklyn is obviously the Brooklyn Bridge.
I don’t need to tell you that you must visit it, you already know that. The question is how do you cross it and from where? Unless you are very short on available time, I would recommend walking across the bridge. Firstly, it’s not that long a walk so everybody can do it and secondly, it gives a pretty spectacular view of both sides of the river. One thing to keep in mind is that this bridge is used by many residents for their commute. So it’s always busy and crowded. But the bridge is still long enough to give you quite a few opportunities to get that perfect picture. One thing you do not want to do is accidentally stand on the cycling path for your picture. Nothing makes for a great picture like a biker pedaling towards you at full speed. Seriously, don’t do that.
Now, there are many ways to access the bridge so you could choose the one closest to you. However, for those of you who want to take the scenic route to even reach the bridge, I’d suggest entering from the Brooklyn Bridge Park which looks something like this.
You could also walk along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade that lets you walk along the East River right to Brooklyn Bridge Park and you can see the bridge in the distance. All this walking is definitely going to build up your appetite. And what better than a good pizza to regain all those calories you just burnt. Adrian’s pizza is the place to go for just that experience.
A trip to Brooklyn should definitely include a visit to Williamsburg and to their shops. Williamsburg has some really cute vintage shops that are sure to build up your intrigue. I also enjoyed visiting the flea market at Williamsburg called Artists and Fleas Williamsburg. This is an indoor flea market that is only open on weekends and has some really unique and interesting items. I bought a couple of rose gold patterned rings there (probably not the most unique but definitely pretty). For readers whose shopping desires are not quite satisfied with Williamsburg, you should also check out the Brooklyn Flea open every Sunday in DUMBO.
The last place on my list is something that I almost missed. But am quite glad I did not. It’s the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Now I would not suggest visiting the gardens on a very sunny day since it tends to get extremely humid inside. We didn’t have much of a choice since we visited the gardens on our very last day, so were naturally sweating insanely. So I’d advice everyone to try and plan accordingly. I am not really much of a botanical enthusiast, so I don’t know what these flowers are called, but they are very beautiful to look at.
