Unfortunately, we wake up to another day where rain is hanging in the air, the 3rd day out of 4. Oh well. We are going back to Brooklyn today as we have booked ourselves into the 2nd "Free tours by foot", in Brooklyn Heights.
It is not a big photo day as there were some overlaps between what we saw yesterday and what we will see today.
There is no rain as we arrive in the Civic Centre of Brooklyn, so fingers crossed.
We meet our guide John outside Brooklyn Borough Hall at the corner of Court and Remsen Streets at 10am and we quickly learn that Brooklyn comes from Dutch and means "Broken Land". The apartment block below was named in honor of that original Dutch name. John was aiming for the Dutch pronunciation but his R rolling was a struggle. He sounded like he was spitting but that may well be how Dutch really pronounced the name!
Here is John, our guide. He wanted to take pictures of us, the punters, so Hans took a picture of him in return. John is a real character and boy, can he talk. He gave Di a good run for the money.
We did learn a lot about the history of New York and Brooklyn. Brooklyn was the official first suburb in America. It has more than 2 million of the 8 million New Yorkers who live in the 5 boroughs.
John also spent a bit of time talking about gentrification, the crime and no go areas 30 years ago, rent and housing prices, George Washington's Battle of Brooklyn, shopping in NYC, getting to a Broadway show... And the list goes on. Phew.
John showed us some lovely old houses, the one below at the corner of Pierrepont and Hicks was owned by a famous wealthy couple called Ida and Isador Straus who in their late 60's both died on the Titanic as she refused to leave him and he refused to enter a lifeboat before others. The story goes that she gave her seat on a lifeboat and mink coat to her young english maid.
This building on Pierrepont Street belongs to the Brooklyn Historic Society and if you look above the door to the left, you will see the head of Leif Erickson, the good old viking who sailed to America long before Columbus.
We wander a bit on Montague Street towards the water and we pass the building below which apparently featured in the movie "Prizzie's honor" with Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner. The lady in front was not in the movie.
We had a restroom break and people were hanging around. A mixed group, some indian people, lots of Americans, and some ladies from Wellington NZ who were here to celebrate one of their 50th birthdays.
While lingering here John starts a conversation about music and mentions he is a big fan of the band "Yes". We almost choke and we do laugh. The only other person we know who is a big "Yes" fan is a Swedish guy Hans knows from a distant past. John said - let me guess, "he's middle aged, overweight and he wa quite a big pot smoker". We can't say yes to the last part but the rest is accurate. Funny moment.
This area, a promenade, is above Brooklyn Queens Expressway and provides excellent Manhattan views even though today was cloudy with rain threatening to start at any time. Looking towards Brooklyn Bridge here.
And looking the other way away from Brooklyn Bridge and as you can see there is traffic underneath.
The 2 white buildings below are on street named Columbia Heights which runs parallel to the water. They have been merged into 1 single residence and John told us that they were sold for $14M to some famous guy called Jay Z and his wife, who is another singer... You may know her as Beyonce.
And this building on Willow Street has a story too. A somewhat famous guy named Truman Capote lived in its basement for free as he was able to convince the owner and friend that he should. He lived here quite a long time and apparently was where he wrote "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "In Cold Blood".
The building is today owned by one of the designers of "Grand Theft Auto", the (in)famous video game.
On Orange Street, there is the historic Plymouth Church which has been there since 1847 and played a pivotal role in slave abolition. The main statue is of Henry Ward Bleecher, their first pastor. To the left is good ol bloke Abe Lincoln and to the right is a slave mother and child.
Brooklyn at the time was a part of the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape to the north.
The tour finishes up after 2.5 hours down by the water in the Fulton Ferry District next to Brooklyn Bridge, an area which we explored the day before. We sing Happy Birthday to the kiwi lady, say thanks to John and wander back up the hill towards Brooklyn Heights to try to find somewhere nice for lunch.
On the way, we pass this building which once belonged to Brooklyn Eagle, a local newspaper which had Walt Whitman as its editor for a couple of years. Whitman was a controversial poet, essayist and journalist in the late 1800s. The building is a well known landmark close to the Fulton Ferry District.
We find a nice pizza / pasta place on Montague Street called Monty's where we have lunch. Here is from the inside looking out.
After lunch, we continue to explore the area and we end up on Smith Street. This is Saturday early afternoon and the hipsters and trendies are out in force. Smith Street is very busy and it is not hard to see why, the area is filled with eateries and trendy bars and coffee shops.
We wander as far as Transit Garden where the trains come out from a tunnel and where the street turns "normal" and then wander back again. Note the shop Stinky to the far right on the next picture.
Yep, Stinky of course is a place that sells stinky (and non stinky) cheese, wursts and bread.
Di was so fired up that tonight's dinner plans were modified on the fly and we left with breads and cheeses (garlic prawns with a French stick to get all that nice garlicky sauce up from the plate).
Hans was not complaining, although the cheese prices did raise an eyebrow!
Outside Stinky, we saw these e-bikes locked up. Interesting vehicles.
We then decided to call it a day, but despite walking past 2 stations on our F line we had to wander back to Jay St / MetroTech station to get onto a train back to Manhattan as subsequent stations towards Coney Island were closed for weekend maintenance. We got home just in time for first thunder, then lighting and then rain. Lots of it. We were very lucky as we only had a few spits during the walking tour.
Lazy afternoon at home from 3.30pm or so followed, watching the rain from the inside.
We like having dinner at home on Friday and Saturday nights when the rest of the city is out in the restaurants. As planned a garlic chili shrimp (prawns) dinner is delicious with baguette and wine, ending another good day.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment