A Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware"

It happens all the time. When you live in a big city, you avoid tourist attractions like the plague. And by the time you’re an adult, you realize you haven’t seen or experienced the iconic features of your beloved city. Or is that just me. I am a native New Yorker, and to my shame I’ve never been to the Statue of Liberty or to the top of the Empire State Building. Nor have I been to MOMA, the Whitney, or Guggenheim museums. I have never been to the Cloisters, or the Highline. And I’ve never been on the Staten Island Ferry (or to Staten Island for that matter), nor have I been to Ellis Island. And the list goes on and on. 

For the past 2 years, I’ve been working on correcting that. It started with seeing Broadway shows I’ve been putting off for forever. But this year is about visiting places and neighborhoods I’ve been meaning to see, but haven’t gotten around to yet. First on the list was a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I meet up with some friends on the Manhattan side and decided to walk to back to Brooklyn. From there the plan was to head towards the promenade, and then gets a bite to eat in Brooklyn Heights. It was actually a pretty good walk. The sky was clear, which meant you could see the Manhattan skyline perfectly, and weather wise it a perfect spring day. 

Manhattan Skyline

I won’t lie the bridge was way more crowded than I expected it to be, but despite the hordes of tourist, I actually had fun. Although if you want my advice, don’t bike across the bridge during midday. People have no respect for the bike lane and your ride would just end up being more stressful than enjoyable. 

The walk was great, up until we got off the bridge. I’ll admit it – I have absolutely no sense of direction, and what should have been a 10 minute walk to the promenade ended up becoming a 30 to 45 minute walk all around DUMBO. It’s okay though, I got experience a part of Brooklyn I’ve never been to but always saw in movies and TV. So although the route wasn’t conventional, it worked out just fine. Next time I’ll do the walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan and hopefully end up on the Highline without getting lost. 

Wish me luck!

Views of the Manhattan Bridge and Empire State Building from Brooklyn
I've always wanted to be here!

Couldn't ask for a better day