Thursday, Friday & Saturday 26, 27 & 28 June 2025

After a lay about day on Thursday, we decided to go to Brooklyn on Friday. We went there last time, walked the bridge and enjoyed the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood. So, knowing that we loved the green treelined streets and classic brick buildings, we booked a free walking tour of Brooklyn.

There were 13 of us and we joined the group after a train ride from Manhattan. The others having walked the bridge first. The advantage of the guided walk, even though it coved areas we had been before, was the history and quirky stories that Mike, our guide offered.

Our tour started in Brooklyn Heights and finished in DUMBO. This is the waterfront area under the Brooklyn Bridge, now a converted warehouse neighbourhood, full of walking paths, trees, restaurants, apartments and today, lots of tourists. Last time it was a construction site. 

New York has a penchant for acronyms. DUMBO came about because the residents at the time, mostly artists and those sorts of types, wanted to keep rents and prices down and were a bit NIMBY, if you ask Mike. So, they thought a derogatory name for the neighbourhood would keep Manhattan developers and residents out. 

Now, next to the Brooklyn Bridge is the Manhattan Bridge and the overpass. This bridge is constantly in use by cars and trains and consequently, very, very noisy. Wouldn’t like to live near that! So, the NUBB – "neighbourhood under the Brooklyn Bridge" moniker, was discounted in favour of DUMBO – "down under the Manhattan bridge overpass". Sounds horrible, but it didn’t work.

The borough invested heavily in the redevelopment of the waterfront and the prices for real estate went through the roof.

The tour finished on the corner of Front and Old Fulton Street, the site of the famous Grimaldi’s Pizza Restaurant. A coal fired oven at 1,000 F, whole pies only – no slices, good Italian wine, pretty good pizza and Old Blue Eyes on the juke box. Apparently, Frank's favourite pizza restaurant, if you can believe that.

Refreshed, we then walked back to the World Trade Centre, across the Brooklyn Bridge with hundreds of other photo snapping, rubber necking tourists.

The One World Trade Centre building is impressive, as is the Oculus building shopping centre/subway station nearby. Foregoing a New York martini due to tiredness, we caught the A-train to Penn and the NJT to Morristown.

Site of the first responders from Brooklyn on 9-11.
Classic brownstone and brick apartments in Brooklyn Heights.
Grimaldi's
One World Trade Centre.
Downtown Manhattan from Brooklyn.
Grimaldi's "The Don" pizza for two and an excellent Italian red. 

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