Wanderlusting: Bridging Brooklyn

“I remember perfectly my first trip to New York, when I was on the bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan, when I saw the skyscrapers. It was like an incredible dream.” ~ Diego Della Valle

Friendship

This past weekend, I had a dear friend come visit for what was basically a forty hour take the city (or rather Brooklyn by storm). While Rhiannon is a blogger, I have known her long before she started her photography blog Wanders and Musings. We hail from the same neck of the woods and through fate, became fast friends. Despite time, distance, and many moves, we have still managed to not only keep in touch, but see each other on a fairly regular bases.

It helps that we both have a love for travel which makes it so much easier to get together.

Thursday Night

While this was a blink and she was gone visit, she had piggy backed it off of a work trip and took the train into Penn Thursday night. I had mapped out an itinerary to hit all of her must see’s for what would be a jam packed whirl wind. And boy was it!

I met her at Penn and after a hug and scream that scared the tourists around us we made our way back to my apartment before grabbing a bite at Bonjour Crepes and Wine. Rhiannon had never been there (I know the horror!) and it was the perfect meal after traveling and for a later evening.

After satisfying our bellies with some scrumptiousness, we went back to my apartment for a low key evening which may or may not have involved some Hallmark Christmas movies….It is November peeps!

Early Mornings

Friday dawned early. Thankfully Rhiannon and I are both morning people and knowing we were going to cram a lot in, we were ups with the sun. As per tradition for anyone who visits me, we went to Maison Kayser to fill up on French deliciousness, before we made our way to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is only eight miles from Manhattan, but it might as well be another world. Not only does it have a different vibe, but it takes at least forty-five minutes to get out there. And that is if the trains are running correctly!

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Our first stop was the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, a place Rhiannon had never been too. It is a photographer’s dreamland. Despite the insane storms and Mother Nature’s tumultuous break-ups, it was surprisingly still stunning and vibrant.

Despite it being ridiculously warm still, there were glimpses of Autumn throughout the gardens as we walked. While the trees were struggling to change, and the flowers were getting ready to cuddle down for Winter, every so often vibrant colors would catch our eyes.

We were Brooklyn Botanic Garden champs, exploring all of the gardens in just a few hours.

And of course taking lots and lots of pictures!

We even saw a groups of turtles just chilling on rocks in the Japanese Gardens.

One of the highlights of the visit was seeing all the monarch butterflies flitting around fearlessly.

It was a playground for them flying from flower to flower, teasing us as we tried to capture pictures of them.

Brooklyn Bridge Park

From the Gardens we took the train to Brooklyn Bridge Park. You would think it would be easy to get too since it is the same borough, but with the way the trains are set up, it was a twenty-five minute train ride, with a mile of walking once we got off. Thankfully, we had on our walking shoes.

Brooklyn Bridge Park just might be my favorite part of Brooklyn. Located along the East River, It has amazing views of the Manhattan skyline, Lady Liberty, and of course its namesake, as well as the Manhattan Bridge.

During the Summer it is absolute insanity filled with people and events. It is home to several famous tourist trap restaurants, including Grimaldi’s and Luke’s Lobster which usually have lines out the door.

Despite the gorgeous weather, it was relatively quiet which made taking pictures and walking around a breeze. Definitely no pedestrian rage was happening here!

Channeling the Pont des Arts, people attach love locks to the fence at Pier 1 in a touching and colorful display of love and commitment. It is one of my favorite things to go and see as well as take pictures of.

We walked around, had some impromptu photoshoots and took an exorbitant amount of pictures as we enjoyed the Park and the gorgeous day.

Thirsty and perhaps a tad bit exhausted, we stopped to grab some fresh squeezed lemonade at Lizzmonade after seeing person after person (okay let’s be real they were all tourists!) drinking it, we couldn’t resist. I am usually pretty picky about what I drink (Water, coffee, booze, the simple tastes) but when in Rome…Or Brooklyn.

It was quite scrumptious! They have multiple flavors making it customizable to your taste buds. I chose the strawberry-lemonade which was muddle with the delicious fruit. I also got it half sweet and it was perfect!

I also couldn’t help but ham it up for the cam. A little known secret about me, I am obsessed with my phone being charged. Seriously, I am not happy unless it is at LEAST seventy percent charged. With this new update, the battery has been draining quickly. Rhiannon and I had walked past a woman charging her phone on the outdoor outlet (which was broken!) and of course we had to take some pics.

Back to Manhattan

After grabbing some grub at Dumbo Kitchen, we hopped on the train back to Manhattan. It felt so much later, but it was only three! Rhiannon and I had to get some work done and we could both use a caffeine pick me-up. We went to my local Starbucks for a couple hours to refuel and replenish.

Once done, we decided to do a little shopping before heading down to my favorite place (I have only mentioned it a couple hundred times), Bryant Park which had recently opened their Winter Village.

After reading about Ulta from all you fabulous bloggers, I (finally!) went in one! They had just opened it right near my apartment and only two doors down from Sephora. (uh-oh!) I refrained from buying anything, but it was definitely neat to (FINALLY!) get to go into one.

We then took the train down to Bryant Park, where it was incredibly busy, and not going to lie, made for amazing people watching. We sat by the rink watching the skaters for a little while, before we made our way to Rockefeller which was also insanely busy. There we got to see a proposal!

After that excitement we headed to grab some grub.

BareBurger

Despite it pushing nine (which is MY bedtime!) we HAD to go to Bareburger. It was a good thing we had walked ten plus miles, because despite the late hour I was famished. I could have eaten the whole menu, but managed to keep it to sweet potato fries, a burger wrapped in collared greens, and a hazelnut milkshake.

It might have been the best meal I ever had!

Exhausted we went back to my apartment, because Brooklyn was once again in our sights the next day!

Have you been to Brooklyn? What is your favorite thing to do there?