A city of its own: Brooklyn

Sunday morning: We moved from Harlem to Brooklyn by subway, fortunately on a Sunday with fewer people on the train and without rain. Since our friends were completely booked, we looked around in Brooklyn and accepted an invitation to stay in a hotel close-by Brooklyn's main downtown axle, Atlantic Avenue: the Nu Hotel, for the two final nights.

Very convenient location in Brooklyn and really comfortable hotel, not too excentric, reasonable rates and better than many hotels we have had in Manhattan in the past. Rooms are spacious, hallways colorful for a change (not brown in beige as usual!), rooms with murals from local artists, intimate lighting, windows open up, there is a bathtub, a coffeemaker, a fridge, many power outlets, and breakfast is included! They have bikes to use for free and a bar.



To our full surprise we were able to check in before noon and we soon went out again to visit the NY Transit Museum, a grandiose collection of subway cars and other relics, photos and documents from the very beginning of the subway construction in the beginning of the 20th century to nowadays.


Afterwards we walked along the new Brooklyn Bridge Park - with six old piers being transformed into parks, play & sports grounds, nature areas, a beach, etc. – from Atlantic Avenue (pics below) all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge and Dumbo, about 1,5 mi. Just wish the weather would have been better! Such great views of Manhattan's skyline from the green promenade, but dark clouds,,,


The Brooklyn Historical Society's new branch museum in the Empire Warehouse in Dumbo, one of the best-known and most-visited neighborhoods in Brooklyn. This renovated warehouse is one of many along the waterfront in the old days. From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, Brooklyn's shore was lined with imposing brick warehouses with fortress-like facades. They stored grain, coffee, sugar, cotton, tobacco and many other commodities carried into NY Harbor by ships from around the world.

In the evening we were invited to a new Japanese Ramen restaurant, E.A.K. Ramen, again on Manhattan, in the East Village. Being there, we checked out the Village again to notice how much it changed. The meal itself was delicious, from appetizers to ramen bowls and sake to go with it.