6/11/12

Places to Go (Vacation) - Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governors Island (NYC)

arrive

For the last day of our mini-vacation we headed to Brooklyn Bridge Park and Governors Island. First task - find parking in Brooklyn, somewhat of a challenge, especially with a minivan. After we found a SMALL space (and spent about ten minutes trying to fit into it), we walked by all the lovely brownstones as we made our way towards the water. Wow, Brooklyn really is quite beautiful, worth the hype.

industrial

Currently, Brooklyn Bridge Park has two main areas (Pier 1 and Pier 6) with lots of construction between them (eventually the whole area will connect). So we walked, checking out stunning vistas along the way.

janescarousel

Once we arrived at Pier 1, the kids couldn't wait to ride on Jane's Carousel, which is somewhat breathtaking with its beautiful glass enclosure and city views. Even T decided to give it a whirl and ended up loving the experience. Then we ate some ice cream from Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory (shockingly good) and waited for the ferry to take us to Governors Island.

boat

We started out the ferry trip riding below deck, but we quickly realized that's not the best way to travel. So we headed to the top for wonderful 360 views of the city.

island

Governors Island is one of NYC's newer attractions, as prior to 2003 the island served as a military base. In 2003 the federal government sold 150 acres of Island to the people of New York and opened up the property to the public. Now the island exists as a wonderful place to ride bikes, chill under a tree, play in the grass, and check out some cool/old buildings - like the "Castle", built between 1807 and 1811 the Castle served as a fort and a prison prior to becoming a tourist attraction.

museum

Governors Island also hosts a free branch of Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. I could have spent the whole day here, but eventually Dan had had enough.

vote

The museum hosted a very cool exhibit which invited people to vote on whether they preferred current product logos or former logos. P and F seemed excited to vote in their first "election." Hopefully Nickelodeon will take their views into account.


sleep

Yawning children = a successful day. Unfortunately the line for the ferry back took 45 minutes (ugh), but still a wonderful time was had by all - from 6 months to 41 years. Pretty amazing.

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...