nyc, day four (june 21, 2012)

[ Brooklyn Bridge, Williamsburg ]

Day four was the day of air-conditioning hopping. While we didn't want to just laze around in our hotel (that didn't have air conditioning anyways), we also did not want to be outside.

We learnt this very quickly.

By walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I actually had 'walk across the Brooklyn Bridge' on a list of things I wanted to accomplish this year. I just haphazardly put it in there with no real thoughts of it actually coming to pass. But it did, and I was glad I did it. We had a little bit of trouble finding the way onto the bridge (we went Manhattan-Brooklyn), but we eventually found it and got to see city hall in the process.

The bridge was lovely and hot and I sweat a lot. I think that just about sums it up.

Once we reached the other side, we hunted down a subway station. It was surprisingly difficult (I guess there aren't any stations by the bridge). Also, we originally intended to go to Grimaldi's but were so hot and lost and it was still morning and so we decided against it. Not the worst idea ever. I would still like to go someday but that definitely was not the day.

We eventually found a subway station and made our way to the Brooklyn Museum. Bailey wanted to see The Dinner Party (a feminist art exhibit by Judy Chicago). When we got there, however, it was closed, so we headed to the Brooklyn library to cool off and use their free wifi while we waited for it to open. (okay, so we actually just wandered and happened to run into the library. convenient)

After the museum, we hopped back onto the subway to go to Williamsburg. The subways in Brooklyn are a little dumb (or we couldn't quite figure them out) and we ended up having to subway all the way back to Manhattan to switch lines to get to Williamsburg. It only took maybe a half hour but it seemed forever. At least the subway trains have air conditioning.

In Williamsburg, we decided to stop for lunch. We happened upon a cafe/restaurant called Allswell, and it was AMAZING. The food and drinks were fantastic and the cafe itself had a really wonderful feel to it. There were different wallpapers everywhere with beautiful designs, all the tables and chairs were wooden and slightly different from each other and the bar was a fantastic wooden thing. If I were to ever open a cafe of my own, I would like it to resemble Allswell. Also, the menu rotates daily and is written on a chalkboard in the restaurant. How awesome is that?

Afterwards we headed to Beacon's Closet, which, if you love thrifting, is amazing. So much designer for so little. I got a lovely lace shirt (that happened to be American Apparel) for $8 and some floral Zara pants for $15. Yes, I realize those aren't 'real' designer, but I swear it was there. I just didn't get any.

Once we had finished thrifting our hearts out, we were pretty hungry again. Once again we ate on Bedford Avenue, this time at a Polish restaurant. I'm not sure what it was called, but we had some delicious Weisbier, Polish perogies, and some sort of Polish fruit filled dumpling dessert.

We then headed back to the hostel, where we freshened up and relaxed for a couple hours.

Later that night we went to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (only a few blocks from our hostel) and saw some awesome $5 comedy. It wasn't too fantastic that night (I've heard that Asssscat 3000 is the show to see... apparently SNL people actually do improv there!) but it was still nice to get out at night. If you do go, dress casual. It's a little rundown and just about everybody grabs a beer.

daily costs: brooklyn museum: $10 / upright citizens brigade theatre: $5