Through the streets of Brooklyn

New York

We were ready to start exploring our new environment, and with our much invested walking fitness, decided to head over the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn in the early morning light for coffee.

We timed our trip perfectly, and arrived at the Blue Bottle Café right on opening, joining a small queue of people also looking for their early morning caffeine fix. We’d heard about the Blue Bottle Café in a book Billy had given me for my birthday last year, Edible Selby. The book was a great combination of photography and stories of quirky food creators from around the world. We’d read that the owner of the Blue Bottle Café loved coffee so much he used to roast his own beans in a frying pan when he traveled, and always carried his own grinder and coffee press on the plane. This was coffee obsession we had to experience for ourselves! The café felt like a place where coffee was loved. The staff paid attention to every coffee, concentration on each face as they poured creamy frothed milk delicately into each cup. Drip coffee looked to be the specialty, but we opted for espresso. It was great coffee…but we weren’t quite convinced that it was miles above other cups we’ve had before.

We continued through the industrial chic streets, that felt a little like Pyrmont in Sydney, and headed up to the East River State Park to the flea markets

As we wandered up and down the stalls it was hard to not start collecting industrial antiques, old maps, wooden articles and hand made furniture that would be far too big to carry home. With the sun out, it was a the perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday morning, and we ended up taking in the view over East River and Manhattan skyline from the grassy park, snacking on Sunday Gravy’s rich pork and sausage ragu.

There was plenty more to see in Brooklyn, so we headed to the ferry terminal with the intention on heading down the East River to Dumbo, beneath the Manhattan Bridge (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Unfortunately, about 300 other people had the same idea, so after lining up and missing one ferry, we decided to walk instead.

Stopping at Book Thug Nation along the way

Streets of Brooklyn

We refueled with a few coffees at Brooklyn Roasting Company and grabbed some fish tacos and guacamole at Gran Electrica, another funky Mexican place before walking along the piers of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Everyone was out enjoying summer – one of the piers had been converted into soccer fields, another into volleyball courts. There were families having barbeques, a public pop up swimming pool and a photography exhibition, which all came together to create an energetic summer feel.

To celebrate the day we grabbed a cocktail at Alma, a roof top restaurant and watched the lights of Manhattan emerge from the city silhouette as the sunset glowed, then faded into the deep purple light of evening.

Walking home via the Brooklyn Bridge