How to Spend a Full Day Touring Brooklyn and Queens in New York
A stop for scenic views at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
As I began to wake up, stirring from an unusually deep, long slumber, I noticed that my legs felt a little sore. I run more than 10 miles a week and do squats and deadlifts, too, so it's not unusual for my legs to get a good workout.
But this soreness on the morning following an outing around New York's Brooklyn and Queens was just a further indication of what I already knew: We put in quite a few miles during our guided walking tour with tour company Pecora Verde.
(Update: Pecora Verde no longer is operating).
Maybe we should have slowed down a little for more rest during our tour of Brooklyn and Queens. By the end of the day, our guide, Kiara, had taken us on a 13-mile journey through two NYC boroughs that were new to us. It was really fun and quite enlightening.
That's a half marathon worth of walking. Kiara says she does this route or something similar most days during a busy summer tourist season in the Big Apple. That is impressive. The native of Italy has been in New York for three years and has worked to learn many out-of-the-way nooks and crannies of the city in a bid to offer a unique experience to visitors, many of whom come from Europe to tour with her.
Colleen and I live in Central New Jersey and get to NYC quite often, but until this visit, it's always been to Manhattan. This tour showed us there is so much more to see in close proximity to the mass-tourism areas.
Here is what we did during our day touring Brooklyn and Queens.
We get off the train at Penn Station in Manhattan and meet Kiara, who leads us to the subway to start our tour. She explains what we are going to see, and we exchange a little bit of our personal background info with one another as we walk. The clouds overhead promise a bit of rain at some time, but we expect we might be able to get through most of the day unscathed. And it is warming up nicely. Our first stop is in Brooklyn. Just a 10-minute subway trip (or less), and it already feels like a different world.
The streets are relatively serene compared with Manhattan, and we spot people out jogging, pushing strollers, walking pooches and sipping coffees on brownstone stoops. Making our way down one tree-lined street, I can spot our first official stop.
The glimmering tiles give it away. Artist Susan Gardner's home stands out among the crowd of reddish brick residences on either side of her home in Boerum Hill. Gardner has bedazzled her domicile in a fantastic array of mosaics. She said she has lived in the home for more than four decades and started decorating the exterior on 108 Wyckoff Street just after 9/11. It's a sight to behold, sitting in sharp contrast with the other homes on her block.
The unique mosaic home of artist Susan Gardner in Brooklyn.
A few blocks away, and we and find another curiosity: the false brownstone townhouse (58 Joralemon Street) that is a facade for a ventilator unit along the subway line (the world's only Greek Revival subway ventilator). Peeking through a crack in the doors, I see a bit of the structure for the No. 4 and 5 trains that is well hidden right in the middle of the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.
The fake brownstone townhouse at 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn. It's really a ventilator for the subway system.
Over to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which looks across the East River to Manhattan, and we discover another view of the iconic NYC skyline. What is particularly striking is that you can easily imagine the helpless and horrific feeling people had at this vantage point watching from their homes as the World Trade Center came under attack on 9/11. Now, the Freedom Tower rises in the skyline and a small, framed picture fastened on the railing of the promenade recalls the skyline as it looked when the Twin Towers still stood.
The Brooklyn Heights Promenade is a popular spot for pictures, recreation and relaxing.
The promenade is a wonderful space for sitting and enjoying the scenery or taking a jog. You can spot the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and other spans in the distance.
We loop back and check out Love Lane, a one-block stretch between Henry and Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights. The path was an ideal place for Dutch residents to take romantic walks. A true Lover's Lane from a bygone era.
Love Lane in Brooklyn Heights is lacking lovers on this Saturday morning.
This tour is proving to be quite interesting, and we're loving the different vibe from a more quiet side of New York that exists just a few subway stops from midtown Manhattan. A much-needed lunch stop for food, water and a bit of rest on comfy couches at Brooklyn Roasting Company in Dumbo gives me a chance to fire out some pictures to my social media accounts documenting our morning.
The neighborhood Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.
About Dumbo? Well, it's a quaint neighborhood in Brooklyn located Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.
The quiet and scenic spot is filled with shops and eateries near the large bridge. Onward to that bridge. Time arrives to cross over from Brooklyn to Chinatown in Manhattan. The 1.25-mile walk over the river via the Manhattan Bridge is on a sidewalk shared by bikers, and you get fine views of the river on one side and vehicles and trains using the span on the other.
A full range of views from the Manhattan Bridge.
Once we finish our crossing, passing all manner of gritty views of housing projects and rooftop graffiti on the way, we lose our sense of peace and quietude. We squeeze through crowded sidewalks in Chinatown, skim past Little Italy and find another subway station for our journey to Queens. Overall, we take four subway trips during the day.
A hot spot for a picture in Queens.
In Queens, we venture through Long Island City and to the waterfront, which again provides fine vistas of the skyline. Queens is more of a blue-collar city, not nearly as attractive as Brooklyn, but with certain charms. We are here to check out the famed Pepsi sign. Disclaimer: We are a devout Coca-Cola family, but that doesn't prevent me from stopping for a few pictures.
We spot the MoMa PS1 branch of the Museum of Modern Art as we make our way to CitiField and Flushing Meadows (another subway ride) to check out the home of the New York Mets and the nearby courts that host the U.S. Open tennis tournament each September.
We're tempted to stay for the Mets game that night, especially because they are playing the Brewers (the wife's fave team), but game time is about four hours away (even though fans are starting to trickle toward the stadium).
The main tennis court, with renovations in the works, at Flushing Meadows is adjacent to the train yard.
Walking toward the tennis courts and Flushing Meadows — Corona Park, we take note that it was the site for the World's Fair in 1939/40 and 1964/65. The tennis facilities are quiet this time of year and undergoing projects to prepare for the U.S. Open, but the nearby park is buzzing with families, and the Unisphere structure sits in the middle of it all.
The Unisphere at Flushing Meadows — Corona Park in Queens.
The attraction is a metal globe that rises 140 feet into the air and is 120 feet in diameter. It's a relic from the 1964/65 World's Fair and stands as a sort of Queens landmark. The legs are getting a bit weary now, for sure. But I refuse to admit it, determined to keep the spring in my step.
You can't beat the views and activity at Brooklyn Bridge Park on a warm Saturday.
We have seen all that is in the itinerary for the day, and Kiara checks how we're doing. Did we get enough pictures? Yes. Need to stop for an ice cream? Want to? Yes. Need to? No.
Our tour was over except for the subway ride back to Manhattan to catch our train at New York Penn Station for the journey home to New Jersey. Just in time, as I notice my ankles starting to get a little swollen from all the walking. One more glance at the pretty green trees and one last moment to savor the sounds of chirping birds before we leave Flushing Meadows, hop on the train and are transported back into the bubbling cauldron of humanity in Times Square.
Thanks for reading,
JR