Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

On our trip to New York last month, I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge with my son (in his stroller). This was my third trip to NYC, yet my first walk across the famed bridge. It was only during this third trip that I realised it may be possible to cross the bridge on foot, and after clarifying that fact, I knew I couldn't leave NYC without first doing it. This realisation only hit me at the end of our only weekend in the city, so I had to do the bridge crossing without hubby, not able to share the load of pushing a stroller with a not-so-light child in it. That was one of the many times during our trip that I was grateful we hadn't left the stroller behind at home in Hong Kong, because although our almost-4-years-old kid loves to run, he most definitely wouldn't have been able to make it across the whole 1.8km length on foot (and then back again), and I wasn't going to try walking that length carrying a 16kg load - plus all the other kiddy baggage that comes with him - on my arms. It took me 45 minutes to reach Brooklyn, stopping many times for photo-taking. We were blessed with glorious weather that Monday, and there weren't many tourists, pedestrians and cyclists on the bridge. If I were to do it one-way only, I would take the Metro subway into Brooklyn, walk the bridgetowards Manhattan and enjoy the city skyline along the way.

Brooklyn-bound on the Brooklyn Bridge (click image for larger view):

Clearly marked lanes for pedestrians and cyclists:

Looking south-west towards Governors Island. The Statue of Liberty is also visible from this viewpoint (click image for larger view):

An acquaintance had suggested having an ice cream once we got to the Brooklyn end of the bridge, and that idea stuck with me. At the end of the Brooklyn Bridge, there is a diner across the road by the traffic light, called Celeste Diner. The diner wasn't really anything special, but it sure was nice sitting down in air-conditioned comfort after walking for the past hour in the sun from our downtown hotel. The ice cream also wasn't anything special with only three basic flavours to choose from, but it was a yummy cool treat.

Inside Celeste Diner:

Our mid-morning snack - a scoop of chocolate ice cream. We ordered a strawberry-flavoured one shortly after:

I leave you with a panoramic shot of the Manhattan skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge. It really was a beautiful day that day.

Click image for a larger view: