Day One in the Big Apple: 12/20/21

Greetings to all –

Here we are again with travel plans reorganized due to Covid. We nixed Japan and Korea and decided on what we thought would be a calm and safe trip – with a visit to Geneva to see family that we have not seen in two years followed by a week in Malta (whose Covid rates were very low) and then a few days in Paris. Well as things go, even this supposedly “safe” trip got turned inside out with the ever-changing Covid rules and the difficulty of traveling in Europe. So here we are in New York City! Long story, but we planned this as a backup when Europe was looking kind of dicey. Although I had just been to NY in late October, I’m always ready to head “home” to the Big Apple.

We arrived last night (December 19th) at around midnight and we are spending the first four nights at the 1 Brooklyn Bridge Hotel – a pretty chic, eco-focused hotel with rooms that support fantastic views of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. It’s located in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood. The hotel is adjacent to the somewhat new Brooklyn Bridge Park which is an amazing public amenity. Our room has a wonderfully sweeping view of the bridge, Manhattan, the park, and the ferries that now move regularly between DUMBO, Williamsburg, Wall Street, and numerous other parts of the city (predominantly Brooklyn and Manhattan). The hotel is well designed and the location is fantastic.

We started out a bit late this morning, but hell… it’s a vacation and our body time was three hours earlier than NY. We walked to the East River ferry (which is a stone’s throw from the hotel) and got off at the first stop – South Williamsburg. And then we walked about ¾ of a mile to a little restaurant called Sunday in Brooklyn (although it was Monday) for a great brunch including bloody marys… We then strolled back to the ferry through Williamsburg and along the water – gazing at how different this neighborhood is from when we knew it. In many ways, this trip is a cross between memory lane and visiting a place we know well (Brooklyn and Manhattan) but seeing it a bit like a tourist and for the first time being here without any real purpose. Together or alone, we generally (in pre-covid days) come to NY several times a year – but always either for work or to visit family and friends.. and always for short periods of time, perhaps a weekend or maybe four days at most. Anyway, as my notes will reveal, the plan is to move around a bit within the city so you’ll hear about our stays at different parts of my home town.

Following brunch and meandering a bit in Williamsburg (a totally changed neighborhood where gentrification ran rampant for the past 20 years). The neighborhood had always been considered a haven for low income Eastern European refugees, beginning after World War II, and continuing with Hasidic Jews locating there. Over the years, large populations of refugees from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic also settled there. But with the decline of heavy industry, in the 1960s, Williamsburg suffered from unemployment, crime, gang activity, and drugs and many people fled the area. For anyone who remembers the story of Serpico (the police officer who had been a major figure in exposing police corruption in NY and who was shot during a drug bust where his fellow officers didn’t call for assistance – the story was part of the movie by the same name which starred Al Pacino) – it was based in Williamsburg.

One interesting observation… Looking at Manhattan from the Brooklyn side… and from the vantage point of the ferry… the FDR Drive is now painted lavender (at least the part you can see from the water). A little research seems to indicate that NY’s Office of Economic Development seemed to feel this would have a calming effect…. On ?? Not sure if the color is seen on the Manhattan side – at least I never noticed it before.

We hopped on the ferry to make a pit stop at the hotel and then walked through Brooklyn Heights and the edge of Cobble Hill, stopping every so often to check out interesting streets in the neighborhoods, and eventually wound up at the Hertz in Boerum Hill to pick up a rental car that we will need on subsequent days.

At about 7:45 we set out to meet Frances Bronet, President of Pratt Institute for dinner at Ceslestine where we had reservations and were looking forward to the food and good conversation. We were about two blocks from the restaurant and received a call from Frances saying the restaurant was closed. Strange, since we actually had reservations and they had contacted us yesterday to confirm the reservation. So, no explanation. Fortunately we had decided to drive the short distance to the restaurant, thinking that we might not want to walk back at midnight; also that area is pretty empty at night so not really conducive to late night strolling. We all hopped into our car and headed to Fort Greene to have a very nice, quiet dinner at Osteria Brooklyn. We got caught up on all sorts of things going on at Pratt, in Brooklyn, and throughout the city. It was great to reconnect.

Arrived back at the hotel around midnight and now I’m calling it a day. Tomorrow is Mike’s birthday and we’re headed to all sorts of random parts of Brooklyn and for dinner at a new but very highly regarded restaurant. It’s sort of fun to be a tourist in your own home town!

Best to you…
Fern