30 Days in NYC (Day 6) - Brownstone Brooklyn & Prospect Park

 

On day 6 it's back to Brooklyn to explore some of the historic neighborhoods and major landmarks of the city's most populous borough. Brooklyn was once an independent city with its own government, parks, landmarks, and culture. Brooklyn grew up around its waterfront and the ferries to New York, but with the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, development multiplied in Brooklyn. Day 6's itinerary covers some of Brooklyn's most notable historic landmarks as well as neighborhoods that have become some of the trendiest in the city. This is an itinerary best done on a weekend to take advantage of programs like the Brooklyn Flea Market.

DAY 6 - Prospect Park and Brownstone Brooklyn

Morning: Head to Grand Army Plaza to start the day. Don't confuse this with the landmark of the same name on 5th Ave in Manhattan. Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza is New York's answer to the Champs-Elysees. It's not quite up to the grandeur of Paris, but it's not too shabby either. As Flatbush Avenue approaches Prospect Park a large traffic circle forms around New York's biggest triumphal arch, the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument. The arch was built to honor the fighters for the Union in the American Civil War and is actually much bigger and grander than the Washington Arch in Manhattan . This is the central intersection of Brooklyn and it also forms the northern entrance to Prospect Park, Brooklyn's 585 acre emerald jewel.
   Prospect Park was designed by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead in 1865. Both were in the midst of building their first project, Manhattan's Central Park, when they were brought in to propose a new plan for the new Brooklyn park. They proposed a realignment of the park's borders and designed a sylvan, rustic park in the same style as Central Park. Vaux and Olmstead's parks heavily borrowed from nature and shunned formal architecture. In Manhattan, they had been forced to create many small natural spaces but in Brooklyn they amplified their design scheme and created three major landscapes: a large lake and shoreline, a rugged woodland, and the first sight when you enter Prospect Park the Long Meadow. The designer's themselves thought the Prospect Park design superior to Central Park and many New Yorkers agree. Have a walk through the meadow, which undulates and winds almost a mile down the spine of the park. Just past the picnic house on the right, you'll see a lake and stream on the left side of the meadow. Cross the rustic Esdale Bridge into the Ravine. This is a rugged, rocky, hilly forest built onto the natural glacial hills of Long island. These hills provided a line of defense during the Revolutionary War and George Washington led the ill-fated Battle of Long Island among these hills in Prospect Park and the surrounding neighborhoods. The Ravine is easy to get lost in so stick to following the stream downriver through the woods. Eventually you'll reach the beautiful Prospect Park Boathouse. From here you can walk behind the boathouse and exit the park.

30 Days in NYC (Day 5) - Midtown Manhattan II

   Day 3's activities took in the stretch of Midtown south of 42nd Street. Now, it's time to partner that with the stretch of Midtown north. This is the busiest business district in North America and is always jammed with crowds of workers and tourists. Weekdays often mean shorter lines at museums and attractions, but they also mean surges of office workers on the sidewalks in the morning and evening rush hour, and especially around lunch. So just be wary of those lunch crowds and you'll be all set. Grab a hearty breakfast before setting out and head over to Rockefeller Center

DAY 5 - Midtown North

Morning: Start the day exploring Rockefeller Center. This is one of the greatest architectural treasures of New York City. The complex cover three blocks between 51st and 48th Streets and was built during the depths of the Great Depression. It's a masterpiece of understated Art Deco design, but is also one of the most forward-thinking commercial spaces ever built. Rockefeller Center was built so that it's buildings would all gracefully fit together. It was designed with public promenades and gardens, and even some private gardens on rooftops. There's places to sit, shops to visit, and a large underground concourse of shops and services. It was built with truck loading bays and subway connections underground so the sidewalks aren't quite as packed with trucks and office workers as other parts of Midtown. And since it opened in 1933, it has housed NBC studios. If you arrive before 9 AM, you'll be able to check out the broadcast of Today that usually wraps up with a number of outdoor segments. I've gone by around 9:00 before and always found there to be lots of space from which to watch the last few segments as they're broadcast live to the whole East Coast. Inside the GE Building (aka 30 Rock) there is the studios of The Tonight Show, NBC Nightly News, Saturday Night Live, and other NBC classics. There are studio tours offered but it's hard to know exactly what you'll see on the tour. Tours obviously don't get into studios that are in use. So it can be fun or a disappointment depending on what you see. More reliable is the tour of Radio City Music Hall, which is a world icon of Art Deco and coordinated kicking. The theater is sparklingly restored and the opportunity to see it without seeing a show is worthwhile.  Tours run every half hour and take a little more than an hour.