Brooklyn Bridge; Feeling....not so good! (Thursday the 15th of August)

(pictures at the bottom)

Woke up hoping that my body had recovered the poor walking shoes and the 20 km .... but NO - that was not the case! My one leg still hurt, and I was feeling... not so well.

During the morning I started to feel less good - just like having the flu! My theory is that I had used so much energy the day before - so my immune system was completely non-existent. I took some headache pills - and some voltaren on my leg, and decided that I could not stay at home! We are in NY - so sick is not an option! Soeren was very kind and said that we of course just did everything in my pace - but I am still not sure he actually understood how crappy I felt:-) 

Brooklyn Bridge Park: 9:30 we arrived with the Metro on York St. - planning to go for a walk in Brooklyn Bridge park. We were overwhelmed by the great view over to Manhattan with the massive buildings - at the same time overwhelmed by sickness... In this park there was also a playground (like everywhere else in NY) - so we rested here for some time. I actually lay down on one of the benches - changing from sun to no sun (it was too hot in the sun - and to cold in the shadow), and then I had a rest while Kaya slept and Soeren played with Alberte.

Jane's Carousel: After a while we walked on to next stop which was Jane's Carousel - a really great carousel just down to the water with the view of Manhattan in the background. Alberte loved the ride,- and the price is $2 (http://janescarousel.com/)! We went on to eat something (I didn't!) - and by walking on in this Brooklyn park we realized that the place is huge with all kinds of cafe's, green areas and activities.  

See following web page for  all the happenings and events - www.brooklynbridgepark.org. The park was planned and put under development in 2002 by Michael Bloomberg (Mayor) and Governor George Pataki - and in 2010 first pier 1 opened to the public. It will be finished end of 2013.

There was a very nice wooden platform out in the water where we could sit and enjoy the view with an ice cream (Not for me!). The "Ice Cream Factory" makes really nice Ice Cream - we can recommend that! "Ice cream with the finest and purest natural ingredients" - (www.brooklynicecreamfactory.com).

Brooklyn Bridge: Here on after we sat down in the green grass in the shadows of some trees, and I had another rest. Then the question was: Did I feel okay to actually walk over Brooklyn Bridge? Well If I had been home - I would have been lying in bed.... but this is New York, so that was not an option!

We walked - and good thing was that the children had fallen asleep - so we could walk in peace... well not exactly peace cause there were a few other 1000 of people taking the same trip crossing the water to Manhattan - but it sure felt quiet:-)

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn over the East River

The view was fantastic, eminent, exiting, beautiful etc. - so I almost forgot that I felt bad. Watching the buildings in the back - walking over the water, it is definitely something everyone have to do when visiting NY. Kaya woke up when we were close to the other side - so then we hurried down into the shadows and relaxed for a while. I was beat, and now we just had to go home. 

Took the metro to Barclays Center - and from here we had to walk many blocks to go home from there, so I was extremely tired (next time we sure will change metro  to get closer to destination)! We all went to bed at 21PM after a very quick dinner - except Soeren, he stayed up for a while :-)

Danish Summary:

Vaagnede op og haabede at alle mine smerter var vaek, - men det var ikke tilfaeldet! Jeg foelte mig ret utilpas, og min teori er at jeg havde brugt saa meget energi at mit immun system ikke var fungerende. Jeg tog nogle hovedpine piller - og noget voltaren paa mit ben, og besluttede at jeg selvfoelgelig ikke kunne blive hjemme! Det her er jo New York! Soeren var soed ved mig, men er stadig ikke sikker paa at han helt forstod hvor daarligt jeg havde det:-)

Brooklyn Bridge Park: 9:30 ankom vi paa York St. - og havde planlagt at vi skulle gaa en tur i Brooklyn Bridge Park. Vi blev megte hurtigt overvaeldet af den vilde udsigt over til Manhattan med de utrolig store og hoeje bygninger. I parken var der ogsaa en legeplads, saa vi slappede af her i et stykke tid. Jeg laa faktisk paa en baenk i laengere tid imens Kaya sov, og Soren og Alberte legede.

Jane's Carousel: Efter et stykke tid gik vi videre hen til Jane's Karussel, som er en virkelig flot karussel der ligger lige ned til vandet med den fantastiske udsigt udover Manhattan i baggrunden. Alberte var selvfoelgelig helt tosset med karussellen! Efter en sandwich mm (ikke til mig!) gik vi stille og roligt videre i parken, og opdagede hvor stor den egentlig er - fyldt med smaa cafe'er, forskellige aktiviteter og groenne kroge. Der var ogsaa en stor trae-platform bygget ud i vandet, hvor vi kunne sidde og nyde udsigten sammen med en Is (ikke til mig!).  "Ice Cream Factory" laver virkelig god is - det kan anbefales!

Brooklyn Bridge: Herefter satte vi os i graesset i skyggen - hvor jeg igen lige fik et hvil - hvorefter spoergsmaalet var om jeg kunne klare Brooklyn Bridge den dag? Selvom jeg nok mest af alt havde brug for at ligge i sengen - saa er det her jo NY, og derfor skulle vi selvfoelgelig over broen den dag! Vi vandrede - heldigvis med 2 sovende boern - og sammen med flere 1000 andre.

Udsigten var fantastisk, eminent, spaendende og smuk osv... saa jeg glemte helt at jeg havde vaeret traet. De hoeje bygninger i baggrunden imend man vandrede over vandet var en helt speciel oplevelse - noget som alle boer goere hvis de besoeger NY. Kaya vaegnede op da der ikke var langt tilbage, saa vi skyndte os det sidste stykke - og fandt et sted i skyggen hvor vi kunne slappe af. NU var jeg traet - og vi skulle hjem!

Vi tog en metro til Barclasy Center - hvorfra vi faktisk havde et stykke hjem. Det skulle vi ikke have gjort! Jeg var helt faerdig da vi kom hjem (naeste gang skifter vi metro for at komme taet paa ende destination!) Vi gik alle i seng klokken 21.00PM efter hurtig aftensmad - undtagen Soeren som blev oppe lidt laengere.

New York is .... BIG! (Wednesday the 14th of August)

 (pictures a the bottom)

Woke up to another great day - and started of with yet another great omelet:-) Alberte always gets strawberry yoghurt and a bread with cheese - which is the only thing we can get her to eat in the morning here.

Today we had planned to go to Brighton Beach and Coney Island. We planned to walk there - without really investigating the actual distance from Park Slope. It looked like max 6 km on the map (staring at it for a few seconds) - but that is definitely not a fact!

Before going to NY - we did not know about Brighton Beach, but Lonely Planet suggested BB as one of their "Top Tips": "If you want to get a sense of what old New York was like, be sure to wander around Brighton Beach". The area is called Little Odessa (Russian district) - and the following web page describes very well all about it (http://nymag.com/guides/everything/brighton-beach/). First reason to go there was also that Coney Island (Luna Park = amusement park for kids) is a neighbour to BB. Then we were sure that also Alberte would enjoy herself.

Green-Wood; We left home and first sight on our way was a cemetery - "Green-Wood Cemetery". A National Historic Landmark founded in 1838 in Brooklyn - which at the time soon developed an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the fashionable place to be buried. The cemetery is BIG! - and in the early morning on a Wednesday we had it all to our selves. Difficult to explain the beauty of this cemetery - I can only give strong recommendations to go visit and see for yourselves, experience the great main entrance, the green trees, the green hills, the view over Manhattan, the around 560.000 graves, the Revolutionary War historic site etc. (see some pictures below).(www.green-wood.com)

Brighton Beach; Here on after we walked towards Brighton Beach... and we walked.... and we walked.... and we walked. Even though we thought we were going extremely fast - we got nowhere! The scenery that we passed was so different from what we probably will see when going to Manhattan. A lot of different cultures, a lot of Jewish people, a lot of poor people, rich neighbourhoods, poor neighbourhoods, car sales shops with the famous paper in glitter hanging over them. Actually the web page linked to above pretty much describes the whole area pretty well. It was probably like going to old New York!

After many KM when we finally came all the way down to the beach - we were pretty exhausted!! But the scenery here was beautiful. A huge beach and a wide sidewalk made in wood. It was a victory finally getting there - but we were to tired to actually enjoy it like we should have done. In the horizon we could see Coney Island (all the carousels and ferris wheel) - so we decided to just stroll down the sidewalk to this amusement park. Alberte was exited.

Getting there again took some time - distances are NOT like in Denmark. Which we of course know - but somehow did not act upon.

Coney Island / Luna Park; Well we got to Luna Park - and bought some credits so Alberte could try whatever she wanted. Lucky for me there were only 1 thing she actually dared to try (some small helicopters flying max 2 meters up and down). But then we had so many credits that was not used (40 credits for $35.... one ride was from 1-4 credits. 40 credits was minimum you could buy) - so we then used them for splashing with some water trying to win teddy bears.  Alberte and I lost twice - but then Soeren came along and won! Alberte wanted a pink teddy snake - which made her day. A group of American kids clapped at them when they won - that was so nice and Alberte was proud. (NB; Just besides Luna Park there is actually another park which is for smaller kids - which we realized after buying all the credits. So if your child is not up for huge roller coasters - the go there!). (www.coneyisland.com) (www.lunaparknyc.com)

One other thing that Soeren really wanted was to buy a hotdog at "Nathan's" on the beach. They make the original hotdog - and they are famous for it. So Soeren waited in line for some time - but it tasted good! 

Way back; It was now really late, and we so much wanted to get back - with Metro!! But suddenly we realised that we were missing the "sun screen net" for our stroller - it had somehow fallen of the stroller! Soeren went looking for it at the places we had been, but it was nowhere to be seen. I was so irritated and could not forget about it - so I insisted in going all the way back down the sidewalk to look for it. At this time my body was so tired and the legs hurt from walking, but I wanted to go back, so we did.... It was not there, and then we had to walk again to find a metro. Good thing that the kids could relax in the stroller!

Worst of all was that all day I had been wearing flat wooden sandals! And that was a mistake - cause it is not possible to walk this far without proper shoes! I learned the hard way!

Food; Finally we came back - and here we bumped into "Union Market". A paradise for food lovers (that wants to spend a lot of money!). They simply had everything - and they used extreme amount of effort to present it well. No carrot was placed randomly. We bought something for diner here - we deserved it after 20 KM (i measured when we got home). We all went to bed at 21.00 PM. (www.unionmarket.com)

This day was a day with extreme impressions - and we realized that New York is ....BIG! Including distances! 

Learning: I will never walk 20 km in wooden sandals again - cause this day actually lowered my immune system so much that I got pretty sick the next day, and my one leg hurt. 

Danish Summary:

Vaagnede op til endnu en skoen dag.Vi havde planlagt at tage til Brighton Beach og Coney Island. Vi vill gaa dertil - og havde ca regnet med at der var 6 km derhen - men det var der ikke!!

Inden vi tog til NY kendte vi ikke til Brighton Beach, men Lonly Planet foreslog dette som et af deres Top Tips, og bekrev det som at opleve "gamle New York". Omraadet kaldes Little Odessa (Russian district) - od den foelgende hjemmeside beskriver meget godt hvad det handler om (http://nymag.com/guides/everything/brighton-beach/). En af grundende til at tage derhen var ogsaa at Coney Island var nabo til Brighton Beach (Luna Park = forlystelsespark for boern). Saa var vi sikre paa at der ogsaa var noget for Alberte.

Green-Wood; Vi tog hjemmefra og foerste stop var en kirkegaard - "Green-Wood Cemetery". Et National Historisk Landemaerke funderet i 1838 i Brooklyn - som paa det tidspunkt blev internationalt kendt for sin smukhed og overdaadighed - og blev et eftertragtet sted at blive begravet. Kirkegaarden er meget stor - og en tidlige onsdag morgen havde vi det hele for os selv. Det er svaert helt at beskrive hvor smuk kirkegaarden er - kan i hvert fald kun foreslaa andre at tage derhen og opleve; det fantastiske indgangsparti, de groenne traeer, de groenne bakker, smaa stier, udsigten over Manhattan, de omkring 560.000 grave, Historiske personer og krigs histore osv. (se billeder forneden).

Brighton Beach; Herefter gik og gik og gik og gik vi.... Selvom vi syntes der var godt tempo paa, saa kom vi dog ingen steder. Alle de bydele og sceneriet vi passerede var meget forskellige - der var mange forskellige kulturer, mange joeder, mange fattige mennesker og baade rige og fattige omraeder, bilsaelgere med de kendte glitter flag over deres shops oma. Faktisk vil ovenstaende naevnte artikel/web side beskrive omraadet rigtig godt. Det var nok som at besoege gamle new york!

Efter mange km kom vi endelig til stranden - det var en sejr at naa saa langt - men vi var  udmattede! Vi skyndte os videre til Coney Island (Luna Park) - som vi kunne se i horisonten, og gik ned af den flotte strandpromenade lavet i trae.

Coney Island / Luna Park; Vi ankom til Luna pArk og koebte nogle credits, saa man kunne proeve forlystelser. Alberte turde ikke at proeve saa meget, saa vi forsoegte at skyde med vand for at vinde en bamse. Jeg var ikke saa god til det - men Soeren vandt en bamse til Alberte - til stor glaede!

En anden ting som Soeren gerne ville var at spise en hotdog ved "Nathan's" paa stranden. De laver en original hotdog, som er meget kendt. Soeren fik love til at staa i lang koe - imens vi andre 2 slappede af. Den smagte godt!

Vejen tilbage;  Det var nu blevet sent - og vi ville gerne hjem. Det gik dog pludselig op for os at vi havde tabt solskaermen til vores klapvogn! Det var lige draaben efter en lang dag - og Soeren gik tilbage og ledte alle de steder vi lige havde vaeret - men forgaeves. Det var saa irriterende at jeg insisterede i at tage hele vejen tilbage ned af strandpromenaden for at kigge efter det. Paa dete tidspunkt var jeg helt udmattet og mine ben gjorde ondt - alt imens jeg bar Kaya i baeresele...men jeg kunne ikke overtales til at give op paa solskaermen, saa vi vandrede tilbage... men der var ingen solskaerm! Nu skulle vi saa gaa igen for at finde en metro. Det var godt at boernene kunne slappe af i den klapvogn - ellers havde det varet helt uoverskueligt!

Vaerst af det hele var at jeg havde haft tynde traesandaler paa hele dagen. DET var en fejl af de helt store!

Mad; Endelig var vi tilbage paa Park Slope, og paa vej hjem kom vi forbi Union Market. Et paradis for mad elskere (der gerne vil bruge penge). De har alt - og praesenterer det flot! Der ligger ikke en gulerod forkert! Vi koebte mad her - det havde vi fortjent efter 20 km! (hvilket jeg havde maalt op da jeg kom hjem). Vi tog alle i seng kl. 21.00! (www.unionmarket.com)

Denne dag var fyldt med vilde indtryk - og vi fandt ud af at New York er stor - inkl. byens afstande! 

Dagens laering: Jeg vil aldrig gaa 20 km i trae sandaler igen - for mit immun forsvar forsvandt fuldstaendig - og jeg var syg det meste af dagen efter - og musklerne i mit ene ben gjorde meget ondt! 

 

 

Rain & Sun ( Tuesday the 13th of August )

(pictures at the bottom)

This day we woke up extremely early due to jet lag - looking at the clock it was 4.45 - but we did not get out until 5.45. We knew that it would rain - not just normal raining.... it would rain a LOT! 30 mm in one day.

Rain; Soeren made omelets for breakfast - and after a pretty relaxed morning Soeren and Alberte went out to buy water (in gallons) and an umbrella (there were only one in the apartment), and with 30 mm that is not enough. They returned with 2 raincoats, a pink princess umbrella and another Black "grown up" umbrella.... We don't fail on equipment;-)

Prospect Park; We packed - and plan was to head for Prospect Park - which lies just at the end of 12th street where we live these days. Prospect Park is a huge urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous area. A masterpiece of the landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park (Central park is much bigger - but still compared to parks in DK, Prospect park is enormous). Prospect Park features a big Long meadow, a Lake and Brooklyn’s only forest. 

To quickly summarize we actually made our selves ready to leave 3 times before we dared going out in the rain! Two times we went down the stairs and concluded it rained to much - Kaya would get so wet sitting in the stroller! We do have a water cover - but with this rain it would not be of any use. Alberte was furious - luckily cartoons in TV helped! It was 12PM before we suceeded in leaving the apartment - and then it only rained for 5 more minutes before the Sun appeared!:-)

We walked around in Prospect park for some time. We met a lot of squirrels, birds, and one eagle! Very nice scenery - with many different things to experience. First encounter was a playground - which Alberte happily used. The playground was ideal for Alberte - though everything was still quite wet.

ZOO; We then walked around in the park - heading for a carousel, but unfortunately the carousel was closed.  (It's only open Thursday to Sunday). But just beside the carousel there was a Zoo - so we decided to go there. Prospect Park Zoo is not as big as Copenhagen Zoo or Central Park Zoo, - but definitely worth the visit! Since it had rained - we pretty much had the park to ourselves - along with 25 other guests. There were all kinds of animals - and Alberte enjoyed it very much. So did the parents and Kaya. Best experience was the Sea Lion Feeding - and on top there were two cute baby sea lions. ( www.prospectparkzoo.com - adults $8 children 3-12 years $5).

Brooklyn Botanic garden; Just on the other side from the park lies Brooklyn Botanic Garden - so we decided to go there. We didn't read about this place before we got there - so we were positively surprised about the beauty of this park. And it was HUGE - just as everything else here in New York. Especially the Japanese garden was beautiful, and I can imagine what the cherry tree garden will look like when they are blossoming (late April or early May) - and then the shop they had made me want to really have green fingers and a garden (even though I have none of these - and I keep forgetting to give plants water). Really worth a visit! This day there were no admission fee - but usually there is (www.bbc.org)

This botanic garden has grown from its humble beginnings as an ash dump in the late 1800s,  and represent today the very best in urban gardening. 1897; New York State legislation reserved 39 acres for a botanic garden, and in 1910 the garden was founded - so in 2010 Brooklyn held it's 100 Years birthday. Sorry to say that the botanic garden in Copenhagen cannot compete here;-)

Food: Time had passed now - so we headed home. We had to buy some food for dinner, - and that always takes time for us! We are not fans of poor quality food - so it takes time to find. We ended up at a place called "Gather" close to home - and bought some ginger chicken with various salads. It tasted good! Prices are the same as in DK! 

We were home around 6PM, - Alberte capitulated and fell a sleep soon after we returned, so she didn't eat anything. Kaya was also pretty tired. Around 9.30PM both kids were sleeping - so we got some Rose' and started planning the next Days sights;-) In Bed around 00.00 (zzzzz)

NB: We bought a SD reader gadget - so now there are pictures as well;-)

Danish Summary:

Jeg har besluttet ogsaa at skrive paa dansk - da min mor synes jeg virkede alt for fremmed paa et andet sprog, saa nu laver jeg et lille referat:-)

Vi vaagnede tidligt pga jet lag, og var ude af sengen kl. 5.45. Vi vidst at det ville regne meget, saa vi besluttede at det var yderst vigtigt at faa koebt nok paraplyer (i lejligheden var der kun en enkelt). Alberte og Soeren kom tilbage med en paraply, 2 regnfrakker og en lyseroed prinsesse paraply:-) 30mm er meget regn!

Vi havde planlagt at tage i Prospect Park, der ligger lige for enden af den vej vi bor paa. En kaempe park i forholdt til hvad vi ser i DK - men langt mindre end Central Park. Vi naeede faktisk at vaere klar 3 gange foer vi bevaegede os ud i regnen, da det simpelthen regnede for meget. Alberte var ikke glad - men med tegnefilm i TV saa overlevede hun.

Klokken blev 12.00 inden vi tog afsted, og regnen gik faktisk vaek efter 5 min. - og solen kom frem. Vi vandrede rundt i Prospect Park - med foerste besoeg paa en legeplads, og paa den videre tur moedte vi mange egern, fugle og endda ogsaa en stor oern! Det var planen at vi skulle paa en karusel i parken - men den var lukket, saa vi tog i stedet i Zoo som laa lige ved siden af. Prospect park Zoo er meget lille, men ogsaa hyggelig - og vi havde det meget for os selv (sammen med 25 andre gaester). Der var alle mulige dyr - men bedste oplevelse var fodring af soeloeverne, og der var endda to smaa soede baby soeloever.

Herefter tog vi i Brooklyns Botaniske have - som var utrolig flot! Vi havde ingen forventninger overhovedet - men blev meget positivt overraskede. Haven var kaempe - og havde saa mange foskellige afdelinger at man slet ikke kunne naa at se det hele hvis vi havde vaeret der hele dagen. Specielt den japanske have og kirsbaertrae haven var smukke (kirsebaertraerne var ikke i blomst - men man kunne forestille sig det). Denne have er i den grad vaerd at besoege, og i 2010 var haven 100 aer gammel.

Vi tog herefter hjem med mad koebt som takeaway - Alberte faldt om med det samme, og omkring 9.30 sov begge boern. Soeren og jeg brugte resten af aftenen paa at planlaegge dagen efter. Klokken 00.00 sov vi alle.