Hello Brooklyn

      Our second class finally arrived and I was extremely excited to visit Bodacious Brooklyn! It began with a LONG train ride on the F train as we headed to the famous Coney Island. When we finally arrived I could already see the energy and beauty of the place as I saw the huge wall painting that welcomed us to Coney. We met up with the group, and Mike told us a bit of history on Coney. It was settled by the Dutch, who named it Konij Eiland after the large amounts of rabbits they found! (BG, p 492). Many may wonder why it is referred to as an island, in fact Coney was once an island, but was joined to the mainland by landfill early in the 20th century making it now a peninsula (BG, p 492).                                                                        
                                                                              
    We began walking on the boardwalk and saw the beautiful beach that layed ahead of us. It was a gorgeous day, and I wanted to dive right into the water!. As we went our separate ways to explore Coney I immediately started heading towards Nathans! After all Coney Island is the birthplace of the hot dog (BG p. 492). The hot dog and fries were delicious, I was glad to eat there again because the last time I had a hot dog from Nathans was when I was 7 years old! After we ate we decided to explore a flea market, and I was able to buy a much needed toy for my godson. You could not beat the cheap prices! We ended our Coney exploration with delicious ice  cream and full tummies. Coney Island had a relaxed, historic vibe that makes it unique and such a wonderful place to spend the day.

   

      After the lovely time spent at Coney Island we had to keep it moving onto our second stop of the day. As we entered a train station entrance I thought we were going to hop on another train, however this train entrance is actually the New York Transit Museum! Run by the Metropolitan Transit Authority since 1976, it includes exhibits on buses, bridges, and tunnels, but the emphasis is on the subway (BG, p 468). It was amazing to see all past train cars and buses. I loved the anterior of the trains, and the adds that were on the trains in those days. I enjoyed the large amount of information our tour guide gave us, including the harsh and dangerous conditions that these workmen had to undergo. My favorite part was reading the signs that spoke about how the subway system has transitioned since it was first created. Back in 1904 when the first subway line ran a hot dog was only 5 cents! It was a very rewarding experience having hands on activities such creating all the electricity necessary to power a train!  

                    

     Although I wished we could have stayed at the New York Transit Museum we had to continue on our adventure in Brooklyn Heights. As we walked we learned about the three important styles of architecture: Neo-classical, Neo-Gothic, and Art Deco. We arrived at the Brooklyn Borough Hall , and discussed the fact that the large columns make it a Neo-classical type of architecture. As we continued to walk we passed by a couple of churches, including Spencer Memorial Church. We discussed that most of the churches are created in Neo-Gothic architecture, they are tall pointy, and have stained glass. It is no surprise to encounter many churches in Brooklyn, since it was once known as the "City of Churches" for the countless houses of worship that had sprung up (BG, p. 462). We continued to walk and arrived at the Brooklyn Historic Society which was founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society (BG, p 472). This society has preserved important artifacts, documents, and photographs of Brooklyn. Its current exhibit Inventing Brooklyn had pretty interesting things such as weapons used during the Battle of Brooklyn! My favorite part of this tour was the Othmer Library, the library inside the historic society. It was a very elegant, gorgeous library that definitely has been preserved and taken care of quite well. It is open to members, and it contains tons of books and articles on Brooklyn. We then had a very informative walking tour in which we walked through Montague Street, named after English writer Lady Mary Wortly Montague (BG, p. 472). We continued unto the Promenade and I was able to see the statue of Liberty!

        

   We continued towards our final stops, DUMBO and The Brooklyn Bridge. I had actually never heard of DUMBO before, this was something quite new to me. DUMBO actually stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. It had excellent views of both Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge, and great places to eat, including Jacques Torres Ice Cream, which I was dying to try!

After our pitt stop for ice cream we continued on to the Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in May 25, 1883 and was considered one of the world's greatest wonders, taking 14 years to build and costing $15 millions dollars (BG, p. 464). We walked the 1.43 mile walk and took great shots on the bridge. It was a nice day to walk, and I always enjoy walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Although I was tired at the end of the day I was glad to say I walked the bridge and enjoyed the day.