On Emma’s first day here, last Saturday, we got up early to get a head start on all the things we wanted to do in Brooklyn. We had stayed up until after 3 am talking the night before, so it was a rough morning. It was also pretty cold for April and extremely windy.
First, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Emma is afraid of heights, but the Brooklyn Bridge is a good bridge for anyone who has this fear, since you don’t walk close to the edge – you walk right down the middle. You also don’t have water below you, you have another layer of cement down below (between the two way traffic lanes. It was cold and windy, so crossing was a bit of an adventure. The bridge looks much more intimidating with a sky like this:
Next, we walked to Brooklyn Heights and explored some of the former homes of famous authors.
First up was 70 Willow Street, the Adrian van Sinderen residence. It was built in the 1830s, and Truman Capote lived here in the basement apartment, and wrote many of his most famous works there.
Next up is 142 Columbia Heights, where Norman Mailer lived. He was living here at the time of his death in 2007:
We also visited No. 22 Willow Street, where Henry Ward Beecher lived (he is also a distant relative of Emma’s!):
We visited the fabulous Community Bookstore, and fell in love with its charming children’s section in the back.
Next we went up to Grand Army Plaza, and took a picture of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch before the wind pushed us out of the plaza.
Close by is the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. It’s huge and magnificent. The wind was getting out of control at this point. We watched people’s hats fly off their heads and travel 100 feet down the sidewalk. We tried to take Emma’s picture in front of the library, and as we were taking the first shot an enormous gust of wind blew the camera askew in my hands and almost knocked Emma over. We had to try another take. Here is the first attempt, and the second, successful attempt:
Further adventures and photos will be posted soon!
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