emcash

If your daughter likes chocolate, lunch or dinner at Max Brenner's in Union square might be fun if you're headed downtown. You could take a subway to the union square station and it's right there (make a res first on open table). Maybe on your way to the tenement museum? Or, if you'd like your daughter to go to NYU, go to brenners then walk to washington square park, which i just really love. If she likes books, The Strand bookstore is right in that area where brenner's is. It boasts 18 miles of books!

doug_stallings

The Brooklyn Bridge is about a 15-minute walk from the Ellis Island ferry. So if you want to pair Ellis Island with something that would be a good day to do it. Wall Street, Federal Hall, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Trinity Church, the 9/11 National Memorial, Century 21 (a discount department store that will have little, sadly, for your daughter), J&R (the excellent discount electronics stores along Park Row), the World Financial Center, and Shake Shack downtown are all in the same general area. A bit further east along Fulton Street is the South Street Seaport, which will have more shops that will interest your daughter, though in truth it's really touristy and not so interesting. You could also walk up to Chinatown after the Brooklyn Bridge if you just walk halfway to Brooklyn and then return.

I just can't recommend going all the way to Brooklyn and then walking back over the bridge. That's a very long walk (well over a mile), and the approach to the Bridge on the Brooklyn side isn't that interesting to me. You're far better off walking out from the Manhattan side.

sf7307

We really enjoyed John's (we tried the one on 44th Street). Our current favorite is Keste (Bleecker Street). Going to try 3 or 4 more next time we're there!

tamaraten

To everyone who suggested TOTR: halleluya, I decided that's what we're doing first!!! (Okay, now just 8 more days to plan!). I do believe it's going to be a great first-thing to do, and skatedancer, I did decide along with that to just stroll, including to Central Park. I think we'll still have plenty of sunlight, so that should be fine.

centralparkgirl: Another decision - we will go to the Apple on 5th at some point when we're strolling along 5th. It sounds too good to pass up, and in any event, we can just go in and out if it's crazy busy - I think the point is just to check out the building. Even if crowded, I'm sure it's still cool as anything.

emcash- "likes chocolate"? She's a certified chocoholic. She would just die to go to a place like Max Brenner's - if it works out, we'll check it out. Thanks for telling me about it.

Doug_Stallings - Wow, you're original! I think in all of the reviews I read about the Brooklyn Bridge, the recommendation is always to walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan. You're the first person (I've read) who is saying the opposite - I'm intrigued! Now you've given me a whole new perspective (and literally, if I do it as you've suggested!). I wanted to pair Ellis Island with BBridge, but I really thought of going to Brooklyn first. But you pose a very interesting alternative. This way, we'd still see the Manhattan skyline when we walk back...

What do people think about it? (although of course, I'd then pass on Grimaldi's and BICFactory...which I understand from many of you is overrated.

Before the above suggestion, my thought for one of our days was to do Ellis Island first thing, then get to Brooklyn (to Grimaldi's and BICF), then over bridge and then WTC Memorial or something else in the downtown area if we have any energy left, but not mandatory. But now, you've given me a whole other way of thinking about this.

And then I thought on another day, doing the Tenement Museum, China Town, and areas around there.

Also, if I've done the ferry to Ellis Island, do you think doing the ferry on another day to Staten Island is overkill?

Comments? and thank you again.

Lookin_Glass

Although I don't understand Doug's logic as walking either way will entail the same path. . . since 9/11, I have told people to walk from Manhattan as a pilgrimage to the exodus we all witnessed that day/night as well as the big blackout of 2003.

musicfan

We did as Doug suggests and walked from the Manhattan side almost all the way to the Brooklyn side and then back. While I think we would have enjoyed the areas in the immediate proximity of the Brooklyn side (like the Promenade), it was brutally hot and sunny, and we got to see some great views. Also, they are doing construction on the Manhattan side so the large and ugly construction barriers are an inconvenience.

tamaraten

musicfan - not sure I understand. If they're doing construction on Manhattan side, how does walking from the Manhattan side help? Or did I not get what you said?

musicfan

It doesn't help, really...I just wanted you to be aware of it. Although we would have probably walked the same distance regardless, the barriers on the Manhattan end did get in the way of the view so we had to go farther out to be able to see. Does that make sense? Sorry to be unclear.

tamaraten

Got it, musicfan!. So are you voting then for starting on the Brooklyn side because of the construction?

Bowsprit

Of course you should start walking from the Brooklyn side or you will simply be walking the bridge to Brooklyn as you look over your shoulder for the mind blowing views of Manhattan. If it's too much to walk bothe ways (it might be) you can take a cab or train into Brooklyn then walk back to Manhattan.

If the views of Manhattan are compromised because of the construction, don't bother with this walk at all. You'll get a great view of Manhattan if you have lunch or dinner at The River Cafe' or if you take a Circle Line Cruise from the Seaport.

musicfan

Not necessarily, especially as I have no idea what's involved in getting to the Brooklyn side to get started; if Doug says that starting in Manhattan is the way to go, I would go with him--he lives there and works for Fodor's!

Aduchamp1

You want to walk from the Brooklyn side to the Manhattan side. Unless you are a Jehovah Witness and want to see your world headquarters, all the other reasons are compelling to see Manhattan.

Lookin_Glass

Oh don't suck up to Doug the Editor muicfan! He posted that about an easy 15 minute walk and then posted about a very long walk, well over a mile. A quick mile walk takes 15, a normal walking mile takes 20.

So please Doug the Editor, explain your opinion on why it is better to walk one way on the same path and how that makes the path easier. To me it is simply a direction of walking.

AmericanGuestHouse

The first thing we did was to do the Hop-On/Hop-Off Tour Bus but we didn't hop-off at all on the first day because we really wanted to have a general idea of the city, its neighborhoods, street's, people, it's atmosphere in general and it was worth every penny we paid.

NeoPatrick

I agree with AmericanGuestHouse. The open top bus gets such a bad rap, but there is no better way to SEE the layout of the city and the major sights within a couple of hours. Sure it's not the best way to travel around in the city but that's not the point.

Now I'll admit that I've never done it -- not even sure if they had them when I first started going to NYC (maybe by chariot?), but for a first time visitor -- I'd say it's ideal!

Bowsprit

You want to walk from the Brooklyn side to the Manhattan side. Unless you are a Jehovah Witness and want to see your world headquarters, all the other reasons are compelling to see Manhattan.
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How's the weather in NYC today, Aduchamp?
The Jehovah Witness headquarters was all I could picture in my mind as they walked, walked, walked over the bridge to have marginal pizza at Grimaldi's. Anyway, I look forward to Doug's clarification.

doug_stallings

The approach to the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn entails (for me) a very long, inhospitable walk. It's not pretty scenery, and unless you have a compelling reason to be there (and there are a lot of compelling things to see in Brooklyn), you can much more easily walk half way out from the Manhattan side (about 10 minutes as opposed to perhaps 3 or 4 times as long walking from the subway on the Brooklyn side), see the view, and then come back. I've done both. If it's hot, I really wouldn't recommend the walk from the Brooklyn side.

To get there from the Brooklyn side, take the subway to High or Clark and then head for the bridge. Brooklyn Bridge Park is actually very nice and worth seeing, but it's underneath the bridge on the waterfront, so you don't pass through it on this walk. You have to go through Cadman Plaza. I'd guess it would take a normal person about 45 minutes to do the whole walk from Brooklyn over to Manhattan (that's really long to me), when you can do the best part in half the time by starting from Manhattan and then walking back.

I have no stake in this argument, but I've done it from both sides, and unless you want to do something over in Brooklyn, then it's just not worth it (for me at least).

Aduchamp1

The Hop On bus costs $40-45 per person.
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It is rainy and windy in NYC today, not a day for the Bridge in either direction.

And I too think there is better pizza than Grimaldi's.

Bowsprit

ellenem

I agree with Doug: I've walked the Brooklyn Bridge innumerable times, starting from both ends, but share his opinion of the long, boring walk as you climb from the Brooklyn side to the middle--it also seems longer and steeper to me. OK, so some has said that when walking from the Manhattan side you are facing Brooklyn, but when I walk toward Brooklyn I'm always looking to the side, down toward the seaport, further away toward the harbor, toward the upriver bridges, or at the lovely architecture of the bridge arches and cables. And the parts of Brooklyn I can see--the promenade, the river-side park, DUMBO--look interesting to me, too. For me the walk to the middle from the Manhattan side seems consistently more interesting and shorter. And then you turn around and head back to Manhattan, with all its glory before you.

tamaraten, I had totally the same reaction to the Eiffel Tower. I love TOTR and have no fears when visiting there--no sense of hanging in mid air like the Eiffel Tower. You are firmly on top of a building with very safe-feeling enclosures. In at least a dozen visits, my longest wait to get in an elevator was about 8 minutes. If you also plan to go to MoMA, check how the combined TOTR/MoMA works--it is a good value.