A friend of mine from Bologna, Italy, (actually a friend whom I first got to know through an Italian language internet forum, then became e-mail buddies, then met him in Italy two years ago and we went on day trips together for a week), will be visiting the USA for two weeks next month. He'll be staying with a friend from home who has an apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

I know absolutely nothing about Greenpoint except the little that I just learned within the past half hour from some web sites:
http://www.greenpointusa.com/
http://www.brooklyn.net/neighborhoods/greenpoint.html
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/realesta...lliamsburg.htm
http://www.tripadvisor.com/GetawayDe..._New_York.html
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GPT/gpt.htm
http://www.gothamgazette.com/searchlight/dist33.shtml
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/80ac5/ccf6a/
http://www.gritt.net/Images/Snapshots/greenpointbig.jpg
http://www.travelogues.net/Brooklyn/...greenpoint.htm
http://www.greenpt.com/

I was born in Brooklyn and lived in Bensonhurst as a young child (long ago), also as a small child was taken on daytrips to Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island, I worked one summer in Brooklyn Heights when I was in my 30s, and I have been to the Brooklyn Museum several times but not recently. That's it for my familiartiy with Brooklyn--limited to southern Brooklyn, and I know that Greenpoint is in the north.

In addition to seeing NYC, of course, my friend plans to drive to NJ few times and would like to meet me in the Trenton/Princeton area for dinner. I'm someone who HATES to drive in cities or in heavy traffic or in fast traffic in unfamiliar places, so to me, that sounds just awful. But even without my extreme prejudice against unpleasant drives, it seems that driving from north Brooklyn all the way to west/central NJ in late afternoon and then back at night would be a bad idea. My own suggestion would be for him to take the train to my area of NJ in the a.m. and I could take a day or two off and take him to places of interest (to him) in NJ all day long, and then leave him off at the train to get back to NYC at night.

I'm seeking any personal opinions and experience about getting around from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. How long would it take to get to Penn Station, NYC, from there by subway? Is it safe to arrive back in Greenpoint late at night? How would the drive from Greenpoint to NJ be, for someone who isn't a chicken driver like me?

I know that my friend has some very specific interests in NJ that are not typical tourist interests. He is well informed about history and very interested in Pterson because of the history of immigration of Italian silk workers from the Como area and the anarchist activities of a group of these north Italian silk workers in Como. As a huge Springsteen fan, he's also very interested in Asbury Park, though I have told him about the current sad state of Asbury Park. I could take him to Asbury Park in about an hour's drive if he took the train to my area, but I think it would be easier for him to reach Paterson from New York. any suggestions re transportation to either place, from his base in Greenpoint.

Thanks for reading this long, rather unusual inquiry, if you got this far.

P.S. Is the subway system pretty good in that neighborhood?

Well, i do not have much info on Greenpoint, but I remember Asbury Park so well from summer trips to visit my grandmother who had a summer place down there.
I understand that Asbury Park is undergoing a real rejuvination too lately. I think this was from an article in Smithsonian Magazine.

Paterson, my mom was born there, and infact her grandfather was sent over from Germany in the 1870s to run a silk factory.

Have fun !
Now it is your turn to play tour guide

I have a couple of close friends living in Greenpoint. It's home to a large Polish community and you can get the best pirogi in NY at many of the inexpensive restaurants. The neighborhood is generally safe at all times.

Subway is tough - you can get the G train and transfer to the L at Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, then pick up almost any line in Manhattan at the Union Square, Sixth Ave, or Eigth Ave stations. The L runs across 14th Street in Manhattan.

You can also take the G a few stops to it's terminus in Queens and transfer for the E and either V (maybe F) and take those trains into Manhattan.

Depending where you are in Greenpoint, you can get a bus or walk down Bedford Ave to the L train.

I know less than you but thought you might want to have a look at the subway map

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/submap.htm

The L train that Allan mentions stops at 14 st where there's also a PATH train stop. Don't know if that would help or not.

I'm not sure whether my friend will use the subway map, but I will! I sued to have piles on them (in paper), but tey seem to be hard to find lately.

It sounds like he'll be in a nicer safe area, but not a convenient on as a starting point for long excursions beyond New York. For that reason, maybe I shouldn't discourage him from driving, if he's brave.

Yes, I've also heard that Asbury Park is being rejuvenated, but I haven't gone to look. He hasn't mentioned whether he plans to see Paterson and Asbury Park, but I have a feeling that might still be his intention.I should try to do some reading before he comes on the hisotry of the anarchist movenet and silk industry in Paterson, so I'll be up on these things if I play tour guide.