Brooklyn Botanic Garden Wander

The cherry blossoms were just a shade past full bloom, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a short 15min walk from my apartment, and free on Saturdays from 10-12, so I headed over there for the first time in over a year for a little wander.
  
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Prospect Park Snowicane Wander

There was another huge snow storm in New York again today, making this the snowiest February of all time with 36.9 inches (that's 93.7cm for those of you who abandoned the British empire and joined the 19th century) and the 4th snowiest winter of all time. 53cm fell in central park; that's a lot of snow for a city with no where to push it.
Again, work was cancelled, my YMCA closed earily, and the city generally ground to a halt. So I went on another Prospect Park Wander. I love Prospect Park, and there's something so fun about when a city the size of New York shuts down and all the kids between the ages of 1-27 go sledding in the park.

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I didn't get out till the afternoon, after the snow had stopped and the sun had come out. I wandered across 8th street toward the park.

Coney Island Wander

I had always heard about Coney Island from the movies. When I first got to New York it was actually the only place I'd heard of in Brooklyn. So in November 2008, I decided to make my first trip to the borough and visit Coney Island.
I was expecting a big cheezy amusement park. But when I got off the subway I was struck by what a shithole the place was. Granted, it was November, but I was expecting some sort of life. Everything seemed shuttered and covered in graffiti - maybe I was too used to the Upper East Side. I didn't take many pictures because I was still in a phase of only taking pictures of the tourist attractions. I'm planning on heading out there again now that I've been here a while to see how my impressions have changed, and to get some pictures before the whole place gets redeveloped.

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Atlantic Yards & Brooklyn Flea Wander

In case you haven't been following it, there is a huge 5-billionish dollar development called Atlantic Yards planned on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn,where the neighbourhoods of Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and Boerum Hill intersect. The centerpiece is the new Barclays Center, where the New Jersey Nets are supposed to move in 2012 (is it just me or is this the least talked about, most uncontroversial professional sports team relocation ever?). Basically an uber-rich developer (Bruce Ratner) wants to tear down a bunch of old dilapidated buildings, 1 bar, 1 nice brownstone, and a homeless shelter, cover over a rail yard, and build the stadium along with a mixed use facility on top . As they always seem to do here, the locals have freaked out about the plan; gentrification of the railyard, box store squeezing out mom and pop, no parking during games, streets unsafe for park slope kids, etc. They sued Ratner about 478 times and tried to perform a citizens arrest. There is an insane amount written about this project, so take your pick if you want to get the details. Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn seems to be the biggest organized opponent.

Prospect Park Snowpocalypse Wander

If there's 1 thing I've noticed about New York since I moved here it's how SOFT New Yorkers are. 0 degrees (32 F for you imperialists) is not frigid, it's winter. 1 foot of snow is not a blizzard, its snow. This is the North East. If you can't handle 0 degrees & 1 foot of snow, then head to California.

So today was the hundred year blizzard - Snowpocaplypse. The city was shut down. Schools were closed long before the first flake fell, my YMCA closed shop, and my work locked the doors and told me to stay home. I'm not going to complain about that, so with a beautiful Snow Day, I wandered out to Prospect Park via Park Slope -- somehow I made it back alive.

Click here for the wander map.