13 Aug 2022
We always wanted to visit Brooklyn each time we traveled to Manhattan. My wife found this City Unscripted tour online thru Viator. We thought it would give us a good overview of different areas of Brooklyn. In that regard, it did. The walking tour focused on the Dumbo, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods.
Our tour guide (private) met us at our hotel and helped us get to our tour destinations. That was much easier for us than meeting her at a specific spot in Brooklyn (another option). We began in Williamsburg and walked down to the Domino Park area, including the historical Domino Sugar refinery, which is undergoing a renovation. Walking along there and the park with views of the East River was interesting, but probably the less popular for us. From there, we walked a distance thru some neighborhood blocks to a small ferry boat area, where we got onboard to get to the Dumbo area and of course the Brooklyn Bridge section.
We really enjoyed this area and it included the Time Out Market, Jane's Carousel in a small park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the famous Manhattan Bridge spot where "Once Upon America" was filmed. For us, this was the best part of the tour. Our guide really took her time with us and pointed out different spots of interest.
We then found our walking way to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade area to get great views of Manhattan and the Battery. This was a nice area to take in. From there, we walked quite a bit more to arrive at Spike Lee's famous "Forty Acres and a Mule" offices. The exterior facade of the building is quite decorated with everything Spike Lee. our last stop not too far there was Barclays Center in Brooklyn. We just took a photo from the outside and did not go in.
Our tour guide then gave us directions to return to Manhattan on the subway from Barclays. Unfortunately, her directions did not exactly work for us and we ended up somewhat frustrated with figuring out which subway to take back. Needless to say, we finally figured it out and got back not too far from our hotel.
Just be prepared to walk alot.