After a morning spent around Washington Square, the West Village, the World Trade Center monuments (the first time my wife had been there since 9/11 happened) and Wall Street, we decided to take the long walk across the very famous (and rightly so) Brooklyn Bridge. Pedestrians walk above the cars, but it was still very busy with people. The sky was busy too, clouds and sunlight intermingling. We took a lot of photos. Once we reached the end it was a bit of a walk around to DUMBO, the area named after the elephant (not after a political leader, as you might think). Actually it stands for ‘Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass’ which is a pretty brilliant acronym if you ask me. Literally anything else, they could have called it. It’s like renaming the South Bank in London, what shall we call it? How about ‘Thames Waterside Area Trail’, or ‘Along the River’s South Embankment’. Still DUMBO it is now, until a better name comes along. It started raining when we got there, and the view became a bit foggier, so we went inside the Time Out Market Food Court, which had a lot of choices. I had this very spicy fried chicken for some reason. Our legs were feeling distressed and ready for a sleep, so after a little look along the waterfront and a few photos, we decided to get the Subway back to Chelsea. Then I looked back as the rain was stopping and decided, wait I’m probably not going to be back here for ages. How about I skip the late afternoon nap and sketch this? So I did, while the family went back to rest at the hotel. I mean, what a view. This is one of the world’s best views. The last time I was here it was like being in the Arctic, and the time before it was so foggy I couldn’t even see across the river, so I took advantage of the momentary good weather. I sketched the view above, looking out to the new World Trade Center building. You can’t get this far in the Spider-Man game, it blocks you off halfway across the bridge. Brooklyn Bridge is older than Tower Bridge, and those iconic cathedralesque arches give you a chill as you walk beneath them. I also stood down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass to draw the iconic view of that bridge (which I have sketched before on a trip 17 years ago). This time I caught it with the outline of the Empire State Building in the distance. I had to get back over there to rest before going out to see a show on Broadway, so once I was done I looked for the Subway, and left Brooklyn behind. It would be nice to explore Brooklyn a bit more some day, it’s so big.