Brooklyn and a sparkling Manhattan by night

So, day one of our New York adventure kicked off with a whistle-stop tour of Brooklyn. We'd all been to New York before, but never Brooklyn, so figured we'd get stuck straight in, and round off the day with some night time photography of the Manhattan skyline from DUMBO.

Bodies still confused by time zones, we were wide awake at 5am and headed out for breakfast as soon as it was a vaguely acceptable time. We were staying in a fabulous apartment in Tribeca (more on that soon) and didn't have far to wander before we came across a fab place called Mulberry & Vine, where I had the most amazing (and healthy!) gluten-free breakfast - some kind of kale/herb frittata, followed by a pumpkin muffin. Om nom nom. Fuelled up and armed with some recommendations from an old issue of Mollie Makes we headed out to Williamsburg.

Of course, we were there far too early - things don't really get going until 12ish in this neck of the woods. So we whiled away the time and rested our aching feet in a hip french cafe, drinking lemonade out of mason jars. Followed by a gentle photo amble and some shopping. My lovely husband found a fabulous hat in Goorin Brothers - so many beautiful and impeccably made hats...

We came across lots of amazing graffiti....I just adored the cat!

From Williamsburg we headed to Park Slope and marvelled at the architecture and the halloween displays - so impressive.

We wound up in Pacific Heights and DUMBO, where there are the most fantastic views of the Manhattan skyline.

Despite seriously flagging at this point, Al and I decided to stay out to catch the sunset and grab some long exposure night time shots. I'm so glad we did. It looked so pretty as darkness fell and the lights started sparkling. We kept meaning to go and get some dinner - but there was just "one more shot" from some new vantage point - so we didn't get home or eat dinner until 10pm!!! But it was all worth it. I think the night shots were my favourite ones from the New York trip.

I didn't have room for all my photos here, so you can see the rest in my New York set on Flickr. Still plenty more to come from our other days, so watch this space!