Self-guided tour

It was too nice to stay indoors on Monday, so I took out a couple cards from a box of self-guided walking tour cards my sister gave me for my birthday (thanks Keri!) and decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and head through Chinatown, Little Italy and the Lower East Side. Much better than sitting at the computer looking for jobs and typing emails. Here is the beginning of my journey across the Brooklyn Bridge. It is such a beautiful bridge and to think it was built in the 1870s (opened in 1883). It was also a nice clear day, so I took lots of pictures...

Downtown Manhattan and South Street Seaport to the left.

Empire State Building and Manhattan Bridge to the right.

Another shot of mid-town and the Empire State Building.

The sights and smells of Chinatown. These crabs are alive, by the way.

Chinatown streets.

Confucius Plaza

Street Market at Confucius Plaza. If I knew how to cook this stuff I would come here a lot. Everything looked very fresh and good.

Mulberry Street is the heart of Little Italy. They close down the streets to cars at night during the summer months. Luckily Katie knows some good places because I don't have any idea how you would be able to choose where to eat on this street, there are so many Italian restaurants.

Some kids cooling off in a park on the Lower East Side.

The tenement buildings of the Lower East Side. During the late 1800s, immigrants would flock to the Lower East Side and would live in these crowded tenement apartments. They usually consisted of three rooms (front room, kitchen, bedroom) and often would house entire extended families and other boarders. Kind of reminds me of college.