I recently read an article describing how many places and apartments in Brooklyn are now more expensive to rent than in Manhattan. This development has made Brooklyn hip and cool, and many tourists coming to New York don’t only spend all of their vacation visiting Manhattan. They’ve expanded their horizon to Brooklyn, which is now past up-and-coming and now instead has become the place to be. I, myself, love Brooklyn, its streets with big trees and brownstone houses, the culture, the different people that all live here together, and the fact that due to the multi-cultural scene here, you can walk one block and have ten different restaurants that all serve different food from all over the world. That is the real New York City! I have her collected some of my personal favorite + the most vital things to do when in Brooklyn, NYC. Here it goes: Seven Cool Things To Do in Brooklyn, New York City – don’t miss out on it!

Seven cool things to do in Brooklyn

♥ Brooklyn Heights promenade + Dumbo walk

Take a couple of hours to do a long walk around the coast of Brooklyn – from Brooklyn heights to Dumbo. On that walk you will pass the amazing townhouses overlooking the water that separates Brooklyn from Manhattan and the Manhattan skyline. Lucky bastards that live here! After that you will reach the Brooklyn bridge park, and you can see two of the great New York City bridges, Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge which are both amazing. Walk further and you will reach Dumbo – which stands for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Dumbo is a cool area, and here (especially addressed to Gossip Girl fans) Dan’s iconic apartment can be found on Washington Street/Water street). This exact spot gives you a great view to Manhattan Bridge, and if you look closely you can discern Empire State Building in between the bridge. 

♥ Walk – or even bike the Brooklyn Bridge

It simply has to be on this list, because a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge will never get old. The bridge is more than iconic, and regardless if you have already tried walking it or not, a second walk over the bridge will never lose its beauty. 

♥ Try the biggest ice cream at Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain 

An ice cream store inside of an old pharmacy that serves the biggest ice cream creations and sundaes ever seen? Of course you have to go there! Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain is a full on cool spot. It has a cute pink bench sitting outside, and on the inside the original remains and interior from the pharmacy can still be found. Brooklyn Farmacy serves both food, massive milkshakes, insane cakes, and offers some extreme choices when it comes to ice cream – try a sundae of broken dreams: a sundae that combines sweet and salty with vanilla ice cream, pretzels, whipped cream and caramel sauce. The ice cream creations also come in half sizes if you are afraid that you will die of a sugar overdose. 

513 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231, USA

♥ Take a walk on Fulton Street 

If you want to see the original, real and authentic Brooklyn, Fulton Street in Bedstuy is the place to go to. This lively street is the place where you will see people from all over the world all busy walking around, shopping, talking, eating. This is the place where you can buy cheap and cool sneakers, find inexpensive clothes, get your nails done, your hair cut, try cheap eyelash extensions, eat fried chicken or simply just enjoy the atmosphere of real Brooklyn. Tourists are definitely a more rare thing here than most other places in NYC. 

♥ Visit The Brooklyn Museum for great art exhibitions

Not only is the Brooklyn Museum located on a beautiful street in a beautiful building, the museum is also a great place to go. The museum holds a mix of permanent exciting collections as well as creative temporary exhibitions. Pay Brooklyn Museum a visit and get to see art from old age Egyptian time to exhibitions as Basquiat’s private notebooks or the rise of sneaker culture. 

200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY 11238, USA

♥ Drinks at Chilo’s

A newly opened bar with a big outdoor area plus a taco truck, Chilo’s sets the perfect surroundings for a fun time with friends. Sit down in the yard with a drink or two, chill, listen to the music, and if you get hungry, the taco truck is there to fulfill your needs serving a selection of tacos with different fillings. 

323 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238, USA

♥ Visit Williamsburg – the hipster capital of the world

Even though Brooklyn is so much more than the number one hipster town of the world – Williamsburg, this neighborhood is still vital to visit when in Williamsburg. To go people watching here is reason enough to go – wander the streets, sit down in a hip café and order a flat white, and simply spend some time looking at hipsters and other inhabitants of Williamsburg. It is almost like being in the zoo, watching the hipsters in their natural habitant with their fixie bikes, caps, glasses, beards, and hip clothes – whether they are biking, drinking coffee or green juices, or eating something worthy for their Instagram (joke 😉 ) 

I visited Two Hands on my last trip to NYC back in June, but I haven’t gotten around to do a post on it yet. Well, you know that they say, better late than never, right?

I learned about Two Hands through Instagram, and it has been on my to go to list for a long time. Almost every day I would find a picture of avocado sandwiches or smoothie bowls from Two Hands on my Instagram feed.

As soon as I stepped in to the café I was met by people all busy standing up and taking pictures of their food from all angles one can think of.

Besides from the busy instagraming guests, the place is filled with cute interior and decoration. From the ceiling the cutest cotton pad clouds are hanging side by side with lit light chains. Next to the white brick walls (in real New York style) there are little round wooden tables with round wooden stools, and in the middle of the room guests can sit together at the long communal table.

On the menu in Two Hands there are many options for breakfast such as avocado toast, granola bowl, smoothie bowl, plus sides and choices of egg. Besides from that Two Hands also offers different baked goods like sandwiches and croissants. The people from Two Hands like breakfast a lot, so they serve it till 5 pm every day. If you are not one of those who enjoy eating breakfast at any time of the day, Two Hands also got you covered and you can choose between a daily salad, sandwich, or soup.

When it comes to the drinks menu, Two Hands offers well tasting coffee, but also healthy fresh pressed juices, smoothies, and milkshakes. Guests are able to mix their own juice with up to four different ingredients such as orange, spinach, ginger, or cucumber. The drinks are, of course, served in the blogger style friendly jars with cute paper straws in them.

Okay, I must admit it, this place is great for a perfect Instagram picture, but to do Two Hands justice, this place is also more than a good Instagram picture – it is a cosy café with cute decor and great plus healthy breakfast.

Three weeks in New York City without an agenda gives you time to experience quite some things. This time in New York City I’ve:

♥ Been eating an incredible amount of Mexican food. I have a close relationship Mexican food, and I not only could, but I have been eating it every day. Or almost every day…

♥ Only seen one rat in oppose to the other times I’ve visited, where I’ve seen rats every day. The amount of times I think I’ve seen rats is a completely different story. I tend to think that both little birds and squirrels are rats. Yes, I am pretty afraid of rats.

♥ Gotten a fair square of compliments. I’ve said it before (8 things New Yorkers do) The Americans are very generous with sharing their nice opinions about your looks, your clothes, your hair, your shoes, and it is liberating!

♥ Met a few lunatics on the subway.

♥ Been a guest at a Hamptons wedding where I wore an amazing dress (see more pictures here).

♥ Strutted down Bedford Avenue filled with proudness when a guy asked me where the closest subway station was and I could give him an answer. Am I a real New Yorker now?

♥ Kind of co-hosted an all white party my boyfriend held on his roof top. Amazing night filled with lots and lots of champagne, happy people, music and dancing.

♥ Taken a road trip to New Jersey to visit one of my boyfriend’s family friends. Afterwards we went to Atlantic City, where I saw people in casinos pushing one button on a machine all along their brains were floating out of their ears.

♥ Had a crazy night out at Tender Trap in Williamsburg or Bushwick or where ever the bar/club was located. I never really figured it out. The night included bad table dancers, too many shots, dance battles, funny friends from Copenhagen, and of course, ended out with very bad hangovers the day after.

♥ Had sublime dinners at The Fat Radish, Diner, and Lure Fish Bar. More about that later.
♥ Had my nails done not only once but twice by the Asian ladies on Fulton Street in Bedstuy, Brooklyn.

♥ Witnessed crazy weather and weather changes. Extremely humid and 33 degrees one day, rain, thunder, wind and cold weather the next day.

♥ Been to Coney Island for the first time. It was fun, but not that amazing to be honest. Remember, I am from the city where Tivoli can be found in.

♥ Gone to see the social media victim hyped exhibition by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. (Pictures here)

♥ Indulged in ice cream at the master of ice creams – Brooklyn Soda and Farmacy Fountain. They definitely know how to serve a real sundae.

♥ Walked through Washington Square Park far too many times. That place never gets old.

It’s awesome how I, time after time coming to this amazing city, learn more and more about it, how to get around on my own, what subways to take, all while I’ve been feeling so cool walking around on my own in the streets that will make you feel brand new. New York City is, and will always be a great city!

A rainy day in Lower Manhattan. Yesterday I went to David Zwirner Gallery in the Meatpacking District to see the social media hyped exhibition “Obliteration house” by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. From the outside it looked like a classic American suburban house, but stepping inside there was no classic suburban house to it at all. All the white furniture was decorated by round colorful stickers handed out to the visitors so they could be a part of the art as well. There was a line to get in – due to the social media hype, I think before coming here I saw at least 50 pictures of it on my Instagram feed, and it can seem a little ridicolous and as if people go here just for taking a picture to post on their Instagram profile, but it was pretty amazing!

In the other room in the gallery was another exhibition also by Yayoi Kusama. This one called “Give Me Love”. Amazing as well! If you are in the area David Zwirner Gallery is definitely worth a visit. It is located right by the high line, so a trip to the gallery can easily be combined with a trip to the high line which is always fun.

After I took my pictures at the Obliteration House (joke!), I went to the little coffee shop Underline Coffee (located right beneath the high line – hence the name) because it was raining hard. I hit here for an hour before going back out in the rain and walk around a little bit.

Both the coffee and the interior at Underline Coffee were on fleek, so I was happy.

Walking around West Village. I love this part of the city.

Can I move in please? Townhouse in West Village.

It started pouring down again, so I had to hide yet again. This time at Bluestone Lane Collective Coffee in Greenwich.

At Bluestone I had a late breakfast – my favorite – Granola Bowl and a cup of camomile tea. It seemed suitable for a cosy indoor time at a nice café while hiding from the rain.

Later that day I walked around Little Italy and I found another social media hyped wall mural #lovewall #bleedinghearts – and being a total victim of social media, I, of course, had to take a picture.

And another one…

Brooklyn Visual Diary. Breakfast at Two Hands in Lower East Side. Granola bowl with fresh raspberries and blueberries, granola, and greek yogurt and a fresh juice with spinach, carrot, apple, and beets.

Sunday night dinner at The Fat Radish, a great restaurant with beautiful decor that serves healthy yet creative and yummy food.

Sunday chilling at this new spot in Bedstuy, Brooklyn – Chilo’s, a great bar – with both indoor and outdoor seating. It felt more like being in Berlin than in Brooklyn. The truck here also served tacos to the drinks and beer drinking people.

Hangover heaven brunch at Putnam’s in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. We woke up all feeling very hungover, so we decided a walk would do good. We walked to this café, and literally had their whole brunch menu. Like the waiter said when she came to clean up, and we hadn’t finished half of the food: “eyes are bigger than the stomach”.  But good it was!

Walks around Brooklyn. We stumbled upon this ice cream car and my boyfriend had to get one.

Last Saturday my boyfriend had a big party on his roof. The theme was white party, so everybody wore white. My boyfriend specifically said that if anybody were to not obey the dress code they would be thrown off the roof, and everybody showed up wearing white, so his warnings worked, haha! We had an amazing night with dance, good talks, amazing atmosphere, happiness, and lots of champagne.

Since we don’t have our own juicer here in Brooklyn like we do in Berlin, we have to go out to get fresh juices here. Luckily there is a place selling all sorts of juices and smoothies right around the corner from my boyfriend’s apartment.

Last week we took a day trip to New Jersey first of all to visit a family friend of my boyfriend’s. It was a beautiful drive there, and there is just something about American suburban areas, the cute cardboard houses that look exactly like the ones you see in movies. It also reminds me of my time when I lived in Maryland. After spending some time with the family friend, we continued to Atlantic City – just for the experience. Atlantic City is like a tiny, beach version of Las Vegas – filled with casinos. We went to Taj Mahal and Caesar’s Palace, and it was my first time being in a casino. I found it very interesting and very sad seeing all those people sitting in front of machines, completely zoned out only focussing on the game and pushing one button, while the machine just swallows their money.