Manhattan Bridge: Morning

On a recent weekend, I was meeting my mom in Chinatown for diner breakfast before we headed to the resurrected Troll Museum. It was a nice morning, so I took the Q to DeKalb and walked the rest of the way from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge. Riding over the bridge on the Q during my morning commute, I've often thought that morning is the time to walk the bridge—the light shining on Manhattan is perfect at that time of day. I also (wrongly) assumed that it would be desolate at an early hour, but discovered that seemingly every single running club in New York City runs over the bridge on Saturday morning (who knew?).

Despite nearly being trampled multiple times, the walk was still lovely. I've walked nearly all of the city bridges (this was my third time on the Manhattan), and can say with certainty that the views from the Manhattan are unparalleled. Sure you'll get similar views from the Brooklyn Bridge, but (running clubs aside) with far more foot traffic and selfie-stick wielding tourists. The safety fence does require some ingenuity to get a proper photograph, but I eventually stopped fighting it and learned to love the framing provided by the original fence that sits beneath the chain link.

Of course the skyline of Lower Manhattan—and the profile of the neighboring Brooklyn Bridge—is a classic, postcard view, but it's when the bridge reaches land and you can see into the streets of Chinatown that I think things really get interesting. The ever-changing graffiti mixed with clotheslines and inexplicable foliage is fascinating to me—an entire city of rooftops within a city and out of view. There's really nothing like having a fresh vantage point on a city I feel as if I know so well to reinvigorate my love of New York.