Marilyn Walks Manhattan & Beyond
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About Brooklyn
Brooklyn is made for wandering. About three times the size of Manhattan and home to 77 neighborhoods, there’s a lot to explore! One walk can take you past historic brownstones, another along the waterfront, and the next through a neighborhood that feels completely different from the one just a few blocks away. There’s always something new to discover.
Red Hook by Accident
Walk #1
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
Distance: 5.1 Miles
Route: Smith & 9th Streets, 5 miles around Red Hook and Back
Terrain: Mainly flat. City streets with lots of waterside views of the East River.
Description: This was my official Brooklyn Bound kickoff walk! It couldn't have started any better than getting lost on the train right away in Queens. My friend Ann Marie and I were so excited about my Brooklyn walk that we kinda got distracted. We were talking, planning and apparently not paying attention to where we were going. We were supposed to get off the M train (after starting out on the Q) at Essex Street and catch the F. Yeah, we missed it. We were talking! We knew something was fishy when we found ourselves in Flushing! But it just added to the adventure.
We still wound up with enough time to see everything on my list. We stopped at Defonte's, the famous 100-year-old sandwich shop at 379 Columbia Street. We found Raaka Chocolate at 58 Seabring Street, where we even met a real vegan chocolatier. Then it was on to Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie at 85 Van Dyke Street and Hoek Pizza at 117 Ferris Street, which, thank goodness, was closed! And here's the kicker: we were supposed to be walking Carroll Gardens! But an impromptu Red Hook food tour beckoned, and who were we to argue?
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P.S. Important information for my fellow walkers: IKEA has great bathrooms!
Brooklyn Bridge & Dumbo
Test Drive
Date: Sunday, August 30, 2026
Distance: 3.4 Miles
Route: Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo
Terrain: Slight hill up and over the Brooklyn Bridge, then city streets on cobblestone and asphalt. Mainly flat.
Description: This was a fun shakeout walk with my friend Ann Marie to test out the Strava app for tracking my walks—and to start exploring Brooklyn! The Brooklyn Bridge was packed with tourists and walkers, and it looked like we might get rained on, but luckily the weather held.
I really wanted to check out that iconic spot in DUMBO between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges and get the famous views of the bridges, East River, and Manhattan skyline. We did it! Along the way, we also stumbled upon a great art gallery and a flea market right under the Manhattan Bridge.
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If this was just the test walk, I think this is going to be fun!
