Blog – New York art tours

Williamsburg – Settling into the Brooklyn vibe

24 May 2009

My group of art lovers and I arrived in New York yesterday, and I'm off to my favourite haunts to get good coffee and settle into the Brooklyn vibe.

We stay at Hotel Le Jolie, which is just under the Williamsburg Bridge. Hotel Le Jolie is a small boutique hotel – the rooms are small, the beds are so comfortable and the water pressure is perfect. The staff are quirky – but hey you can't have everything!

First I trek to Greenpoint, a 10-minute walk form Williamsburg. Greenpoint has a very large Polish community and still carries the old amongst the new and upcoming.

There is a parade on this morning – it's nice to be apart of it so early on a Sunday.

I head to my favorite organic grocer, The Garden (921 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint), for cheese, granola and cranberries.

After coffee at the coffee shop on the corner of Lorimer Street and Bedford Avenue (no name), I head for a little bit of window shopping and to see what's hot and not in the back streets of Williamsburg.

On my way I come across some cool past-ups...

I discover a new eatery called Egg (135 North 5th Street, Williamsburg). Egg is a lovely space and it opens at 7am, which is so unusual for New York, as breakfast is normally brunch.

I eat broiled organic tomatoes on wholegrain toast. A simple very tasty meal... I'm pleased with my new discovery. Egg only has organic black plunger coffee. I would prefer a latte, but the plunger does the trick!