You are now free to move about the boroughs

A couple of months after I moved to NY, one of my girlfriends emailed me and asked how things were outside "the bubble", meaning my former home of Orange County. The OC gets a bad rap (which I think is a mostly unfair one) of being completely insular and lacking any sort of diversity and culture. (Ironically, it's the people who tend to live in giant houses behind big iron gates in Bel Air and Beverly Hills who tend to smugly comment on the lack of diversity in OC as they sip their lattes in the safe confines of a predominantly white, upper class neighbourhood. But I digress.)

I actually find NY to have many bubble characteristics of its own. New Yorkers are fiercely proud to be from here (or to simply BE here) and it's widely accepted among true New Yorkers that this city is the ONLY place to possibly BE in the world. And I have to admit that they do have a point to a certain extent. The energy in this city is palpable and there really is nowhere else like it.

But I've met quite a few Manhattan-ites who look at you blankly when you remark that you'd like to explore living in a borough other than Manhattan. I honestly think that some people believe you need a passport for Queens and at least a visa for Brooklyn. (And don't even MENTION New Jersey.)

I have been wanting to get off the island and explore other boroughs since I moved here and this afternoon was my first chance to really do that. (Driving through Queens to get to JFK or Laguardia does not count.) This afternoon, we piled in Nick and Reny's SUV and set off for Brooklyn to meet Dave and Mairim for dinner. First of all, this was momentous because it was the first time I have actually been in a passenger vehicle (other than a taxi or a town car) in Manhattan since I moved here. AND it was the first time I was over the Brooklyn Bridge. (And just for good measure, we came back across the Manhattan Bridge.)

Dave and Mairim live in Park Slope, an adorable area of Brooklyn which is nestled up against Prospect Park, a park about the same size as Central Park. The streets are lined with gorgeous old brownstones and huge, leafy trees. The neighbourhood was a great mix of semi-urban (I wouldn't call it "suburban") homes, chic little shops and inviting restaurants and bars. We walked through part of Prospect Park, ate at Miracle (the salmon was among the best I've had, here or anywhere) and then, of course, we stopped for ice cream.

Thank goodness my visa paperwork was in order -- I had no problem getting back across the border into Manhattan.