My friend Paul was in town for Memorial Day weekend. Having a visitor around is a great excuse to do some touristy things. Above is a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, you can see the empire state building peeking out between the cables.
Some of the tourist cruises are annoyingly overpriced and silly, but Ride the Shark is actually a fun (albeit cheesy) way to see Manhattan and Brooklyn from the water. It’s a “thrill ride” which apparently means they drive kind of fast around the Bay and Husdon River and splash the passengers with the sea spray. But, it’s not too expensive and you get some great views (it also lasts all of forty minutes, so if like me, you don’t love long boat rides it’s over in a fairly short period before you get bored / sick).
They get you pretty close to The Statue of Liberty so you can get a good look at it and take a few photos. Above left you can see the “thrilling” speed boat: The Shark.
Near the end of the ride you go a short ways up the East River and get a good look of the Brooklyn Bridge. All in all, The Shark is a fun way to keep cool during a hot New York afternoon, and if you enjoy a little cheesy tourism, you would love it!
// photos by Bekka Palmer on iPhone 4 processed with VSCO Cam