A Walk Across the Williamsburg Bridge

When it comes to New York City bridges, the Williamsburg Bridge is the ugly stepsister to the Brooklyn Bridge's Cinderella.

But no matter. I wanted to walk across it anyway.

I've seen the bridge dozens, maybe hundreds, of times from the confines of a subway crossing the East River, but I'd never once stepped foot on it, never once driven across it.

The Williamsburg Bridge connects Manhattan's Lower East Side to Williamsburg, Brooklyn's hipster enclave. Now that I've made the crossing, I understand why no one exactly sings its praises.

For one, it's just not that pretty. The Brooklyn Bridge is gorgeous. The Williamsburg Bridge is the dowdy sister.

Two, the views aren't that great either. When they aren't blocked by tall buildings nearby, they're difficult to see through the chain fences on each side of the walkways.

One of the "lovely" views.

And three, it's a little claustrophobic. That's about the last thing I would expect from a bridge, but the bars overhead made it seem like the bridge actually had a ceiling.

Looks like the bridge has a ceiling.

Nevertheless, it was a pleasant walk ... and since our favorite restaurant in all of New York is just a few blocks from the Manhattan entrance to the bridge, it's very likely we'll even make the trip again.

I asked Paul to take photos, too, so there's finally some pictures of *me* on the blog.