Hello from New York City (7) - The final day: Brooklyn's Prospect Park and Manhattan's Washington Square Park

Yesterday was our last day in New York City and ourI had definitely wanted to see.
flight left at 7:57 pm, so we figured we'd store ourIt was a little quiet there on this cloudy and cool day
luggage at the B&B for a few hours and head out oneand the Washington Arch, compared to other
more time for one more round of urban exploration.monuments, seemed a little diminuitive. We had a quick
Well, one area we hadn't seen much yet waspizza in one of the cheap student eateries around
Brooklyn (other than Coney Island which we exploredNew York University and got back to the subway.
on Friday). We really liked Brooklyn, formerly a sleepyHowever, we realized we were on the wrong
suburban area, which has has nicely matured into oneplatform (for northbound trains), so we headed back
of the most desirable neighbourhoods in New Yorkout the subway to reenter on the correct side.
City, no wonder, thanks to its stately architecture,Guess what - our metro transit card didn't let us back
multicultural shopping areas and green mature trees inin! The display said "Just used" and there was no way
many areas.we could get back in at a different entrance at the
Our beloved Q train got us to Prospect Park, anothersame subway station. I guess that's a built-in
masterpiece by landscape designer Frederick Lawmechanism to safeguard against 2 people using the
Olmstead, although this exhibit is a lot wilder and moresame transit card. So we had to trekk about 20
natural than its Central Park counterpart. Although theminutes south to Prince Street and use our metro card
day was a bit on the cool side, there were tons ofthere. Our $24 transit pass got major use over the last
people jogging, biking, walking and Prospect Park, just4.5 days and when we go to NYC again, we'll
like its big cousin in Manhattan, has big fields withdefinitely pick up another transit pass. Well, at least we
multiple baseball diamonds and soccer fields. Thewon't make the same mistake again to swipe the card
action was in full swing and we caught a liveand then exit the subway station...
performance by a Mexican mariachi band, fronted byJust after 2:30 pm we picked up our luggage at the
a young girl who was literally singing her heart out.B&B and spent the next 2 hours discovering a new
At the north end of Prospect Park is Grand Armysubway line (the N line) which we caught all the way
Plaza, which is dominated by a massive Civil Warto Astoria Boulevard, where we picked up the M60
memorial arch. Across from the arch is the Brooklynbus to get to LaGuardia airport. It took us a couple of
Public Library, opened in 1941 in a late Art Deco style,hours, but it was great to get one last ride through the
and now blocked off for some renovations. JustNew York City neighbourhoods.
around the corner is the Brooklyn Botanical GardenAfter being thoroughly searched, patted down, having
and the monumental Brooklyn Museum of Art.my shoes x-rayed and otherwise being inspected, we
But we had no time to explore these areas further,finally got on our American Airlines ride back home to
we only had a less than a couple of hours left beforeToronto and saw one last vista at dusk of the City
we had to pick up our luggage to head to the airport.that never sleeps.
Off we went and hopped onto another subway toWe will return.......
head towards Washington Square Park, one area that