I used to live in Brooklyn Heights, two blocks from where the Brooklyn Bridge empties out pedestrian traffic.

When I was unemployed for a little while back in 2002, I actually used to get up at about 9:00AM in the morning on the weekdays to run the bridge from Brooklyn Heights into the Financial District in Manhattan and back—the reason being because I knew that all the New Yorkers would be in their offices by then.

It really is quite peaceful.

The bridge is so old, that you can actually visualize New York being built from the ground-up when you stare at it for a long time. When you compare it to peer bridges such as the Manhattan, Triboro, Williamsburg, GWB, 59th Street, Queensboro—it’s just not as soulful. Most of those bridges are slabs of metal and concrete. Try walking the cabled and wooded Brooklyn Bridge and see what I mean.