Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in

 We bypassed Philadelphia due to the I-95 overpass burning down, which apparently just got repaired last Friday and reopened.  We weren’t sure if we wanted to tackle the Big Apple in the van due to traffic, hassle, and uncertainty about where we might stay the night.  We targeted a spot in Brooklyn heights we found on Overlander where you can park for free if you happen to find the right spot.  There are lots of times and days that have no parking due to street sweeping.  It took about 30 minutes of driving around the neighborhood to find a spot.  I parked the van and there was a construction dumpster box on other side of street which made it very tight to squeeze through.  Just as I was saying this is too tight and we should move or someone is going to hit our side mirror because they aren’t able to fold in.  SMACK!  A van drove by and hit our mirror, knocking it forward, but luckily didn’t break the mirror.  We quickly moved from that spot and restarted the parking journey and in another 10 minutes or so found an epic spot 1 block away from the Hudson River and Brooklyn Promenade.  The view of Manhattan was spectacular and we were in a spot without any restrictions for a week.  Our original plan was to head out the next day to Cummington, MA but we asked Don if it would be a problem to show up a day later than planned since it was such a great spot and he said no problem.  We attempted to get lottery tickets to Wicked on both days but were denied.  We walked across the Brooklyn bridge and into Manhattan to have an awesome pastrami sandwich at Katz deli where Harry Met Sally had a famous scene filmed. The place was packed, there were 8 lines for “cutters” (guys that shaved your meet and prepared your sandwich in front of your eyes).  Prices were New York style as well - $25 for the sandwich with a couple good pickles.  Luckily it was plenty big to share so the price became reasonable.  After the sandwich we were looking for a cheesecake dessert and found a place that served small rounds of many different flavors.  These were good, but not amazing. We started our 4-5 mile walk back to Brooklyn when we came across a barber shop that Paula was pushing me hard to get a haircut.  I was reluctant at first, because I thought it might be too expensive, but she convinced me to go in and ask how much.  $25 he said and I was like let’s do this.  Honestly one of the better haircuts that I’ve ever had..  He was very quick and precise, while not exchanging many words which was all fine by me.  In the end we walked around 12 miles that day.  We arrived back to find the pets perfectly content.  All of the pooping spots Gus would normally use had little iron borders around them with signs saying to curb your dog.   Dogs have to get used to going on the concrete.  Another interesting thing was to watch all the nanny’s walking kids around in strollers.  It was almost a constant parade.  The place we were parked in front of was a 4 story house and was on the market for 11.5 million dollars.  It was amazing that we could be in such an expensive area for free and a block away to a truly multi million dollar view.