What happened to my nice weather!!! Yesterday it was 70F today it is 46F with a windchill factor taking it much lower!!!! The weatherman said 60F and they are normally pretty accurate so I am freezing my butt off along with everyone else doing the Brooklyn heights tour this morning.

This is another Free tours by foot tour
(Free), and our guide today is John, a local. I like his style, he's got a big booming voice, an irreverent sense of humour and is just full of interesting anecdotes as well as the necessary facts and figures. We all meet in front of the Brooklyn borough hall, where one poor wind blown lass is waiting in her summer wedding gown to get married! There's a small farmers market set up in the common in front of the building - I grab a cold knish filled with potato, cheese and broccoli wrapped in pastry - a Jewish snack that is delicious but needs to be piping hot to be really amazing.

Our group is a mixture of people, and it is less interactive than the food tour - could be the size but I think it's because food is a sharing experience everybody is much more inclusive. Even though I explored some of this neighbourhood two Saturdays ago, I saw new and different things. John went into a lot of detail about how Brooklyn has been affected by gentrification, and how it's ethnic mixes and fortunes have changed over the years - first a cheap immigrant enclave, a safe place for slaves to live after escaping slavery along the freedom trail, to an artist haven, to now being some of the most expensive real estate in America.

The streets are lovely and quiet around Brooklyn heights, and many artists like Truman capote lived and wrote here, often freeloading space off wealthier friends. Now the buildings are meticulously restored and protected by heritage legislation, and there is a lot of pride with the neighbourhood gardens.

The tour took us through a couple of neighbourhood eat and shopping streets, down past grimaldis famous pizza with an hour long line wait, and finished at the waterfront near the Brooklyn bridge. I really enjoyed this tour, despite the cold and I returned to a couple of restaurants on Henry st that were known for their weekend brunches.

One of these restaurants was the Asya Indian restaurant that had a 50% off lunch. I have been missing Indian food, and this one did small plates of spicy food! Yum - I had two tandoori lamb cutlets on potatoes and capsicum with naan bread.

I then returned to Montague St which had an interesting store where wealthy people donate good items like clothes, furniture and brick a brac and all the proceeds go to provide people with AIDS with housing. The best thing to buy was the furniture, some really cheap antique items and industrial pieces.

Today is a one day Macy sale!!!! So I had to go and check it out. The staff tell me it's always this crazy, which means its really crowded and chaotic all of the time. It made it hard to try stuff on (waiting for staff to get the right sized shoe, trying to get into a change room) but that can be a good thing as it stops you shopping. One department that is a sure thing is the cosmetics area. I had to get some Lancôme foundation and the Gift With Purchase! Why are they so much better than Australia! So I did not leave empty handed, even though I only purchased two items I had a big shopping bag!! It's been a big day with lots of walking, I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and getting a warming glass of red wine into me, and getting the apartment visitor ready - Jane arrives tomorrow!