BROOKLYN INFORMATION & CULTURE (BRIC)

This association (not for profit) was created in 1979 to help promote culture, education and information in Brooklyn, but if you are looking for tourist information, you will have to go to the tourist office in Manhattan (BRIC should, however, be able to advise you on the cru guides to visit Brooklyn). They also organize three very interesting thematic circuits to book on their Internet site - www.nycvisit.com - Each tour costs about $ 40 and lasts a whole day, a very good deal:

Discover Brooklyn will make you a presentation of Brooklyn's Emblematic neighborhoods (Park Slope, Little Odessa, Bensonhurst - remember the Italian Night Fever district). Dinner is included, at the choice, in two of Brooklyn's most famous restaurants: Pete's Downtown Restaurant (Italian) or Junior's Restaurant (known in all the United States for its impossible sandwiches and cheesecake).

Brooklyn Art and Garden Tourvous will take in two of Brooklyn's inescapable points of interest: the charming Botanical Garden (more than 12 000 plants on 21 ha) and the Brooklyn Museum of Art (2nd largest museum in the United States behind the REACH of Manhattan), including an exceptional collection on Ancient Egypt. Two "ethnic" towers will bring you to the choice of Afro-Americans or hassidic Orthodox Jews.

The BRIC is also a very active association, providing comprehensive documentation and doing much for the rehabilitation, development and knowledge of Brooklyn. It must be said that, in the shadow of Manhattan, Brooklyn has much to show and propose that you will not be able to see anywhere else.