spelunking.

BROOKLYN STAND UP-- or go down ;)
Just when I thought I'd seen it all, it was there, in the neighborhood I grew up in, right under my nose my whole life, literally!

Yesterday I visited the oldest subway tunnel in the world, in BROOKLYN! It was discovered again in 1981 since then it's recently been open to the public! It seems a bit shady the way its done, you have to pay to enter, they don't give receipts... anyway, on a rainy Sunday morning we went down, we made reservations months ago and the day was finally here!

The crew used a crow bar to pry open a manhole in the middle of Atlantic Ave! A metal ladder was there, and there we started, one-by-one we climed down the ladder into the tunnel!

We had to climb under a huge pipe and walk through a narrow, short, dirt tunnel to get to the main tunnel that was built in the 1800's!
At this point we were thinking, this is CRAZY! I felt so LUCKY to be right under Brooklyn streets, in this secret tunnel, hopping over mud puddles and dipping through little entrance ways, NOT TO MENTION CLIMBING THROUGH A MANHOLE!!! CRAZY!!! We got to the main tunnel and it was huge and amazing! I was mesmerized. It was completely black, we had to bring our own flashlights, we went exploring on our own before we went on a guided tour, I was flipping out! It was kind of creepy!

We were on a mission to undercover the truth about "unexplored NY"-- NYC is defined by our tourist attractions, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc, but I don't think most people know the history of this tunnel. It was built by Irish Immigrants in the 19th century, they took 7 months to complete it which was speedy for that time, they didn't use any machines, just hand tools and man power. It has to be closed down a short while later because the city wanted to tax it, so the owner, instead of destroying it, like he was ordered to do, he just closed up the exits. Years later in 1916, NYers discovered it and put in the first underground light. It was forgotten after that until the 80's when one man got a permit to look under Brooklyn to find it, and that he did!

He let us in without a problem, it could have gotten pretty dangerous, there was no ventilation, no escape route-- nothing; It was a thrill for me to be there and see this with my own eyes, I feel like I am part of my own boroughs history now!

CRAZY!