Disclaimer: I do not work for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Just an enthusiast.
If you're looking for something to do this weekend/next week, the Cherry Blossom is in peak bloom at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. The Peak Bloom period usually doesn't last very long and it hit that early this week, so it'll probably be in peak bloom for another few days or MAYBE another week?
(Here's their Cherry Blossom Watch page where they map out which tree is in bloom and it's updated daily.)
My favorite way to experience it is to take a day off from work and go during the weekday when there's hardly any people around. It's very serene during the weekdays, I can sit under a tree for a while and not feel bad about "hogging" it to myself because there's hardly anyone around. I also get to avoid the people who would spend an hour taking a million photos for their Instagram and hogging the trees (that's my experience going to see the very few Cherry Blossom trees at Roosevelt Island). I usually end up going every other year, whenever I remember or whenever I can play hooky and sneak out of work on a weekday.
They used to hold a Cherry Blossom festival during the weekend of peak bloom where they jack up the price of admission for the festival. It was a absolutely miserable experience because it was absolutely jammed packed with people, to the point where I didn't enjoy any of it. They haven't done the festival in a few years so I'm not sure if they're still THAT packed/miserable during the weekends.
The only "bad" part is that sometimes the cherry blossom blooms super early and there's not much else in bloom at the Botanical Garden. I think this year has been later than last year's bloom so there should be more stuff in bloom than last year.
If you want more stuff to do afterwards:
The Brooklyn Museum is right next door, and it's donate what you wish.
Prospect Park is lovely to walk through, it's like walking through a smaller Central Park. (One is modeled/inspired by the other, I forgot which one came first lol).
The LeFrak Center at Lakeside in Prospect Park has a pretty dope roller skating rink. You can bring your own skates or rent them. It turns into a ice skating rink during the colder months. ~$10 admission.
Food Stuff Nearby:
Geido is a great local Japanese restaurant. Aside for being local, I think they have one of the best price to quality ratio for Japanese food. Like it's not super expensive but the quality is higher than what I'd expect from a local restaurant.
Cheryl's Global Soul has great soul food.
Ramen Danbo has a location nearby. Their ramen is pretty good but they dump a surprisingly large amount of scallions into their ramen.
Chuko is also a great local ramen spot and have been around forever. It's been many years since I've been there so I can't give a comparison to Ramen Danbo or other ramen.
(If you're going for ramen, I would say give Chuko a shot if you're not in the area often since this is their only location. Danbo is pretty great but there's also another location in West Village)
There's also a Smorgasbord in Prospect Park every Sunday.
by crazeman