New York City hosted hundreds of “open houses” over the weekend. The event was called, “Open House, New York.” One could take advantage of free tours buildings, landmarks, universities, gardens, some of which are normally closed to the public.

We decided to visit Pratt Institute, Mr. Souci’s alma mater, (school of architecture) in Brooklyn, NY. There we found new buildings, toured several, and learned about the history of the school which was founded in the 1800’s, visited the incredible library (designed by Tiffany) and the sculpture gardens.

Photos: a doggy waits for his masters to come out of the tour; bikes are a way of campus life. Looking up at the Tiffany designed library, which has been a community hub since the late 1800’s.
Wooden church in the background near the campus. Shadows across the beautiful window of the bursar’s office.

This is the Clinton area of Brooklyn, and like many areas, it is full of beautiful Brownstones.
A while back the area was relatively dangerous, however, with gentrification, it is impossible to find a place that is affordable. Most brownstones begin at well over a million dollars.

All week I had a hankering for bratwurst.
So back to Queens to a German restaurant, Zum Stammtisch for a few huge plates of food–after a 1/2 hour wait.

Enough shnitzel for 2 days…

Ya think Sarah Palin had been there???