Five Things You Must Do While You Are in Brooklyn

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Brooklyn is one of six boroughs in New York City -- which has over 8,000,000 residents and more than twice that in a metropolitan area that stretches to Long Island and across the New Jersey and Connecticut borders. During the Colonial period, “Dangerous" Lady Deborah Moody founded the town of Gravesend in the wild land of southern Brooklyn, proclaiming equality of the sexes and freedom of religion. The first battle of the Revolutionary War was fought in Brooklyn, and it was a hub of the pre-Civil War underground railroad that moved slaves north to freedom.

1. See a baseball game: New York City is passionate about the national sport of the U.S. The city hosts the National League's Mets and the American League's Yankees -- which boasts more championships than any team in baseball history. The Mets play in 55,000-seat Shea Stadium in Queens, and legendary Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx.

2. Brooklyn-area parks: NYC owns more than 28,000 acres in 1,700 parks scattered throughout the five boroughs. Famed Central Park, at 843 acres, is a haven for joggers, skaters, and rollerblades, and has a zoo, pools, ponds, ball fields, and horse-drawn carriage rides. The Hamptons, on the east side of Long Island, are a popular seaside getaway for celebrities and Wall Street types; Jones Beach on South Central Long Island is more accessible to regular folk. Just north of the city is the Hudson Valley. Within it, Harriman and Bear Mountain state parks offer hiking, swimming, fishing, cross-country skiing, and ice-skating.

3. Coney Island and Jamaica Bay: Legendary Coney Island has the Astroland amusement park, Coney Island Circus Sideshow, Coney Island Museum, and strolling on America’s most-famous boardwalk. Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs hosts the July Fourth ’dog-eating contest with international competitors. Jamaica Bay’s diverse habitats attract thousands of migrating birds . Visitors can fish, bicycle, sled, jog, rollerblade, walk dogs, picnic, swim, fly a kite, or stargaze.

4. Brooklyn Museum: This comprehensive museum houses ancient to contemporary art, and encompasses virtually all the world's principal cultures. The permanent collections include Egyptian art; ancient Middle Eastern material; European and American paintings and sculpture; art from China, Korean, Japan, and South and Southeast Asia; Islamic art; the indigenous arts of North, Central, and South America; and major objects from the Pacific Islands and Africa.

5. New York Aquarium: This facility on Coney Island has displays featuring over 8,000 marine animals from as far away as the Southwest coast of Africa and the Arctic to those of the Hudson River. Visitors can see the Alien Stingers and the Sea Cliffs exhibits, and California sea lions performing in Aquatheater productions.