What's Cookin' In Brooklyn It Has The Sights Of A Big City Without The Stress. And There's Even Parking.

NEW YORK — I'll take Manhattan.

Or I'll leave it. Too congested. Too noisy. Buildings too tall.

So how about on the other side of the East River in Brooklyn? Most of it is not nearly as congested or noisy, you can find a place to park (you can actually drive around there) and, like Philadelphia, it actually has the feel of a city of neighborhoods (albeit a city with a population of 2.2 million).

Brooklyn has a 52-acre botanic garden, the world's first museum created expressly for children, a world-class art museum, a 526-acre park that was designed by the team that created Central Park, and the best blintzes this side of Kiev. Jackie Robinson played here. (Ebbets Field, where he once roamed, is now the site of a housing project named Jackie Robinson Apartments.) Neil Simon lived here and wrote about it, and so did Barry Manilow.

What Brooklyn doesn't have is hotel rooms. You can count the hotels on one hand and have a couple of fingers left over. So, if you're planning a weekend visit and want to avoid high-priced Manhattan hostelries, think about a bed- and-breakfast stay. There are several B&Bs in Brooklyn and Manhattan-based reservation services can steer you to them.

Brooklyn is a good-size city. If you're dropping by for only a day or two, pick a couple of neighborhoods to explore in depth. Some suggestions:

DUMBO AND BROOKLYN HEIGHTS. If you are coming in from Lower Manhattan, say

from near the South Street Seaport, walk or ride over the Brooklyn Bridge, bought and sold many times since its opening in 1883. A few blocks north, the Manhattan Bridge also spans the East River. Between the bridges, the area is known as DUMBO (for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). (DUBBO probably was too odd even for acronym-crazy New Yorkers.) DUMBO features Empire Fulton Ferry State Park (at Dock Street), the scenic and gentrified waterfront, and nice views of Manhattan. If you have children (and have them with you) you must visit the Harry Chapin Playground on Columbia Heights near Everit Street.

For fans of alternative art, a few blocks away are the New Waterfront Museum and the AMMO Artists' Exhibition Space on Plymouth Street (phone 718-858-1900). The nearby River Cafe (phone 718-522-5200), at the river and Water Street, is renowned for its food and the celebrities who eat there.