Bonus Walk -- First Exit To Brooklyn (Third Leg)

Note to Readers:   I apologize profusely for taking two months to continue this walk to Brooklyn and back (over the Brooklyn Bridge and returning over the Manhattan Bridge).  Here, in the deep-freeze of the last day of January, I look back at the photos of a sunny, still very warm day in late November and recall how good it felt to be walking along the Brooklyn waterfront.

So, I left you all stranded on a street underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  Nature Girl, the Old Guy and I walked out from under the Brooklyn Bridge underpass and into the sunlit expanse of the Cadman Plaza Park. 

From there, it was a short, pleasant stroll down to the Fulton Ferry Landing, which is right along the Hudson just below the beautiful brownstones and still-wooden row houses of Brooklyn Heights, looking somewhat as it might have in the 19th Century. 

Food is never far from my thoughts (conscious or unconscious), so it's no wonder that this part of Brooklyn quickly registers with the "happy place" in my brain.  Not only does this street have one of the top pizzerias in Brooklyn (Grimaldi's), but one of the best ice cream stores in five boroughs (Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory), and one of the loveliest restaurants in the US (The River Cafe).  I can't say I'm unfamiliar with the two or so city blocks that make up the place where Robert J. Fulton launched the first steam ferry boat in the US (or anywhere else, I think) in the 1840s. 

I've driven down here many, many times, usually with a car-load of Brazilian relatives, foreign winemakers or local friends that are part of one of the many tours I've given on Manhattan and Brooklyn.   It's usually not difficult to stop here so that my guests can take in the terrific view of lower Manhattan from the Ferry landing itself (which also is the home to the BargeMusic, from whence comes great music on summer weekends)But, I have to say that it takes on a slightly different cast when you're walking down to the landing, with some very interesting storefronts along the way:

Ahh...The River Cafe holds some fond memories for the OG and me.   Back in 1985, the OG was sworn into the New York State Bar Association during a brief ceremony one Thursday afternoon at the Appellate Division Court Building in the Heights.  Afterwards, I treated him to lunch at The River Cafe...one of a few visits I've made to this unique Buzzy O'Keefe restaurant over the years, nestled directly under the Brooklyn Bridge's Brooklyn tower.

It's much prettier from the inside, looking out and across the Hudson...one of the great urban views in the US.   And, the food has always been consistently good...one of the few "destination" restaurants that has cuisine equal to its surroundings.  We walked past the restaurant and along Front Street (directly under the Brooklyn Bridge)...

...moving into an area that has gone from bleak waterfront to useful parkland in only the past few years.  This was "virgin territory" to me, this strip of land between the two bridges that has become the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. 

Weeds and waste no more than ten years ago...it now is an interesting merger of the very old (Civil War era factory buildings) and the very new, populated mostly by nesting "Gen-Xers," with a smattering of artists and musicians that haven't already been "priced out" of the area they helped to gentrify.   A wide open park space sprawls pretty much from the east side of the Brooklyn Bridge to the west side of the Manhattan Bridge.  We walked out to it through the well-preserved ruins of an old warehouse...

...and then east along what has, I think, ceased to be the Hudson River and is the southern end of the East River.  Of course, there's no actual demarcation line going across the water, like the "First Down" television graphics during an NFL game.  It's just a feeling of subtle change that I detect at this juncture in the water...or maybe it's just a wild "flight of fancy."

It could also be hallucinations due to hunger pangs, as it's fast approaching noon and we've yet to have any sustenance.  We all voted for Sunday brunch/lunch in DUMBO...but where?