A Country Mouse Goes to the City: DUMBO

For our Sunday adventure, we began exploring Brooklyn. It was the subway to Williamsburg (a neighborhood in Brooklyn) where we began our walk to the Brooklyn Flea. On the way, we ran into an artist/designer/vintage market, and it quickly became our favorite indoor market so far. After exploring all the neat finds here, it was on to the Brooklyn Flea. This market had a really great mixture of wares including a large food vendor market. The only problem was the sun. There was no shade, and it was so hot! This market was located near the water and we came across the East Ferry, which happened to go to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Since the artistic water tower I have been wanting to see is located in this area, we decided on a ferry ride. We rode inside and experienced the cool water breezes and revived ourselves for our next adventure.
The ferry docked at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. This was a wonderful area for taking photos. There was the beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline across the bay as well as the Statute of Liberty. One place we especially liked was the area outside The River Cafe. It was a wonderfully landscaped sitting area with the hydrangeas in full bloom -- so beautiful! Then it was on to area of the park where the water tower is best viewed. Not only did we have great views of the water tower but the entire area was extremely scenic. Our unexpected discovery of the day turned out to be a wedding. Kelsey and I were just sitting on some rocks watching the world go by when along comes a wedding party down the path and out onto the rock beach for the ceremony. They even had to run from the waves crashing on the beach once.
Another interesting tidbit for the day, was that two different people in two separate places actually introduced themselves to us. I have had a hard time getting used to people never speaking, but the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn seemed slightly more friendly. One was our waiter in the restaurant where we had brunch, and the other was a vendor in the indoor market. And they both actually shared with us places that they thought we might enjoy in this part of Brooklyn.

The water tower , an artistic installation by Tom Fruin, was just gorgeous. It is made from 1,000 pieces of salvaged plexiglass and steel from the NYC area. The stained glass structure is mounted high upon a water tower platform. It is lit from dusk to dawn, but we didn't stay until dusk. We are saving this experience for another day. When we mention this water tower to people around here, they don't know anything about it, but this country mouse did because she saw it on Pinterest and came here with every intention of finding it. I have to say, it did live up to this mouse's expectations.