We decided to make a trip to the Brooklyn Ikea, in Red Hook, on Sunday: I wanted to pick up a Ribba frame for
a photograph that will be arriving soon. (So exciting!)
This weekend was filled with the most perfect fall weather–unbelievable weather, really. So after breakfast at
Frankies, we decided to walk there. Over the Manhattan bridge, through Cobble Hill, and onto Van Brunt we went–with a
pause at Stumptown roasters. The road bikes got fancier, the intersections less controlled, and families filled the streets with bulk takeaways from Fairway market and Ikea.
We did our best to dash through Ikea, narrowly evading collisions on every crowded isle (I felt like Jordan in the Great Gatsby, hoping that others would watch out for me, as I couldn’t be bothered to anticipate all of the sudden changes in shoppers’ courses); somehow we still came home with far more than just the frame.
The highlight of any trip to Ikea, however, is the water taxi ride back to Manhattan. You can take a
water taxi between the passenger pier off Wall Street and the store any day of the week (it’s free on weekends, and on weekdays with proof of purchase). Purchases in tow, we watched the Staten Island ferries passing the Statue of Liberty as we cruised past Governor’s island and then past the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan. How odd to pull in next to a clipper ship on one side and a landing helicopter at the heliport on the other. To be honest, the ride either way is pretty great: it’s also a bit surreal to arrive to a huge megastore by boat!
We made a point to ride atop the taxi a few times in the summer, but I was sure we were done for the season. It’s one of the funny (and awesome) conceits of living in a city full of non-drivers.
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