Sunday was a long day, part 1

Not all of this was planned, but yesterday sure was about the water, reminding us that we here in NYC live amidst an archipelago. After returning from Staten Island on the ferry somewhat sunburned and dehydrated -- since it turned out to be hotter than we expected -- we walked up to Pier 11 and got on the free Water Taxi to Red Hook. There is no better way of coming back to the borough! Through the Buttermilk Channel, past the tall ship Peacemaker (more about this barquentine later). For you out-of-towners, the water shuttle is free because it takes you to Ikealand, where the remnants of some kind of event (there were exhibits of tepees, scuba diving, and Ikea’s alleged green side) were folding. It was nearly six, but there was still a small raptor display going on. There was an uncooperative female red-tail (good for her), this pissed-off barn owl:
and this juvenile peregrine, unexpectedly off-leash for this photo:
From there we walked over to dinner at the Brooklyn Ice House on Van Brunt, where beers and pulled pork sammies, Frito pie, onion rings, and the Dirty Dog (cheese-stuffed, bacon wrapped hotdog) soothed our inner hungers.
Some of our Mount Loretto shore loot spread on the Ice House garden table. We thought we might trade them for beer. The biggest of these marine gastropod shells is half an inch.