Here are the boys outside the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station. They did not enjoy posing for this picture as the sun was in their eyes, but Mom is a relentless photographer, so they had to tough it out.
Facing the entrance to the bridge walkway. This is a terrible picture since the sun is behind them, but they were happier taking it.
On the bridge with the first tower in the background.
Here they are with downtown Manhattan in the background.
We've reached the first tower here. Here the walkway opens up into a large square plaza with relief plaques around the edges describing how the bridge was built. Joshua and Jonathan enjoyed reading about the construction of the bridge. Since it was built from 1867-1883, the methods they used were really ingenious for the time.
Joey is watching the cars go by underneath us while Joshua reads.
Jonathan reading the plaques while Jordan traces the raised images with his fingers.
More of the same.
Still more of the same.
Still at the first tower, facing Brooklyn.
Facing Brooklyn...I think that's the Manhattan Bridge in the background. I'm still learning the bridges here!
Looking up at the tower.
Josiah hanging out in his stroller.
Monkey boy hanging from one of the massive cables.
I think we're at the 2nd tower here. Midtown Manhattan and (I think) the Manhattan Bridge are in the background.
Same shot but zoomed in on Midtown. You can see the Empire State Building on the left between the 2 cables, and the Chrysler Building immediately to the left of the right-hand cable.
Joey and Josiah
By the time we reached the other side of the bridge, everyone under the age of 10 was STARVING. We had planned to go to a pizza place called Grimaldi's which supposedly many people consider the best in NYC, but when we finally found it (we had made a wrong turn leaving the bridge) we found that there was a loooooooong line. Why I didn't make the connection that "the best" pizza joint in NYC would be crowded on a Friday afternoon ahead of time, I do not know, but since we had a 4-year-old in our party who was practically weeping because he was STARVING, we decided to move on to something quicker.
We went to the water's edge and ate at this little bar and grill on a pier next to the East River. The boys had hotdogs and fish-n-chips. There was also a big sandbox that they played in afterwards.
Josiah
Joseph very rarely gets a can of soda of his very own. He enjoyed this one immensely!
Playing in the sand.
All five of my cuties with downtown Manhattan in the background.
After finishing lunch, we left to go to a subway station that was supposedly right near the Brooklyn Bridge to get back home. Our directions were a bit sketchy, but after wandering for at least a few miles (in circles) and asking 2 different police officers for directions, we finally found the station we needed. Unfortunately, because the subway line at this point has to go under the East River, we had to go down about 7, 346 stairs to get to the platform. This is NOT fun while carrying a large stroller, especially after walking several miles by this point. We got on what seemed like the fastest train I've been on yet here. Since it has to get all the way across the river (under the river) it has time to really build up speed, I guess. It felt like we were going about 70 miles an hour, leaning at about a 30 degree angle, with the brakes on, or at least the train was squealing like it COULD have had the brakes on. I'm not really big on being underground, especially while also being under water, so this was really exciting. We did make it home without further incident, and stopped by our neighborhood Starbucks (well, ONE of our MANY neighborhood Starbucks)...after all that, I felt like a mocha frappuccino was in order!
We're now back home again, with everyone (except me) bathed (boy, did they get DIRTY on this trip!) and ready for dinner. I think Jeremy wants to take them to see a movie tomorrow morning. He found out that if we go to an early morning movie, it's only $6.00 per person, which is MUCH better than the regular $11.25 per adult, $9-something for kids over 2 that they charge for anything after 12 pm!
