Yesterday we did something I've been wanting to do for quite a while, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. I was very excited and happy to do this, but not nearly as much as
Chalupa. She had no idea where we were going but she was jubilant about being able to go with us. She scampered to the elevator doing her
cha-loop-
de-loops which basically means she walks and then spins really quickly as if to say
c'mon let's go! She happily trotted outside the door and even pounced on benches as we walked by...just because. She was a little confused when we hailed a taxi but she patiently sat on my lap...I think she knew good things were to come.
The Brooklyn Bridge is beautiful, it's grand and it's historic and everyone should walk across it if they get the chance. What no one tells you is that it's packed (we got there around 10:30 am), it's hot, and shade is few and far between. Nonetheless I really enjoyed it, it was pretty spectacular being able to stop on the bridge and look back at the city, and taking pictures of the architecture of the bridge itself. It is a good idea to bring a water bottle, as you are at full exposure to the sun for most of the walk. Little
Chalupa started the trip happy enough, but somewhere just over half way there she got spooked. I think she realized that there were cars whizzing by underneath us, couple that with bikers rambling past us, and the blazing sun, so we stopped at the second tower to relax in the shade. We let her cool off and started walking again, but I ended up having to carry her the last little bit til we got to concrete again.
After that we found some shade under a tree in the grass and relaxed a bit while we tried to figure out the right direction to go to
Grimaldi's pizza, which is raved about in anything you google about walking the Brooklyn Bridge. We finally meandered our way over and found a huge line, the place didn't even open til 12, and it was only 11:45 or so. We nixed that idea and went looking for a nice little place, that was quiet and had outdoor seating. We found exactly the place at
Water Street Restaurant and Lounge, located at 66 Water Street. It had a handful of outdoor tables, which was perfect for us. We enjoyed a nice lunch, I ordered the jerk chicken tacos and fried
polenta (both items from their appetizer menu) and John ordered the Fried Chicken Breast sandwich. The Chicken breast was yum served with homemade fries not very crispy but deliciously seasoned. AND they had very light and crispy homemade potato chips instead of bread. Double thumbs up. Afterward we had delectable chocolates and ice cream at
Jacques Torres Chocolate. We both had the rum vanilla caramel
ice cream in a waffle cone. Absolutely delicious. It was much more civilized then the mob scene over at
Grimaldi's and the Ice Cream Factory. As for chocolates I asked for the liquid caramel, and it lived up to it's name and John got the peanut butter and declared that next time he will only buy the peanut butter chocolates, since they were so good.
We had to sneak
Chalupa on board the Water Taxi ($7 bucks a pop non-refundable) , which we did (the guy who sold us the ticket suggested we do it). In a bag, she cooperated mostly but as soon as we got on the boat she started squirming about, but thankfully it's only a 2 min ride across to the South Street Seaport. All in all a fun day. And little
Chalupa and I took a nice long nap as soon as we got home. I'd say a very good day. :)
