Hang in there. Only two more days worth of posts after this one. If you haven't already, please go back and read days 1-3 to catch up on my story. Also, please check out the pictures (link provided on each days' post at the end).Day 4 began with major pain in our legs and feet. After all, we walked about 8 miles or so the day before, putting our total to about 28 miles in 3 days. We packed up our bags and checked out, but we left our bags with the bellman since we didn’t want to haul everything all over New York. Katie and I grabbed some Starbucks, and then we headed to Grand Central to take the number 4 train to Brooklyn (Borough Hall). This would’ve been the stop we’d have to take to attend Brooklyn Tabernacle for church, but we decided to not go since 1. We’ve both attended the church in the past, and 2. We simply did not have time to do everything we wanted to do before our bus ride back at 6:30pm. So at Borough Hall, we waited for Craig who lives very close by. He greeted us a few minutes later, and he told us that it was photoshoot day. Katie and I wore our fashion model clothes, and we began walking with Craig around the nicer part of Brooklyn. He showed us his place, and he took us right by the water which was overlooking Manhattan and all the skyscrapers. Missing in our view of course were the World Trade Centers. The view was perfect!
As we walked along the strip near the water, Craig took tons of pictures of us. With Craig you not only get the best tour guide in the city, you also get the best photographer in the city, too! We got a 2-for-1 deal for FREE. Craig rules! From the promenade, we walked down the street 
towards Brooklyn Bridge. By this time Craig and I got really hungry. Craig wanted to take us to Grimaldi’s which is a pizzeria and apparently the best pizza in New York (or at least Brooklyn). Unfortunately it didn’t open until noon, and it was only 11am. Katie wanted to go to the little market place under the Brooklyn Bridge so we went there to kill time. Craig and I debated several times whether to eat some place else immediately or wait an hour to eat at Grimaldi’s. After carefully weighing in all options, we both decided we could hold off our hunger for a little longer. Craig suggested we head over by 11:40 because he claimed people would begin to line up. After Katie did a little shopping, we grabbed her to head to Grimaldi’s by 11:45. When we got there, sure enough there was already a big line. We were happy though, because Craig said that we should definitely get a seat still. However, right at noon when they opened the doors, a HUGE number of people with some special privileges got to cut in front of everyone and go in first. When we saw that, we ran out of hope. Finally, we moved to the front of the line. We were about to head in when a worker there said, “Sorry, no more seats left.” WHHHYYYY?!?!??!?! Luckily we could order take out, so Craig quickly ordered our pizzas, and we waited a few minutes, and then they came out with it. We took the pizza to the nearby park and ate it at a bench in the shade. The weather was extremely gorgeous like the day before. Sunshine and mid-70s with humidity. The pizza was like glory in my mouth. Delicious! After eating, Craig did more of his photoshoot. He even got to photoshoot for another family as the guy with the camera had an older version of Craig’s camera and knew that Craig knew how to take good pics.
After all the walking and standing we did, we proceeded to the Brooklyn Bridge where we walked across it. We took several pictures along the way, and Craig took some
super awesome pics of me dipping Katie and kissing her on the bridge. Can’t wait for Craig to post those. We continued across the bridge and headed to the subway. We hopped the train to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. From there we began to walk towards the terminal. It was hot and humid. We saw a huge number of people doing yoga in the park—at least 100 of them. We finally got to the terminal, and we were beat. We sat down and it felt good. When the ferry arrived, we got ready to board. Some lady fainted, and I can’t blame her because there was probably no oxygen in the room. When the doors opened, everyone bum rushed the ferry and tried to get a view from the top. Only Craig was wise enough to know there was a special spot down below where we could get a stellar view of the Hudson and the Statue of Liberty. Sure enough, we went down there and got a great spot. Craig took lots of pics as did Katie. The 30 minute ferry ride was simply just for us to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty, great view of the river, and a time to relax a bit. Once we got off the ferry, we immediately exited and literally ran to the next ferry to head back. Did I mention the ferries are free? It was my idea to take Katie on a boat tour that costs at least $20/person. But Craig was the genius who told us to take the free ferry instead. Good call as usual. On our trip back, we got to see a better view of the Statue of Liberty along with a wonderful view of Manahattan.
towards Brooklyn Bridge. By this time Craig and I got really hungry. Craig wanted to take us to Grimaldi’s which is a pizzeria and apparently the best pizza in New York (or at least Brooklyn). Unfortunately it didn’t open until noon, and it was only 11am. Katie wanted to go to the little market place under the Brooklyn Bridge so we went there to kill time. Craig and I debated several times whether to eat some place else immediately or wait an hour to eat at Grimaldi’s. After carefully weighing in all options, we both decided we could hold off our hunger for a little longer. Craig suggested we head over by 11:40 because he claimed people would begin to line up. After Katie did a little shopping, we grabbed her to head to Grimaldi’s by 11:45. When we got there, sure enough there was already a big line. We were happy though, because Craig said that we should definitely get a seat still. However, right at noon when they opened the doors, a HUGE number of people with some special privileges got to cut in front of everyone and go in first. When we saw that, we ran out of hope. Finally, we moved to the front of the line. We were about to head in when a worker there said, “Sorry, no more seats left.” WHHHYYYY?!?!??!?! Luckily we could order take out, so Craig quickly ordered our pizzas, and we waited a few minutes, and then they came out with it. We took the pizza to the nearby park and ate it at a bench in the shade. The weather was extremely gorgeous like the day before. Sunshine and mid-70s with humidity. The pizza was like glory in my mouth. Delicious! After eating, Craig did more of his photoshoot. He even got to photoshoot for another family as the guy with the camera had an older version of Craig’s camera and knew that Craig knew how to take good pics.After all the walking and standing we did, we proceeded to the Brooklyn Bridge where we walked across it. We took several pictures along the way, and Craig took some
super awesome pics of me dipping Katie and kissing her on the bridge. Can’t wait for Craig to post those. We continued across the bridge and headed to the subway. We hopped the train to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. From there we began to walk towards the terminal. It was hot and humid. We saw a huge number of people doing yoga in the park—at least 100 of them. We finally got to the terminal, and we were beat. We sat down and it felt good. When the ferry arrived, we got ready to board. Some lady fainted, and I can’t blame her because there was probably no oxygen in the room. When the doors opened, everyone bum rushed the ferry and tried to get a view from the top. Only Craig was wise enough to know there was a special spot down below where we could get a stellar view of the Hudson and the Statue of Liberty. Sure enough, we went down there and got a great spot. Craig took lots of pics as did Katie. The 30 minute ferry ride was simply just for us to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty, great view of the river, and a time to relax a bit. Once we got off the ferry, we immediately exited and literally ran to the next ferry to head back. Did I mention the ferries are free? It was my idea to take Katie on a boat tour that costs at least $20/person. But Craig was the genius who told us to take the free ferry instead. Good call as usual. On our trip back, we got to see a better view of the Statue of Liberty along with a wonderful view of Manahattan.
From the ferry terminal, we headed to the subway again where we hopped the train to Canal St. Katie’s main goal was to buy knock-off purses, primarily Louis Vouitton. As soon as we started to walk on Canal St, an Asian guy shouts, “Louis Vouitton bag?” That was our cue. We tapped him on the shoulder, and he took us for a little walk to find a private area. He showed Katie a brochure that had all the different knock-off purses he had. Katie saw a few she liked, and the guy went somewhere to grab the purses and Katie looked at them. We bargained with him. He told us $55 per purse, but we ended up getting one for $40 and one for $45. Katie later would have buyer’s remorse because she’s not one to buy right away without thinking. One of the purses was for Katie’s mom, too. I also ended up buying a pair of sunglasses since the burglars last month jacked all my shades. :( Craig also joined the fun by trying on a pair of glasses himself...take a look below.
Craig and I then left Katie on Canal St as we both hopped the metrorail yet again to Grand Central where we would walk to Katie and my hotel to pick up our bags. We grabbed the bags and then began to walk. We noticed time was closing in on us, and we didn’t think we could go all the way to pick up Katie and then go back to the bus stop in time. It was 5pm at the time, and 6:30pm is when the bus leaves promptly. So we called Katie and had her meet us at the bus stop. Katie was brave, and she hopped on the train all by herself and rode it to 33rd street where she met up with Craig and I.
By this point, we were all dead from walking. Katie walked everywhere on Canal St, and Craig and I walked from the hotel (42nd and 1st) to 33rd and 7th. It was grueling. We then grabbed some panini’s from a nearby store so that we could eat it on the bus. Craig waited patiently with us at the bus stop until we got on. Finally we boarded, and we began our long 4 hour journey back home. This time we had power and WiFi though, so the ride was really quick. When we got off the bus, we couldn’t find Katie’s sunglasses. We searched the whole bus to no avail. It was strange. From the bus stop, we had to walk a few blocks again to Chinatown, then hop the Metro from Chinatown to Pentagon City, then we walked home. We got to bed a little past midnight, and I had to get up early to go to work the next day. That concluded our wonderful journey to New York. Major props goes out to Craigy. Thanks, buddy, for an unforgettable weekend. You are our NYC tour guide and official cameraman for life. His attitude of constant giving for us surpasses friendship and enters brotherhood.
To view all pictures from the trip with captions, visit http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2107628009/a=70595232_70595232/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
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