My second choice was New York. Neither of us have ever really been that worried about seeing America, but for some reason, New York was special. I don't know if it was the thought of Broadway or the glitzy nature of it, but I was very keen to go, and so was Michael. So a few days before my birthday, we packed our bags and trundled off to New York.
We had some luck during the planning phase as our lovely neighbour Chris actually hails from New York, and he gave us some great tips. He also gave us some warnings, forewarning us that customs and immigration control in the states for non-Americans is a nightmare. Luckily for us, we got off our plane fairly quickly, and were in the queue early enough that the line only doubled back on itself twice. As we drew nearer to the front of the queue we could see the line snaking back and fourth 5 times and was heading back out the hall. We timed it and from the time we got to the immigration hall to the time we collected our bags, it took 55 minutes. Chris assures us that this is the fastest he has ever heard of anyone getting through! Yay us! We had prepared ourselves for up to 4 hours!
However, once we got into our hotel, we were had it. It was only 7pm in NY but for us it was 1am. Having gotten up at 4:30 to make it to the airport on time, we had now been awake for almost 21 hours. So instead of heading out to see the big apple.... we happily tucked ourselves up in our giant bed and slept.
Luckily we slept through and didn't get woken by our natural body clocks too early. But once we were up, we were starving. We found a cute little place near our hotel to satisfy our tummies before our first day of sight seeing. It was called Sugar and Plumm, and it can only be described as having a Wonker-esque vibe to it. The back wall was covered in a candy themed mosaic and there were feature walls and doors in a bright shade of purple all over the place. Even the door handles were made in the shapes of giant lolly pops.
A pre-warning here for the rest of this blog post - this holiday was above all else about the food! Yeah the city was cool, the sights were pretty, but the food was AMAZING! It was so good that I could not wait for the blog to share it. I started a facebook photo album then and there entitled New York Food Porn - and it was added to at least twice daily with instagram shots of the delicacies we indulged in...
So the first breakfast is what inspired the food porn album. It was a feast for both the eyes and the mouth, and then later the tummy. I chose the lemon ricotta pancakes with fresh berries, lemon curd and maple syrup. Michael chose the Classic Eggs Benedict with maple bacon. Both were so delicious. My pancakes were unlike any flavour I had ever experienced with a mixture of sour lemon, sweet sugariness and a savoury saltiness all inside the pancake, which were light and fluffy!
Tummies full, we ambled off towards the subway to make our way to the meeting point for the Free Walking Tour of NY. The same company that we use in every city possible, Sandeman's New Europe once again did not disappoint. We joined our guide Ryan who very quickly demonstrated his excitable sporadic nature, and we knew we were in for a good tour.
The tour took us all through the lower end of New York. We saw the famous Wall Street Charging Bull, the entrance to the Men In Black ops centre (shhhh, big secret), Statue of Liberty (from afar), Battery Park, the East Coast Memorial, The Sphere, Wall Street, the Stock Exchange, the Trump Building (which we weren't fussed about in the slightest), and a very cheeky squirrel. We learnt all about the history of Hamilton and how New York was founded (in particular its Amsterdam heritage).
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| Artist's signature on the Wall Street Charging Bull |
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| Michael got a little bit aggressive with the Bull |
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| MIB headquarters (shhh) |
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| The cheeky Squirrel! |
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| The Sphere |
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| East Coast Memorial |
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| Ryan - the tour guide |
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| The Stock Exchange |
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| Grave of Alexander Hamilton |
We saw plenty of things and learnt a lot too. We finished the tour at the memorial sites of the World Trade Centers. Everyone knows about the twin towers and it is not the nicest thing to dwell on, but I have to admit, it was a tastefully erected memorial. Sitting amongst the large structures being built up around it (the new trade centers and a new Underground station - which according to some looks like a Triceratops!) you emerge into a large open clearing with trees and the sounds of gushing water. A sense of calm can be felt despite the masses of people all there to see the same thing. The water sounds come from the center of the two memorial sites. Where each building once stood, there is a hollow descending into the ground, with water running down the sides. It is built so that you cannot see the bottom, and it gives the sense that you are now looking at a watery reflection of what once stood above. It is serene and beautiful, yet simultaneously haunting. Around the rims of the two pools are plaques indicating the names of each and every person who lost their life that fateful day. Sad yet a very respectful memorial.
This was where we wrapped up the tour with Ryan.
We walked / subway'd it back to Grand Central station where we found the main foodcourt area and looked for a bite to eat. This worked perfectly because at 2pm, we rejoined Ryan inside Grand Central for the start of his afternoon Upper East Side tour. We were quite happy that we took the tour not just for the info, but because only ourselves and one other man turned up for the tour, and this guy had been very friendly with us on the morning tour - so private tour for 3 it was!
The tour of course started with a sweeping look and detailed information about Grand Central Station. It has to be said, it is a lovely spacious station with some classic beauty to it.
From there, the tour moved around the outside of Grand Central, giving us a close up look at the Chrysler building. Ryan also took us inside the foyer of the building to show us the class and grandeur it possesses.
From there it was a short walk up to East 41st street, otherwise known as Library Way. As we turned onto this street and looked ahead, we were greeted by a large building with elegant pillars and architecture that did not quite match the concrete jungle surrounding it. For one, it had space around it. This was the New York Public Library. Ryan also pointed out to us the brass plaques set into the sidewalk that gave Library Way its name. Each plaque was a famous quote or passage from a well known work of literature.
We didn't just observe the Library from the outside - Ryan very happily took us up the main stairs and into the open entrance hall before leading us to his favourite room. The walls were elaborately decorated with paintings that showed the evolution of print. I was quite impressed.
Our walk then continued heading west, leading us to the bright lights and loud crowded Times Square. I don't know if it was built up to be something much worse by people and blogs and travel websites, but I didn't find it that busy, I didn't find it to be particularly louder or more crowded than any other part of New York. I also found it to be smaller than what pictures had led me to believe. I later got to see more of it and realised it stretched quite a way, but for now I thought it to be small! And it was filled with annoying dressed up characters!
Our last few moments with Ryan were a wander up to 5th Avenue and along to a stop in front of St Patrick's Cathedral. While the church itself was nice, we turned our back on the church and admired the gigantic sculpture of Atlas! Ryan told us a funny story (rumour) of how Atlas, once seen as an offence to the church, was allowed to stay because of three reasons given to the church by the artist. They were cheeky but the church believed them?!- He was kneeling to the church
- His stance, if you ignore the orb, was somewhat representative of Jesus on the cross
- Standing behind the statue, one sees that the cross atop the church is in the center of the orb - thus, the church is the center of the earth!
This version of Atlas does not quite embody the original, with a much beefier looking man, carrying an open orb that represents the globe - an Art Deco style interpretation. I could not help but remark to Michael that Michelangelo would have had a heart attack because of the over beefiness of the figure created by the sculptor.
It was here that Ryan and the other tourist said goodbye to us and made their respective ways home. We however wanted to see a few things more. Back down next to Prometheus, we had seen a giant Lego store. We did not wander it, but we did stop to admire a few of the statues in the front windows!
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| Lego Prometheus! |
We wandered back through the streets as the sun was setting and kept the Empire State Building in our line of sight as we knew our dinner location was in that general direction. While we knew we could probably just walk into most places, we had pre-booked a table at a restaurant in mid-east area purely based on a photo from a friend who lives in New York. I was determined to try something that could only be described as American.
I was going to eat the Macaroni Cheese Hamburger!
It was a soft hamburger bun filled with three layers of deliciousness. First, a panko crumbed and fried patty of macaroni cheese, then a juicy all beef patty, then topped with a scoop of fresh gooey macaroni cheese! The first few bites were amazing, everything I had hoped for, but by the end, the flavours had become a little combined and I couldn't say that it was anything special anymore. But it was worth it for the experience.
Michael also enjoyed a hamburger, but his was more normal.
We both agreed an early night was in order as we were super tired. Keep in mind that our bodies were still six hours ahead on German time, so our 8pm return to the Hotel was in fact 2am in the morning for us. Needless to say, we passed out quickly.
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| Ok, I passed out quickly. |
Morning arrived, bringing with it some 'blah' weather. Which kind of then influenced our day. It started out well with a really lovely breakfast at an Australian cafe in Greenwich Village. Michael ate muesli, while I enjoyed fresh gluten free banana bread with ricotta cheese, honey and fruit.
As nice as breakfast was, I instantly wished we hadn't eaten there as our next stop was Chelsea Markets. This was a little similar in feel to the old Brisbane Woolsheds, transformed old industrial buildings near the water, with a hipster vibe going on inside. The shops were a mixture of fancy fashion, yummy foods and even a pop up young designer market. Sadly, as amazing as I found several of the young designer works, I could never afford to buy any of the stuff. I was beadily eyeing off a handbag that would have been simply perfect for me - $450 usd. Uh, no thank you!
We also found an Australian Pie shop here, but given that we had just eaten breakfast and lunch time was still a few hours off, we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it, no matter how much we were craving an Aussie Pie.
From the market place, we found an entrance to the HighLine. This is a long open plan walk way for people to wander along, sit, relax and enjoy. Formerly an above ground, raised railway line, it has been transformed for the people. It is now landscaped with great sitting areas and viewing docks. The only thing was, we were in New York in the middle of winter. No flowers were to be seen and the plans that were still in the flower beds were brown and shriveled up. Not quite what we were hoping for. We wandered along the High Line for a while, admiring the architecture and art installations, rather than the plants, but eventually we both agreed it wasn't beautiful enough to keep going. We descended the stairs and walked our way back in towards the city.
Our journey back into town took us via Madison Square Gardens, which normally famous for big concerts such as Lady Gaga, was on that day hosting the Sesame Street Stage Spectacular. We must have passed at the end of a show because there were hundreds of families heading away from the stadium with helium Cookie Monster and Elmo head balloons.
From there, it was a short trip back into Times Square. We had been warned, go there once, get a photo, say you have been there and get out again. Second time round, I did see the size of it better, but again, I was not overwhelmed by it. But we were searching for something in particular. We were looking for a shop, a bakery. This bakery belongs to the one and only Cake Boss. Now, Michael and I don't particularly love American TV shows, and we don't like reality shows. But Cake Boss is something else. I have enjoyed every season of this show purely for the sheer artistic talent of Buddy Velastro and his team. And from the moment we decided to visit New York, a trip to Carlos' Bakery was in order.
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| Cannoli |
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| Lobster Tail |
Sadly, there was no one in the shop that day that we recognised from the show, and the shop itself was quite run down. It did not stop the lobster tail and the cannoli from tasting absolutely amazing, and every bit as mouthwatering as I had been hoping for.
We finally made it (after a lengthy walk) up to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). This ended up being the perfect way to spend our very lack luster dreary grey day. It was for me the chance to see some of my all time favourite paintings up close and personal. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I studied art for a period and I have my top 10 images/artists. MOMA gave me the chance to see number 5, 4, 3 and 2 on that list.I've always been a keen follower of Andy Warhol, and upon entering the museum, we were greeted by several Warhol masterpieces. I also found several works by Picasso, Mondrian, Lichtenstein, Dali, Monet and Klimt. But the piece that holds the number 2 spot on my list, something I had dreamt of seeing in the flesh for a long time was also on display, surrounded by observers (in a similar sense to that of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre) was Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. I was so happy and rather speechless. It was surprisingly smaller than I expected but still beautiful. I even got a selfie with it!
After a long wander through the gallery shop (full of really cool artistic gadgets and decorations) we made our way to the Little Italy part of New York where we searched for dinner. After a small wander, Michael admitted that he really wanted to try a place that was reported to be the oldest pizzeria in New York, and came highly recommended. So we found our way there.
This is how we ended up at Lombardi's. Lombardi's has been around since 1905, and as soon as we were inside, I realised that I recognised this place. Last year, the Cake Boss himself had made a specialty cake for Lombardi's on the celebration of their 110th year. There were photos all over the wall of Buddy bringing the cake and I remembered the episode well.So, sitting down, we both took a look over the menu and admitted that while it was a short and simple menu, that pizza was the only option. We chose a white pizza and added some prosciutto. When it arrived, it was bigger than we could have expected. We were super happy we only ordered one pizza to share because as it was we could only eat 3/4 of it. It was delicious and a lovely way to end our day.
Monday morning dawned bright and sunny and cheery once again, which brought about a better mood for sight seeing. We started with breakfast at a Swiss Hotel not far from our own, and just had very simple fruit and muesli breakfasts. The pizza from the previous night really had been massive.
From there it was just a short stroll to the Museum of Natural History. Now, I didn't exactly have an idea in mind as to what to expect from this museum, but what we got was something directly out of the movies. If you have ever seen Night at the Museum, you will know exactly what I am talking about. I could swear to you that they would have filmed that movie right there. While most of the movie was filmed in a studio, they clearly took a lot of inspiration for the set design from this museum.
If you have seen the movie, you will know that the exhibits largely sit in grand circular rooms, large dark wooden panels or pillars separate the huge glass fronts of each individual exhibit. Behind the glass, the exhibits are life sized and quite often look very realistic. In terms of the animals, they are clearly real, taxidermied animals, and in most cases, it was really cool to look into the eyes of these life sized creatures. I enjoyed everything, from the underwater exhibit, to the animals of various lands, and the Easter Island exhibit where I got to meet Dum Dum (once again, movie reference).
The top floor was dedicated to dinosaurs and the evolution of fossils. It would have to be one of the largest and most complete collections of dinosaur fossils and replicas I have ever seen. And it was so well displayed. But the best dinosaur was the Titanasaurus. The model on display at the museum was a replica of the fossil found in Argentina and he is so big that he does not actually fit inside the room. His head extends out of the door of the exhibition!
On our way towards the exit, we passed through one last exhibition hall, the room of African Animals. Once again, the glass side by side exhibits showed beautifully presented lifelike animals, but it took us forever to find the Giraffes!
When we had arrived, we had entered through a rear entrance, and we had thought the entrance to be quite quiet. It wasn't until we went to leave through the main entrance that we realised what we had missed. It was loud and full of people as well as another large dinosaur skeleton. The front facade was another tip of the hat to the movie.
The main entrance of the museum is directly opposite an entrance to Central Park, and being such a beautiful day, we wanted to go for a wander through the famed park. However, we were hungry. Having said we would spend perhaps 2 hours in the museum, we had been inside for 4 (and still didn't get to see everything) and we were now looking for food. Around the corner from the museum was one of the food places we had been told about - the Shake Shack. So it was here that we stopped for burgers and a chocolate thick shake. Michael had the menu's standard hamburger while I had the 'Shroom Stack' - a burger with a cheese stuffed portobello mushroom (crumbed) instead of a meat patty. The cheese had gone melty and gooey and the rest of the flavours were so good. Even the chocolate shake was good, not something I normally like to drink.
Our wander through Central Park was nice but uneventful. Once again, given that it was winter, the trees and such were not looking so good, but the sun was shining and the lake was shimmering so it was good enough. We saw plenty of foraging squirrels and the stroll across from west to east took us about 45 minutes. We came out near the Gugenheim museum.
By now it was nearing 4pm, and we wanted to time our entrance to the Rockefeller Center just right. Given that the sun was shining (and the forecast for the next few days wasn't looking so good) we thought it would be our perfect opportunity to watch the sun set over New York. So a train ride back down town got us to the entrance of Rockefeller just on 4:30pm.
No need for big explanations here, I will let the photos do the talking. We went up to the top, we took photos, we waited, took some more photos once the sun had gone down, and then we came back down. It was very pretty.
By the time we made our way down from the top, it was nearing dinner time. But our dinner plans were actually a little further afield that evening. We caught a train over the water to Williamsburg near Brooklyn. Using tips once again from friends who live in NY, we navigated ourselves to a quiet and slightly run down looking street, to a very closed looking shop front. By closed I mean that the windows were covered with news paper and the rest covered in black wood panels. Had it not been for the little chalk board propped up outside the door, we might have never found the place.
This place being Bozu - a sushi bar with a twist. We sat down near the front with the Daruma doll curtain behind me. We took ages to pour over the menu, but were happy to sip Japanese beer in the mean time. Once we had ordered, the food came quickly and it was so good. We shared a pork belly entre (called 'Pork Betty') and then we shared a plate of what they call Sushi Bombs. These are pretty much upstyled nigiri sushi but the flavour combos were very nice. So good in fact we ordered another round of sushi bombs even though we had plans for dessert already in place!
Dessert was planned, and we had chosen to do Bozu that night for the sole purpose of being able to go to a special ice cream bar straight after because it was located in the same street. So out of Bozu we came, waddled up the street a few doors, to find that the -321 ice cream bar was closed - they don't open on Mondays! I was devastated!
But Michael, good man that he is, said that I was allowed dessert still, and insisted on taking me to the other ice cream bar on my list - the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop. A train ride back over the water into New York and we found our way to the very colourful shop front. Every little element of the shop was quirky, from the chalkboards out the front, to the signage, and even the photos and first aid posters inside (they have an obsession with Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls). We were there though, not because of the name, but because the ice cream came as highly recommended. The soft serve has won multiple awards, and their creations are said to be super tasty.
The weather in New York really seemed to be a bit of an up and down business. Tuesday dawned, dreary and bleak, with signs of rain on the horizon. We were very grateful that we had done the Top of the Rock experience the day before. For today, we had planned to visit a museum and then take a cruise on the Hudson River.... but we weren't confident that our plans would stick.But before we could see our plans through, naturally we had to eat breakfast. And what a breakfast it was. We found another quaint little place near our hotel called Alice's Tea Cup, and it was here that we discovered a strange little cafe that served a huge menu of breakfast dishes and house blends of tea, all with the mis-matched disarray of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Michael enjoyed poached eggs with a mustard hollandaise sauce on a ham and cheese scone with chicken sausage un-mash.
I also had poached eggs with the mustard sauce, but mine were served on a buttercream scone, with smoked salmon, and a side of poached pears and asparagus. It was delicious. I also washed it all down with a pot of Alice's Blend of tea.
Then it was on towards the museum of choice for the day - Michael's choice. He was very interested in visiting the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. This was actually pretty cool because the entire museum was housed on an ex-aircraft carrier ship called the Intrepid which served from 1943 to 1974, through 3 wars.
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| Lego model of the Intrepid |
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| Michael in a space capsule |
The entire top open flight deck was visible from the street, and had several decommissioned planes displayed on it, including some very fierce looking fighter jets. Inside, each of the levels were dedicated to a variety of exhibits, including war stories and what life aboard the ship was like.
Also located on the top deck was the entrance to a special exhibit. We entered the large enclosed building, passed through the entrance turnstiles and wound our way around to the hidden entrance. As we walked through the archway, we realised that before us stood the Enterprise Space Shuttle. The real thing. It was huge! We got to walk under and around it, but sadly not inside. The exhibit, aside from the shuttle itself was rather small and there was not much to see, but it was still exciting.
The one major problem that we had that day was the weather. What had started as a light sprinkle as we headed into the museum, had become heavy rain with huge winds by the time we emerged on the flight deck again. Our plans had been to head out on a river cruise to see the sights on the Hudson River, but we both made an executive decision not to do this due to the weather. We were not going to waste our afternoon sitting inside a boat with rain spattered windows to see the sights.
So instead we headed off in search of a lunch location. This is where we consulted our map. The map had been thoroughly researched and put together prior to our trip thanks to a few contributors. Our neighbour here in Munich is New York born and bred, and I also have mentioned, an Australian friend who lives and works in New York. Today, the map led us in search of the famous New York sandwich. This is how we ended up at Carnegie's Deli. I'm sure this name sounds familiar.
We headed in, out of the horrible rain and wind, and took our seats. I have to say that this really was one of the more disappointing experiences of the trip. Not because of the sandwich itself - that was delicious! But from the moment we walked in, the service was very curt, we felt rushed in our choices and the prices were astronomical. It was lucky that we had eaten such a big breakfast, and it was a late lunch, so we both agreed to just share a sandwich. Which was just as well - that single sandwich (2 slices of bread and a shed load of finely carved delicious meat) cost $22! The sandwich was only $20 but there was a surcharge for sharing because we 'needed' a second plate... We also found ourselves adding a lot of mustard to the sandwich as the meat alone, tasty as it was, was just meat on bread. Needless to say, this was the one and only time in the US that we did not leave a tip when we paid.
The rain had lessened however the wind was still tunneling through the gaps between the high rises. So we took another look at our map and went in search of dessert! I did warn you this was a food adventure holiday!
We found our way to the Dominique Ansel Bakery. This classy bakery has but one tiny shop front with a very long but narrow shop. And yet, at 3pm in the afternoon it was packed. Given the signage that said that they had sold out of Cronuts already that day, I can only imagine what the shop would have looked like in the morning. We overheard another customer inquire about the Cronuts, and they were told that they had sold out of over 300 cronuts quite early in the day, before lunch time.
That was fine, we were not there for the famous Ansel Cronut. We were there to try the Cookie Shot. However, I very nearly ordered a Smore instead.... Everyone else in the store had a long stick in their hand, some now just a stick, others still with evidence of a smore existing at one end of it. And what I could see of it looked good. Scorched marshmallow, with oozing chocolate centre. I think I could have been forgiven for switching. But I did not, I stayed strong and ordered my long awaited cookie shot.Cookie Shot: A chocolate chip cookie that has been backed into the shape of a shot glass, lined with melted chocolate and allowed to set. When ordered by a customer, it is filled with a shot of milk.
We carried our shots to a table, sat down and just admired that our shot glasses were not leaking! We enjoyed our milk, which was slowly becoming chocolate tainted thanks to the lining of the 'glass'. With the milk gone, we dug into our cookies, which were delicious, and still had a surprising amount of crunch considering the liquid it had previously held. All in all, a very pleasant experience. But I do so regret not getting my smore stick.
The rain and wind had both petered out by this time, so we wandered around a soggy Soho for the rest of the afternoon, shopping and just walking around in general. I found a T2 shop which made me very happy because I usually have to wait for my mum's care packages to receive me latest batch of T2.... and we also stopped at the Aesop shop and UniQlo.Eventually we headed to a place in Greenwich Village called Murray's Cheese Bar. Why? Because it just happened to be Cheese Week in New York! And we had heard about a special Cheese and Beer tasting night that was happening there. So we got the restaurant, and had to wait for a table because the place was super packed (on a Tuesday night!) but once we were seated, it was fairly easy for us to decide what we wanted. No meal for us that night (we had eaten the sandwich and cookie shot rather late in the day). We both wanted a cheese and beverage matched tasting platter. Michael went with the beers, while I went with a set of wines.
Out came our platters, each with three different sorts of cheese, along with three matched condiments for the cheeses, and three glasses of beer/wine each. I had a white, a rose and red wine, while Michael had 3 very different beers, all from one American brewery. The cheeses and drinks paired well, but what surprised us most was the condiment matches. My blue cheese came with a caramel sauce, my cheddar cheese came with pickles and my soft cheese came with a chutney.Michael's cheeses were paired with soaked raisins, pickled red onions and the blue cheeses went with a white honey.
All I can say is that blue cheese with honey/caramel sauce is my new favourite thing! Just incredible!
That however then marked the end of our evening. We were both too full for any more food or drinks so we happily made our way home to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before....
MY BIRTHDAY!!!!
I don't know if it was knowing I was no longer in my 20s or because of the bad weather, but I really had a hard time enjoying my birthday this year. Yes I was getting a big holiday as my present from Michael, and yes, I had some amazing presents from my family back home that were to be enjoyed that evening and the following, but the actual day was a bit of a wash out.We wandered out for a bite of breakfast, finding a nice bakery fairly close to our hotel. But the service was not great and by the time we had eaten and paid the bill, it was 11am. While we were eating, we had done some research into our planned plans for the day and it turned out, what we had planned was closed. So this was the start of the bad news.
We went for a wander in towards town but the weather got so bad (rain and wind again) that we decided to just go back to the hotel and get warm/dry (our jackets were soaked through because umbrellas were useless in the wind).
An hour or 2 later, once dry and warm again, we had made up our minds to go out for a nice late lunch (because we were not going to eat dinner that evening). Map consultation took place, and we both agreed that the Black Iron Burger house was the way to go. This is how we came to enjoy really delicious burgers with loaded fries on my birthday. A wine and a beer made it a little more special and we did enjoy each others company.
On the way back to the hotel, we decided to stop for one other treat - a Levain Bakery mound cookie. I went a choc chip oat cookie while Michael went the double chocolate (of course). We took these back to the hotel and devoured them on the bed while watching telly!After some lazy time, we got ourselves ready for our special evening out. I had a shower and did my hair (because I had ended up wet from the rain) then dressed up as nicely as I could. We were off to Broadway!
Through Michael, mum had organised tickets for us to see the Book of Mormon. This was like a dream come true for me. Not just because of what we were seeing, but where we were seeing it. This musical had been at the top of my list for the longest time, and seeing as it started on Broadway, and had won so many Tony Awards, I just had to see the original.
So this is how we came to be sitting front row of the balcony with the most amazing view of the stage for what was an absolutely hilarious show. Michael does not like musicals. Not one bit. The only exception to that rule being 'The Lion King' which anyone I'm sure will agree is the acceptable exception. He agreed to come with me because a) it was my birthday, and b) it was written by the creators of South Park. So he agreed that it was likely to have a few good moments.
He still claims that it was only 'ok' but as the person sitting next to him throughout the show, he was laughing non-stop. I was laughing louder, but he was still laughing. Add to this the fact that he is still months later making jokes that relate to the content of the show, I think he enjoyed it! I would love to tell you have the things that followed in our post performance conversation, but there were quite a few expletives used (thanks to the fact we were copying the show) and I'm not someone who can say words like that easily. Either way, we laughed all the way to the next stop of the night. Dessert!
No birthday is complete without cake. So we wandered down to a place in the Korean district called the Spot Dessert Bar. We had high expectations of this as it was marketed as a classy tapas dessert fusion experience. It was rather just a food outlet inside a food hall, with multiple other Asian restaurants and communal seating. But regardless, we were both hankering for the Chocolate Green Tea Lava Cake. Michael went to order, and then returned to me at our seat with the buzzer which did not take long to go off. I went to retrieve our order, to find on the tray not only our cake, but also a Green Tea iced latte (my favourite drink) and a salted peanut butter caramel macaroon (another favourite)! Michael then indicated that this was all from my mummy as a part of my special birthday evening.
The cake itself was warm and gooey, and as we cracked it open, it oozed not chocolate lava sauce but rather vibrant green sauce! This also then melted the green tea ice cream to the side, and the whole experience was delicious. If we had had more room in our tummies I think we could have tried more of the cool desserts, but we were satisfied with just the one. It was a great end to the day!
I mentioned that early on Wednesday morning, we had discovered that our plans were not possible due to closures. So this is how we came to start our Thursday morning with the intention of going to the Neue Gallery. But of course, we were not off to observe German art on an empty tummy. So we made a pit stop at Jack's Wife Freda first for Eggs Benny (poached eggs with smoked salmon on potato cakes and beetroot hollandaise) and a Madame Freda (sandwich with duck prosciutto, cheddar bechamel, gruyere cheese and a sunny side up egg).
Back on day 2 of this trip, I was able to see first hand what I declared as my second favourite all time artistic image - Starry Night. Well, as we headed to the Neue, I knew that I was about to tick number one off the list. Edvard Munch's "The Scream" has been at the top of my list for as long as I can remember, to the point that I am currently cross stitching a copy of this famous artwork.
On the top floor of the Neue Gallery (after waiting half an hour to just get inside) we were treated to a collection of works, comprising of German and Austrian artists, mostly the works of Munch. A detailed timeline of Munch's life was along one wall, and in a tiny darkened room at the end of the exhibit was 'The Scream'. In this room there were only 4 other images, 2 of which were earlier sketches or experiments of what was to become the famous image. I snapped a sneaky scream selfie before we headed downstairs to see the other galleries which included a few works from Gustav Klimt. Overall we were not impressed with the collection, but the Scream and Klimt"s pieces were worth seeing.
From the Neue, we caught a subway back across town to the west side to right near the Enterprise museum where we had been earlier in the week. This time we headed to a cool eating area, similar to that of the Chelsea Markets. It reminded me a little of the Newfarm area of Brisbane actually. It was here that we settled down to lunch. We wandered through the hall and both decided to enjoy a bowl of ramen from Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop. This really was a delicious tasty bowl of warming goodness. The weather was still cold and bleak so it was the perfect pick me up. We each chose different soups with different extras inside. I selected the Miso Butter Mazeman soup with Pork Belly, while Michael selected the Tokyo Shoyu Ramen with Enoki mushrooms. We both practically licked our bowls clean.
We had selected this lunch venue as it was just a 100 meter walk away from the dock where we were to board the Hudson River Cruise that we had wanted to take earlier in the week. Weather, as I said, was not great, but it was better than it had been, and it was our last chance to take the cruise, for which we had tickets pre booked. However, knowing we had a few minutes up our sleeves before the boat left, we ran back up the street away from the river, to a place called Schmackeries where we both chose a big cookie to take on the boat with us!
Back down at the dock, we boarded the boat and selected seats outside on the rear top deck of the boat under the small overhang. While the rain had ceased, it was still cold and windy, but the windows inside the boat were foggy and covered in water droplets from the outside. So we decided to brave the cold and enjoy the sights. We did have cookies to keep us warm from the inside after all.
The boat tour took us down the Hudson river and made a detour via Lady Liberty, so we could all take our pictures. We then headed up the eastern arm of the Hudson for a view of the Brooklyn Bridge from underneath and to see some of the sights on that side. Over the duration of the trip, there was a guide giving constant information over a microphone and we heard quite a lot of interesting information about New York and its history.
However, cookies only last for so long, and by the last 15 minutes of the trip, I gave up and headed inside. We had seen everything anyway, and we were just creeping back up towards the dock. Michael was right behind me. Once docked, we both went straight back across the road to the food hall just so we could warm up.We stopped for a drink (Michael a local beer, myself a local wine) and fixed ourselves up a little (beanie hair was not a great look). The reason for this being that we were heading back to Broadway that evening! My mum had supplied the tickets to Book of Mormon. My Aunt and Uncle had sent money so that we could see another show. I lucked out with an app that allowed you to make last minute purchases of tickets at reduced prices, and it allowed us to collect the tickets outside the Theatre. It turned out that these tickets were amazing because not only were we front row of the balcony again, but this time we were dead centre!
Oh, by the way, this time we were off to see Matilda!
Michael as I mentioned does not really like musicals, but this happened to be the one musical he wanted to see - mainly because the music and lyrics had been written by Australian Comedian Tim Minchin - one of Michael's favourites. So he happily agreed to join me for this one. So another big thank you to the family for the great birthday pressies - and thanks for letting Michael come too!
I have to say, as wonderful as Matilda was, as great as the actors were, Mormon was for me the better of the two. I think, as someone who read Matilda over and over as a child, and as someone who dreamt of becoming Miss Honey, I felt that the stage production took a few too many creative liberties and left a few things out. But the songs and performances were incredible and we did have a good time.
Leaving the theatre, we had one last stop to make, and it was somewhere we just had to get to. It was our last chance. Back on Monday, I mentioned that we had been unlucky when attempting to visit the -321 Ice Cream Bar. Tonight we succeeded and it was so worth it!
We took a little while to select our flavours, but once chosen, we watched as our dessert started as liquid being poured into a mixing bowl that was then mixed by an electric mixer as liquid nitrogen was added. It was amazing, and almost magical, to watch the mixer whir and flood the counter with white smoke. The smoke floated over the top and down the side of the bench to the floor. We were both so intent on watching the smoke and the process, we hardly noticed that our ice cream was ready!
Michael enjoyed a rocky road concoction, while I requested the green tea kit kat cup (I think you might be detecting a theme here with me). Both of us enjoyed not just the flavours, but also the creaminess of the ice cream, so smooth with none of the normal ice crystals that form in ice cream that sits for a while. The shop had in fact named itself based on the idea that the ice cream is made with liquid nitrogen which has a freezing point of minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit (or -196°C). How ever they name their shop, the ice cream was amazing, and we were so pleased that we had had the opportunity to visit before the end of our trip.The following morning was sadly our last day. We needed to pack our bags and head to the airport. Our return to Munich was just hours away. Still.... time for one last New York breakfast.
This was followed by a wander towards the centre of town to check out a few select shops to stock up on some things. Firstly art supplies, and secondly drugs - of the completely legal medicine variety. Due to my allergies, I require a constant supply of antihistamines, something that is not so easy to have in Germany. I require a script even for a pack of 12 or 24. So when America sells whole containers of 180 tablets over the counter, you can understand why this appeals to me. So we stocked up on antihistamines and ordinary painkillers, making for a happy Kristie! It also helped that I stocked up on Almond MnMs and English magazines!
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| Goodbye Big Apple! |
