NYC continued (been SWAMPED this the slow posting)...
We woke up and took about a 200 yard stroll from our hotel to the Brooklynn bridge for a nice walk to start the day. The Brooklynn Bridge is such a beautiful piece of architecture:
The walk was littered with gals doing selfies EVERYWHERE and it was both ridiculous and hilarious to see them all doing the pose they obviously feel they look best, it was like a fashion show slash photo-op for idiots.
We move on from there walking toward the new Freedom tower at the WTC site:
and grabbed a subway by the
Oculus train station:
We headed North so we could make a stop at a cool little diner I've been wanting to see & try in person called
Empire Diner. I love the look of this place, its throwback design and smaller, intimate space.
The outside is great too:
We had the buttermilk biscuits with housemate jam:
apricot ginger scone:
empire omelette:
and grilled steak and eggs:
(full disclosure in case anyone cares, none of the food photos above are mine, they are taken from Yelp or Empire Diners site. I dropped the ball on my trip and forgot to take pictures at most meals, I think I was in such a hunger frenzy I forgot, lol)
Everything was really well done and the biscuits were so good, they made us forget about the scones and save the calories for more biscuits. The French omelette was done very well and tasted great, the Boursin cheese inside really made it pop, my girlfriend went berserk over it and she rarely eats eggs, meat, etc.
Steak and eggs were tasty, I always enjoy a good salsa verde
Right across the street from Empire Diner is
The High Line. In case you dont know what this is, here's how its descried on their website:
Quote:
The High Line is more than a park. It’s a public space where you can view art, walk through gardens, experience a performance, savor delicious food, or just connect with friends and neighbors—while enjoying a unique perspective of the city.
Built on a historic, elevated freight line, the High Line has become a world-renowned inspiration for how cities can transform industrial infrastructure into beautiful, hybrid public spaces.
Being a builder and designer, I just love creative, well done, repurposing of old materials, buildings and in this case old freight lines. The one mile stroll allows you to get some nice exercise while taking in some interesting architecture along the way:
We end up walking around and finally catching a subway back down to China Town and Little Italy:
We were getting pretty tired by the time we made it down to this area where Chinatown and Little Italy seem to blend together so we didn't spend much time here and nothing really stood out or grabbed me besides the fresh seafood markets in Chinatown that were surprising free from the typical fishy smell I would have expected. Looks like a great place to buy seafood if you live in the city.
The only interesting/weird thing of note that happened in this area was that they were pushy as hell trying to get you to sit down and eat and drink inside their restaurant in Little Italy or in Chinatown, I was constantly bombarded with people coming up to me whispering under the breath, as if it was a request to do a drug deal, asking if I wanted to buy a watch.
I got asked by the same lady three times if I wanted to buy a watch so I circled back around while my girlfriend was shopping for trinkets and tapped the lady on the shoulder and said:
Hey Lady:
We were pretty close to our hotel but I lose all sense of direction walking around NYC and after about 30 minutes of walking and realizing I had been going in circles, I threw in the towel and grabbed a cab and hitched a ride back to the hotel.
We were starving at this point but too tired to venture back out so we decide to try the restaurant attached to the hotel called
Augustine
and OMFG
to be continued...