Sunday - our last full day in NYC for this trip.
We had a few things on the agenda that we wanted to do today so we tried to get a bit of an earlier start.
Our hotel boasted a "Manhattan View" and we did have one. This is the view from our room and you can see the Empire State Building. Not too shabby.
It's looking like a beautiful day out there too, yay!
I don't know if its the time change, the late nights or maybe all the walking but for some reason we have a heck of a time getting up and out of the hotel early when we are in NY.
We were out by 10am this morning though and first thing we did was have the hotel shuttle drop us off at Pete's Diner for breakfast. (Along with the Subway station, the shuttle also stopped at restaurants & shops and would take you basically anywhere you wanted within that vicinity)
It was the quintessential NY City diner and we just love that. The menus are huge and you can order just about anything you want, even if it isn't on the menu they will probably make it for you anyway.
I had the bagels & lox again (thankfully there were capers this time), and a side of bacon because you know......BACON IS AWESOME!
My Honey had his favorite Huevos Rancheros. The black beans were very tasty.
They advertised these different kinds of chocolate covered goodies so I had to try them.
I opted for the mint chocolate chip.
I thought they were home made chocolates but turns out it was just a scoop of ice cream with hard chocolate around it and some whipped cream.
Not what I was expecting but still good.
This is the overpass for the Subway - it is outside instead of underground once you get outside of Manhattan. No elevators or escalators - you have to walk up the stairs and it's equivalent to like 3 stories.
Saw this display of bobble heads in a store window. I love the Spy vs Spy ones.
I took 4 separate pictures and still couldn't get all the different bobble heads.
They reminded me of a coworker/friend, he has a bunch all lined up on the window sill in his office.
We would have picked a funky one up for him but the store was closed.
After breakfast we headed to the first thing on our agenda for today - the LIC Flea & Food Market.
We went to it last year too. It is just small but they have some neat things. We bought some magnets which I will post a picture of tomorrow).
The market has a bunch of food stalls too but we were still full so we didn't try anything.
The building across from the market has this cool mural - it is fading a bit but I think that gives it a aged feel and I like it.
Saw these guys in a store window too. We saw them yesterday in the American Folk Art Museum.
We were thinking about purchasing one but really didn't have room in our luggage.
They are made out assorted scraps so we are going to try making one ourselves.
Next up - Hot Sauce Expo
My Honey came across information on this hot sauce exhibition that was going on in Brooklyn this weekend so we had to check it out.
He said he wanted to see if something there could melt his molars.
My Honey is a hot sauce fan and he is slowly luring me over to the dark side.
I can't handle quite the heat that he can but I have come along way since we first met.
It was quite the event - there were tons of people around and some of them were hurting real bad.
They were handing out free milk and by the looks of things, it was greatly appreciated by most in attendance.
My Honey tried these (I wasn't brave enough), I asked if they were hot and he said "a little bit" but I could see the sweat on his brow from just one bite - maybe a little bit of smoke coming out of his ears too, hee hee!
We didn't try this one, I just thought the name was funny.
I did try this one, it was more of a bbq sauce than a hot sauce and it had a good smoky, sweet flavor.
People were really getting into the spirit of things, there was a giant hot pepper guy.
and an Elvis of course!
The one on the right here was My Honey's pick for best in show. It didn't have a vinegar base, only fresh ingredients like carrots. It was triple the price of the others but he really like the flavor so we are taking a bottle home with us.
This vendor had "hot" chocolate. This young sales girl was really into it and giving an extremely enthusiastic pitch for the product. It was impressive.
There was even parmesan jalapeno popcorn and caramel chili popcorn.
Believe it or not, I preferred the flavor of the caramel chili one, sounded like a strange combo to me but it did taste good.
Then we found the EXECUTION STATION
They gave you 6 different hot sauces starting at a mild and working their way up to the hottest.
The girl next to My Honey was there with her boyfriend and a few other fellows but she was the only one out of the bunch to have the guts to do the test.
My Honey really liked one of the hot sauces he sampled there so we picked up a bottle of that.
All in all we ended up with 5 bottles of hot sauce and a jar of hot cranberry jam. The jam was my choice, it is similar to a pepper jelly (which I love) but the cranberries gave it a really unique taste that I enjoyed.
Then they had a chihuahua fashion contest.
Not sure what that has to do with hot sauce but it was fun.
This little diva loved posing for the crowd.
This little guy wasn't too sure about the passenger on his back.
This one had on a unicorn costume, who doesn't love unicorns?
The Winners!
These little guys were just so cool & chill - real superstars.
Saw these afterwards on our way to the subway station.
Lilacs are my number one. The scent of them is so strong and powerful and I love it.
Every year I get some fresh ones for my house off of my friends tree.
They don't last long and the season for them is very short but they are so worth it.
Our final destination was the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to see the cherry blossoms
There were some trees at the station when we got off however when we walked over to the gardens, the line up to get in was humongous and it was closing in an hour so we decided to skip it.
I wasn't sure how much time we'd have once we got through the line up and we've been seeing lots of cherry blossoms while we have been here so I felt like that was sufficient.
Some day I would like to go to Japan when all the cherry blossoms are in bloom.
For now though, I am content.
We had a little time so we walked around the little neighbourhood in Brooklyn that we were in looking for a place to eat.
We found this little ramen place that looked interesting so in we went.
It was called Kogane Ramen
I ordered the Sauted Brussel Sprouts for an appetizer - I barely wanted to share them because they tasted so good. I could eat these every single day.
My Honey had the spicy buns, I thought they were just ok.
I ordered the Ramen Burger because I'd never heard of it before. I wasn't even sure what it was.
Turns out it is a burger and the "bun" is made out of ramen noodles.
I quite liked it, it had a tasty sauce on it and the noodle bun had a bit of a crunch to it.
I would for sure have it again.
My Honey ordered this - Parco Ramen
It was a curry based soup with pork.
I had one bite and decided instantly that I wanted a bowl of soup too because it was so delicious.
The flavor was just so good.
They had a lobster ramen soup on special so I ordered it.
Turns out it wasn't as delicious as the one My Honey had, I think maybe it was the curry that made it taste good.
I still liked it and ate most of it which is not normal for me.
So glad we stopped at this little place - it was like finding a little gem.
We purchased tickets online again last night because we knew we had such a full day planned and wouldn't have time to get to the TKTS booth.
Cats was such a huge broadway hit before and they have brought it back so we picked it for tonight.
The subway kept getting delayed on the way over there so we just made it in the nick of time.
I am sorry to say that we did NOT enjoy the show.
I can't believe it was such a Megahit.
The storyline was weak, it was just not good.
A couple of the numbers were fun and I learned that Memory is from this show.
I have always loved the version Barbara Streisand does of the song but I never knew it was from Cats.
The actress that sang it tonight had a great voice. She was the best part of the show.
We looked at reviews after and they weren't that great.
I am glad we went though, I don't always agree with the critics so I like to check things out for myself and form my own opinions.
It's been a great trip - wish it was longer but we will be back.
Our flight leaves at 6:30am which means we have to leave the hotel at 3:30am so we pretty much headed straight back after the show.
We needed to pack up our suitcases and try to get a few hours of sleep anyway.
Another day in the books, it was a good one.
Until next time, be happy!
