Day # 9

Friday already! The days are really flying by quickly! Today and tomorrow are our last full days here, so we decided to step it up and actually get out of bed before 10:30.
We got up around 8 and decided we needed some exercise. But first we needed coffee, so we went to a cute little place called Mojo Coffee



We walked back down to the Hudson River Park, and walked all the way to Battery Park, which is the southern tip of the island. Here are some pictures of the Statue of Liberty as we walked down towards Battery Park:
Way, way off in the distance (in the center)


A little closer- see it just to the right of my head



View from very tip of Battery Park, the closest we could get without actually taking the ferry over


Some sights along the way:


















This is the new Freedom Tower- there in the back, center. When it's finished it will be twice as high as it is here!








Next we walked through the financial district and down Wall St












Me and Harry :)


After walking for 3 hours we decided it was time for breakfast tacos at Tacombi


This space just had tables set up, and a retro food truck to order lunch tacos.



On the left is a ticket counter where you buy one ticket per taco...



And hand it to this guy who makes the tacos.


Eggs, avocado, jalepeno, and potatoes- yum!





The new friends we met at the wine bar the other night called us and invited us to their apartment for a party they were having. So we went for a couple hours and made other new friends and had so much fun!





We left there and went to Murrays Cheese Shop, where we had bought tickets to take a tour of their cheese caves. It was awesome!

We all got name tags when we got there. Scott was "Lingering"




I was "Tart"



























After the caves, we had all we could eat cheese! So much fun!









We had the best time!

Day #8

Thursday already? My how the days just fly by! I don't have many pictures from the day as we spent most of the day shopping. Here is what we did:

Breakfast/Brunch at Shake Shack (yes, we love it!)



Walked around Madison Sq park. How beautiful are these hydrangeas? I've never seen any that have this much color variation from the same bush. So pretty!


Back to the nightmare of Century 21. The store motto is "Fashion worth fighting for". They got that right! It's always a crowded fight in that madhouse.



It wasn't quite as crowded as Monday was, so we were able to get a lot of items this time. This is my favorite purchase:



So cute- and only cost $27.99! This is why we torture ourselves and put up with the crowds.

We also shopped at H&M, French Connection, and a few more places.

As it was 6:30 by the time we were finished shopping, we decided to go back to the Cupboard and get ready for dinner. I wore my new dress (forgot to take a picture) and Scott wore a new shirt.

We went to a new trendy restaurant called The Dutch. As it was 8:00, it was absolutely packed, and they told us the wait list was so long they weren't even taking names anymore. They said we could try again in a couple hours. We went to a place across the street called the Soho Room to discuss what to do next. We had a glass of wine there, then went next door to Blue Ribbon Brasserie for an appetizer. We had bone marrow and oxtail marmalade on toast points- O.M.G! This was one of the richest, most decadent, delicious meals we've ever had. Wow.


It was too dark to get a good picture, but trust me, it was phenomenal! I'm sure this sounds disgusting to some, but bone marrow is delicious. It has a rich, buttery, beefy flavor, and has the consistency of gelatin. The oxtail marmalade was made from braised oxtail, and had a savory flavor very similar to a roast that's been cooked in the crock pot all day. Very earthy and rich, totally a comfort food! Mmm!

Since it was 9:30 at this point, we decided to try The Dutch again. This time we were able to get in and had a wonderful meal there. I had pecan crusted duck with organic dirty rice, and Scott had roasted squab.
After our feast we walked home to go to bed. A great night!

Day #7

Wednesday:

Pre-fix lunch at Kin Shop
Garam Marsala and Tomato Basil soup


Scott had braised goat stew with purple yams


Mmm!
I had wonton noodles and broccoli rabe in a mushroom broth:



Chewy, salty noodles- my favorite!
Thai Chi ice cream and Chocolate Cappuccino ice cream:


What a fabulous and delicious lunch!
Next stop- Harry Potter Exhibit!


This was a huge exhibit that took us through the world of HP! The costumes and props that were worn in the movies were here on display. It was so awesome! The only disappointing part was that the staff there were picture Nazis and told us over and over again that photography was strictly forbidden. They told us they knew cell phones had cameras so we weren't even allowed to have phones out! Meanies!

After the wonderful world of Harry Potter, we toured the other exhibit, "Pompeii in the shadow of Mt Vesuvius". It was really neat to learn that Pompeii was a thriving, cultural town. It was crazy to see the similarities in their world in 79 AD and ours now.There were artifacts on display depicting their lifestyles (arts, entertainment, restaurants- even fast food restaurants!) Make up, jewelry, hair styles, all very similar to ours today! And then, Mt Vesuvius erupted, and in 24 hours the entire town was burned and buried in ashes. Insane! We saw casts of people who were killed and perfectly preserved in the ashes. It was very sobering to think about. There was a video playing of people who currently live there- 3.5 million around the base of Mt Vesuvius. One girl was on camera saying that they all knew it would erupt again, and after the destruction they would just rebuild.
Hello! You live on an active volcano!!!
To quote Bill Murray from the movie Groundhogs Day: "Morons, your bus is leaving!"

After the exhibits we got a snack at a new trendy food hall called Food Park.


Duck Pastrami Egg Rolls





Next we went to Hudson River Park to watch a free movie outside on the lawn. We bought straw mats at Walgreens for $4 each, and watched about half of the movie "The Social Network".







We had never seen it before and it was really good, but we were hungry and wanted to go out to dinner.
We went to dinner at Blue Ribbon Sushi, which is always good and open late. Then home to bed!