NYC - New York City, NY
New York City, NY
The drive into New York City was unlike anything else during the trip. Crossing the bridge you realize how crazy everything is about to get. Very quickly you realize that your version of aggressive driving is ametuer hour in NYC. You better not have an ounce of timidity in your body if you want to turn left in the city without an arrow. College once again is for making amazing friends. We got to stay with Diego on the upper west side. We found a parking garage twelve blocks away from his house and didn't touch the car again until we left. To keep it short, Diego was awesome, the food was awesome, the city was awesome.... Now for the long version... We spent our first night out in manhattan sampling some of the amazing Asian fusion cuisine at cafe asean. The green curry shrimp was a must. The second day was spent walking/riding around the city in sweltering heat. We toured Yankee stadium, got a train to NYU area and tasted some great Indian food. Masala French fries? Yes, please. From there made our way to the 9/11 memorial, which was closed, due to the fact we foolishly showed up on 9/11. Headed to the Conrad for some rooftop drinks. No shade and $18.00 for a drink in 95 degree heat, no thanks Mr. Hilton... I'm out. Headed north to high line park. (Side note... Missed Mike F, sad face. Would have loved to see him). High line was highly recommended by Diego, and it's obvious why, the place is incredible! Built on an old rail line, the buildings are modern and exceptionally designed. Our architecture friend told us so. From there, a little shopping by Madison square garden was in store. Justin trimmed up his mountain man look and we headed for 8 floors of Macy's. Shopping is shopping, no matter where you do it...but it's better in New York. Met back up with Diego and headed to Jacob's Pickles. If you're ever in manhattan, please go here. I'm not even going to describe it... this restaurant is something you need to experience for yourself. P.S. make sure to get a biscuit. And some pickles. Our last full day was our best day. Brooklyn, my pop-pop would have been proud. We started off on the Staten Island ferry so we could get up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty. We did. Got trapped on Staten Island for 30 minutes, made our way back ASAP. We heard later that day that the island has the best pizza in town, we just didn't stick around to find out. From the ferry we headed to Brooklyn Brewery. Which was foolish on our part, but if I do say so myself, even more stupid on their's. We know their beers very, very well, and as NYC tourist made it a part of our itinerary. But THIS place only has an open taproom on the weekends and late on weekdays. Blah. So we lucked out and made our way to Whiskey Brooklyn down the street. Can't even begin to put into words how much we LOVED it! The bartender was amazing and we had a chance to meet the owner who gave us our own personal itinerary for Brooklyn, and bought us a drink. I didn't know they made nice people in big cities. Oh, and free pickle backs. Did I mention how much we loved it? Per our personal tour guides instructions, we headed to Marlow & Sons. They weren't really open, so we grabbed a quick oyster app and headed to Marlow and daughters. Marlow and daughters is basically the butcher shop, and it's really, really good. We grabbed ourselves some house made charcuterie, homemade pizza bread and cloth bound cheddar. Sat down a block away under some umbrellas and had a feast. But you are never too full for pizza in New York, so 5 minutes later we made our way to Motorino's for their highly acclaimed Brussel sprout pizza. Pizza was great, but be aware, no beer here! Then we headed back to manhattan. Our last night was laid back and awesome, there really is nothing like being with old friends. Next day, said our goodbyes, off to cape cod.