Big Apple Sights and Taste

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When I got the save-the-date note from Miyako, we booked the flight to New York while in Central Oregon! Something like this wasn’t gonna wait. She and her family took care of me during my first-ever college internship in Tuxedo, NY. It’s been 20 years since then. Such an honor to be invited!

Thu/Fri: Stress of a lifetime, saved by the wedding

It all started on Thursday morning when I got an Airbnb message from my host saying that they can't take us anymore. Whaaat?!?! This is after taking it up to Airbnb for lack of response all this week. I knew something was off. We're leaving on a red-eye this evening. We literally have hours to figure out an alternative!! Putting work aside, I looked through last minute availabilities, requested a sound alternative, and waited for the host to accept. Needless to say, the options are limited at this point. We'll have to take the gig to Brooklyn, if not further. While looking for plan C, I realized I needed to clear my browsing history. Otherwise, the options were changing every time. My stress level was reaching the boiling state. By 1pm, I realized that I can reach out to multiple hosts, rather than waiting for one to deny my request to make another. Finally! I get a hit from Williamsburg within budget! That was an amazing option considering what was left. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!! My blood pressure finally came back. I needed this break because little did I know, it was about to boil right back.

That was 1:30 pm when the new host was to confirm our early arrival. Fast forward to 6pm on our way to the airport. Nothing. Silence from 1:30!! I need confirmation now or we'll arrive there without knowing where to go!! My blood started to boil once again. This can't be healthy. I was back on the phone with Airbnb once again. At this point, I just wanted a refund. This uncertainty was utterly unfair and uncalled for. They were willing to give me a refund, except! They had to give the host until 10 am EST to confirm the cancellation. Why are you concerned about being fair to them when we’d be penalized?! The 2-hr flight delay was fully used in finding yet more alternatives. At this last minute, the options were so slim. Plan C was gonna cost us a lot more than planned for, which I'd rather take than this madness but my hands were tied with the unconfirmed refund. Grrrrrr!!!

We landed at Newark airport at 8 am. Any news? Grrr, I was so stressed out I forgot to turn off my phone and it died mid-flight. I used V's phone to immediately contact Airbnb to confirm the refund so we can move onto the option C. I was on hold from inside the plane to after getting the luggage at a carousel. Just when I got connected to the case manager, my phone came back to life with a text from the host. Arrrrrrgh, all this stress for nothing!

At 11 am, being in a room in Williamsburg felt surreal after the long nightmare. Finally found my zen and head out for lunch at Egg Shop. Williamsburg is cute with so many unique eateries. But we had to hurry back to the room to get on what we're really here for; the wedding!

We were back to the original schedule and got on 4:26 pm train from the Grand Central. We even had time to admire the building and grab a coffee. At Mamaroneck station, we were to get into a van along with other guests. All according to the plan...except the van didn't show up for 30min!! Dude, this is one day you don't be late!! 15 of us finally made it to the venue. Thank god they didn't start without us. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous with soft evening sun in the backdrop! It was so great to see Miyako and her family who I hadn't seen in 20yrs! We were wined, dined, and danced out. What a night, what a day!

But wait! It wasn't quite over. From Grand Central to Williamsburg took 2hrs due to a closed line for construction. We finally got to the apartment building at 2 am only to find the lobby door locked. Our key wasn't for the building entrance and we didn't know anyone to buzz. The elevator showed no sign of movement and there was like zero foot traffic at this wee hour. How long is this day going to be?? Thankfully a guy came home, yay! We looked super shady but he let us in. Apparently, we needed a code between 10 pm - 8 am. Geez, what’s up with the NYC hosts??

Sat: Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island, Broadway

We were gonna wake up when we woke up. 9 am. Not bad. By the time we were ready, it was time to get in line at TKTS for tonight’s show. Downtown Brooklyn office opens at 11am. It would take ~1hr to walk there. Subway cuts it into 30min but it goes into Manhattan and shoots back out…seemed silly. Lyft came to the rescue and we were 3^rd in line at 10:30 am. It was V’s first Broadway musical so we went big with Phantom of the Opera. Really can’t go wrong with this classic. I haven’t seen anything as epic as this or Les Miz as of yet. Orchestra seat at 40%!o(MISSING)ff was whopping’ $100 a pop! I’ve never paid that much but that was many moons ago. Still, this inflation was hard to fathom.

Brooklyn Roasting Co was a short walk toward the bridge. We got much-needed coffee. We walked along a nice path along the shore via the carousel. While we were admiring the view of Brooklyn bridge, I spied a lady holding a bag from…Jacques Torres! I almost overlooked it! Before Dominique Ansel, there was JT, although none of my French friends recognize his name, haha. Ginormous chocolate chip cookie was yum. Chocolate folded into the cookie so every bite comes with a nice blend, mmm.

Brooklyn bridge was jam packed on this gorgeous Saturday morning. It’s a sight not to be missed! From Manhattan side, we took a long train ride to Coney Island. I hear about it every 4^th of July but never been there. The weather helped us to enjoy the stroll along the shore. When in Coney Island, one must get Nathan’s dog and Coney Island Lager. Lager was surprisingly tasty and refreshing on this nice day with the ocean view. We were also not going to miss the Wall of Fame for the hot dog eating contest.

Leaving the shore 4hrs before the show turned out to be pretty tight. It took 2hrs to get back to the room, change, and barely got to Majestic theater at 7:30pm. Shake Shack is across the street but the line was oozing out the door 😞. We were conscious about the dress-code but it was really not necessary. It is a touristy location but I don’t remember it being this casual. What’s more, there was now a concession person walking around selling coffee and candies!! It’d always been no drink/food inside, period. Unreal. Sure enough, a lady two seats down started crinkling candy wrapper during the show! She kept doing it, I had to tell her. Yes, I had to tell her! This is not a concert!! Seat price shot up but the quality of the experience deteriorated, not adding up at all. That doesn’t take away from the performance though. I’m glad V got to see a stellar performance in this musical mecca. There would have been no way to find food in SF post-theater but this is NYC! Shake Shack was hustling and bustling…why not!

Sun: So.Much.Junk.Food.

I preordered 2 cronuts for 9 am today. That way, we’d avoid the line. Since it has been around for some time now, I was skeptical of the line but there it was. At least 5 people 30min before opening, wow. We went to La Colombe around the corner. It’s adjacent to fancy Chobani bar. At 9 am, we got into the store and the checkout line. The store is super tiny but there is decent size seating area. I definitely wanted to get something other than Cronut. I didn’t see the soufflé. Between Paris-NY and Frozen Smore, latter was the winner! Cronut was super sweet. Both V and I had to strip off the icing on top. The taste reminded me of ‘karinto’ from Japan. The best part, to me, was that fried croissant layer was super clean. Frozen Smore was a winner. A block of vanilla ice cream coated in choco crunch, then marshmallow crème which was torched.

Russ & Daughters was nearby and a lox sandwich would be perfect before we head out to the Liberty Island. We ended up at their café and waited for 20min (out of 45min) before realizing that the deli was a few more blocks away, doh! Deli was also busy. Everything there looked amazing. Quality stuff. We didn’t know which kind of smoked salmon to get. After tasting, we went with Gaspe Nova, the NY style. So fresh and yum!!! 11 was cutting close to our Liberty ferry schedule. We had to rush to Battery Park for the boat via WTC. Tomorrow will be 9/11 and it shouldn’t be a quick pass-by like this…sorry 😞

At 12:20 pm sharp, Statue of Liberty cruise left for Liberty Island. This would put us there before our scheduled 1pm entrance but the time slot wasn’t strict. There were just too many people to control anyway. The boat ride was pretty nice on this yet another gorgeous day. From Manhattan skyline to the statue. Island was just a huge mob. We had tickets to the pedestal. Skipped the huge line for the elevator and climbed 300 steps. The view from the pedestal wasn’t much…just blob of green stuff the above the head.

Return boat ride goes through Ellis Island. They have a nice display of the immigration history, good, bad, ugly, and all. Back in Manhattan, Charging Bull was buried in the mob! We barely snuck in a snap with him, crazy. Snagged a better picture with Fearless Girl 😊. All we had left on the agenda for today was to eat junk food. Let’s do this! First, Lombardi’s, America’s first pizzeria. Margherita and Brooklyn lager 😊. Next, Doughnut Plant. This is the first doughnut institution that had better cake dough than yeast. Last stop: Morgenstern’s ice cream! 30+min wait helped us make room for their yummy unique scoops. Cardamon was super flavorful and Black coconut ash was charcoal black with subtle flavor. Both excellent and fresh.

Mon: Squeeze it all in

We’re leaving on the flight this evening and we had so much cut out for today’s agenda. Out the door before 6:30 am toward High Line. At one station before our stop on 8^th Ave, the train stopped for some issue. PA is so horrible I never understand anything they say! It was taking so long that it was faster to jog there. Besides, it put us closer to Dough Doughnuts! Before 7 am, 6^th Ave was dead and so was Dough Doughnuts. Their hibiscus yeast doughnut was yum!

Last time I was in NYC was before this High Line was put in. It’s a great idea – super modern and green! We jogged from the south-end to the north-end, just about a mile. Next, Central Park via Rockefeller Center and the Love statue. Snagging a pic at Love statue took a while although we were 3^rd in line (a line at 9 am Monday morning!) because people in front us were taking pictures one person at a time at every which angle, smh… On the way to the park, we also stopped by Best Bagel and Coffee. Gotta have the real bagel when in NY, the kind without a hole! Oh, how I missed you~. The road in Central Park has 1 lane for cars, 2 lanes for bikes, and 2 lanes for pedestrians! There was a good number of joggers. The 6-mile rolling route was nice, stopping by lakes and John Lennon memorial.

We hit Bibble & Sip close to the south end of the park but their cream puff wasn’t gonna come out for another hour at noon, boo. We enjoyed black sesame croissant nonetheless. The last thing to do was to hit Ample Hills Creamery. The home office was at the south end of the High Line but luckily, they had an outlet at closer Gotham West Market. Last last stop: Times Square. Can’t leave NYC without seeing the ad jungle right? These days, there are steps and concession setup next to TKTS booth. Things have definitely evolved in NYC!

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Photos

View from the room
after so much debacle

Carousel
Brooklyn

Majestic Theater
Phantom of the Opera

Cronuts!
Fig caramel