East Coast Adventures: Day 3
Photos from today's adventures are up: here
New York City... center of the universe... and home to a bajillion people who all walk on the street at the same time. Other than that, its great! I slept sooo incredibly well last night given the fact I was in a strange place and traffic noise didn't let up all night. Crazy...
Woke up and was determined to get a NY breakfast, whatever that means. Headed down 9th to see what I could find. I stopped by a coffee shop called the Empire Coffee & Tea Co. (yelp review here) for a drink. I was greeted with Beatles music and rows and rows of coffee beans lined up against the wall. Needless to say, it smelled magnificent in there. I grabbed my Chai and headed down the street to find something solid to eat. A friend of mine had mentioned Amy's Bread (yelp review: here) to me and it just happened to be down the street. This is a baker's dream come true... Piles of fresh baked goods coming in from the kitchen in the back. All you had to do was point to what you wanted but see, thats the problem... there were a TON of things I wanted to get. From apple scones to tomato focaccia, they had it all. I settled for a sticky bun...
There you are... chai on the left, sticky bun on the right. That bun was OUT OF THIS WORLD. The crust peeled like a warm croissant and the middle was warm and soft like a baguette. Simply amazing... I hear their "Monkey Cake" - banana bread with walnuts and a cream cheese frosting - is really good too, I'll have to go back and try some.
Alright, had my NY breakfast. I'm ready to conquer this city! To start off... Time Square... Talk about a lot of people... this was tourist capitol USA. I know, I was adding to the numbers too, but geeze it was packed. The lights are pretty. I'll have to go check them out at night for the full effect. Cool. Conquered time square... now... Central Park.
Took 6th Av. all the way down to Central Park and made a quick stop at the Apple Store on 5th Av. This is a thing of beauty. Full glass enclosure and its cubed, I mean, you can't beat a clear cubed structure :)
Made a quick stop for lunch at Viand Coffee Shop (yelp review: here)
This place was TINY. Maybe... tables for 15 people? Thats it. Mr. Boss man was a little pushy so instead of getting my meal togo I sat down to appease him. Had the Western Omelet. The highlight was actually the potatoes and not the omelet itself. It was bland but it was kinda cool that they served the omelet a little undercooked so it was still a little runny.
I quickly downed that "omelet" and headed to chill in Central Park. Boy, was I lucky. There was a jazz quartet playing in the park around some benches. Nothing like letting your stomach do its digesting thing while some free jazz is buzzing through the air. Marvelous.
It was time to head back to home base to plan my afternoon excursion... Harlem.
I took the A train down to Harlem, since it is the quickest way there. (If you understand the song reference, 10 million points for you) Harlem is pretty awesome. I love the feel of the neighborhood. Absolutely tight knit with beautiful Queen Anne style town homes lined up and down the street. It amazing to be walking down the same streets where decades ago the Harlem renaissance was a buzzin. Now, a tour of Harlem wouldn't be complete without some soul food to top it off. I found a place called Amy Ruth's (yelp review: here)...
Mmmm... I ordered the "Al Sharpton" 1/4 Chicken and waffles. It was so good, it deserves two pictures :)
Just look at that fatty, gooey goodness... yum!
Welp, I'm back at the apt. waiting for Randy to show up. I really want to try to go to Time Square tonight and take some shots. If successful, this blog will be appropriately updated :)
UPDATE: Randy made it! Hopped over to time square. Its amazing to see how many are STILL out at night.
Randy hadn't eaten yet so we stopped by one of the local 24 hr. joints in the neighborhood. Papaya Dog! Strange name, cheap food (yelp review: here)
A spicy sausage with everything on it... except mayo :/
New York City... center of the universe... and home to a bajillion people who all walk on the street at the same time. Other than that, its great! I slept sooo incredibly well last night given the fact I was in a strange place and traffic noise didn't let up all night. Crazy...
Woke up and was determined to get a NY breakfast, whatever that means. Headed down 9th to see what I could find. I stopped by a coffee shop called the Empire Coffee & Tea Co. (yelp review here) for a drink. I was greeted with Beatles music and rows and rows of coffee beans lined up against the wall. Needless to say, it smelled magnificent in there. I grabbed my Chai and headed down the street to find something solid to eat. A friend of mine had mentioned Amy's Bread (yelp review: here) to me and it just happened to be down the street. This is a baker's dream come true... Piles of fresh baked goods coming in from the kitchen in the back. All you had to do was point to what you wanted but see, thats the problem... there were a TON of things I wanted to get. From apple scones to tomato focaccia, they had it all. I settled for a sticky bun...
There you are... chai on the left, sticky bun on the right. That bun was OUT OF THIS WORLD. The crust peeled like a warm croissant and the middle was warm and soft like a baguette. Simply amazing... I hear their "Monkey Cake" - banana bread with walnuts and a cream cheese frosting - is really good too, I'll have to go back and try some.
Alright, had my NY breakfast. I'm ready to conquer this city! To start off... Time Square... Talk about a lot of people... this was tourist capitol USA. I know, I was adding to the numbers too, but geeze it was packed. The lights are pretty. I'll have to go check them out at night for the full effect. Cool. Conquered time square... now... Central Park.
Took 6th Av. all the way down to Central Park and made a quick stop at the Apple Store on 5th Av. This is a thing of beauty. Full glass enclosure and its cubed, I mean, you can't beat a clear cubed structure :)
Made a quick stop for lunch at Viand Coffee Shop (yelp review: here)
This place was TINY. Maybe... tables for 15 people? Thats it. Mr. Boss man was a little pushy so instead of getting my meal togo I sat down to appease him. Had the Western Omelet. The highlight was actually the potatoes and not the omelet itself. It was bland but it was kinda cool that they served the omelet a little undercooked so it was still a little runny.
I quickly downed that "omelet" and headed to chill in Central Park. Boy, was I lucky. There was a jazz quartet playing in the park around some benches. Nothing like letting your stomach do its digesting thing while some free jazz is buzzing through the air. Marvelous.
It was time to head back to home base to plan my afternoon excursion... Harlem.
I took the A train down to Harlem, since it is the quickest way there. (If you understand the song reference, 10 million points for you) Harlem is pretty awesome. I love the feel of the neighborhood. Absolutely tight knit with beautiful Queen Anne style town homes lined up and down the street. It amazing to be walking down the same streets where decades ago the Harlem renaissance was a buzzin. Now, a tour of Harlem wouldn't be complete without some soul food to top it off. I found a place called Amy Ruth's (yelp review: here)...
Mmmm... I ordered the "Al Sharpton" 1/4 Chicken and waffles. It was so good, it deserves two pictures :)
Just look at that fatty, gooey goodness... yum!
Welp, I'm back at the apt. waiting for Randy to show up. I really want to try to go to Time Square tonight and take some shots. If successful, this blog will be appropriately updated :)
UPDATE: Randy made it! Hopped over to time square. Its amazing to see how many are STILL out at night.
Randy hadn't eaten yet so we stopped by one of the local 24 hr. joints in the neighborhood. Papaya Dog! Strange name, cheap food (yelp review: here)
A spicy sausage with everything on it... except mayo :/
posted by d-vizz at 5/23/2008 05:53:00 PM
2 Comments:
Awesome pics...I'm REALLY looking forward to Times Square pics! ^_^
Hey, while you're there, try shooting Time's Square just at dusk to see what you get. It does require a tripod, though because of the longer exposure. If the sunset is just right, you get a pretty sweet red/blue/purple sky with all the benefits of the awesome city lights. Also, the people blur out, and the cars turn into streaks of headlights.
Lemme know how it comes out.
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