We started our day with a trip to Carlo's Bake Shop, the bakery owned by Carlo from the TV show Cake Boss. I opted for an Oreo cupcake with my coffee, and it was much better than Magnolia Bakery - the cake was moist and chocolaty, and the icing was a much better ratio to cake. We caught the subway to Grand Central Station, where I was amazed by the stunning architecture and the locals walking past without a glance at the surroundings. We saw the Chrysler Building then popped over to Bath and Body Works, where I picked up five miniature hand sanitisers for just $5.
We then headed to well-known Katz's Delicatessen for lunch, where I was excited to try a Reuben Sandwich. I was surprised with how quickly we were served and the size of the place, as I had been envisaging queues to try their famous sandwiches. The sandwich was packed full of corned beef, Swiss cheese, Russian and Sauerkraut, and it was pretty hard to eat! It was definitely one of those places where you can just dig in and get messy, which I quickly did. I enjoyed the meaty cheesey contents, especially once I added some of the delicious Katz's mustard. My only criticisms would be the slightly fatty meat, and the bread was rather uninteresting for such tasty contents.
After we had stuffed ourselves, we headed to the Staten Island Ferry which you can catch for free and takes you past the Statue of Liberty. I get childishly excited by ferry rides and I loved standing in the freezing wind and staring back as we left New York behind. We were lucky with the day we had chosen, as the sky was so clear and bright, especially in comparison to the snowstorm the day before - although you can still see all the ice left behind! The ferry runs every half an hour from both sides, so we waited and caught the next ferry back to New York straight away, then continued with our travels for the day.
We stopped off for a quick drink at The Dead Rabbit, a trendy tiny bar located just off Wall Street. I opted for the Sweet Jane; gin, Dolin Blanc, apple, lemon, pink gratefruit, anise and bitters. It was wonderfully tart and refreshing, and prepared us nicely for the walk ahead. We had planned a walk which passed the Charging Bull Statue, the New York Stock Exchange and the rest of Wall Street. This then took us to Trinity Church and finally the 9/11 Memorial. In total, the walk took about forty-five minutes, as well as time to take photographs and explore, and ticked off some must-see sights. The final destination of the 9/11 Memorial was actually extremely emotional and I would urge you to include it in any trip to New York.
We caught the subway to the Brooklyn side of Brooklyn Bridge and then walked back over the Manhattan. We timed this to coincide with sunset and it was simply perfect. It's hard to describe how stunning the New York skyline looked as night fell and it lit up. I would definitely recommend it!
I'm going to talk about dinner at Don Antonio in another post, as it was lovely and deserves its own write-up (and this post is long enough!) We then finished our final evening in New York with some beers at the well-known dive bar Rudy's Bar and Grill. It cost us just $8 for a pitcher of 4 pints of beer and I loved the friendly atmosphere. I'm sure it would have been much busier on a weekend, but I enjoyed spending our Tuesday evening people-watching and soaking in the chilled, slightly rock-and-roll atmosphere to see out our final night in New York.
Jess
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