Freedom Tower

Saturday the weather was nice and hot again- but with no humidity.  We had a quick breakfast to oatmeal at Tasty's around the corner from our hotel. Then we made our way to the Subway station at Union square for a jaunt down the island of Manhattan to Ground Zero.  Arriving we immediately saw the Freedom Tower- not quite finished being built, but standing tall above all the other nearby buildings.  Then we walked to the 2 huge fountains that were the Twin Trade Centres- what a massive memorial, very haunting and sombre.  So many names engraved on the sides of the fountain.  We stood and took it all in for a while - then decided we didn't want to go in to the museum; we could see what was and no museum was needed.

After walking down to the water and seeing the Statue of Liberty from afar, stopping at the Irish Famine Memorial and walking a while; we were back on the subway and headed to Soho.  The subway pricing system is not too sealer, but we had bought a $9 day pass- which we thought would last all day- so far so good.  Getting off at Soho we found this quaint, cobbled street area, crammed with quaint stores, restaurants, and so much more.  Wandering around, we found the store Evolution I had heard about- all types of bones and stones there.  Then we ended up at Delicatessen for lunch.  A wonderful funky eatery, with streetside tables and the best mac and cheese ever.  There was a DJ spinning some tunes and a great vibe all round. The food was so good too. After this crazy lunch we wandered the streets of Soho and took it all in.

Back on the subway (yay the metro card still works), we were Chelsea Market bound.  3 stops and we were off.  Walking into the Chelsea Market, there were a lot of people and an overwhelming amount of places to eat, drink and browse.  The food stores all looked so good!  Luckily we had walked off that lunch (NOT), and had room for a fantastic cup of coffee with a side of raspberry strudel.  So goo- oh then a few stores down we happened upon a Sarabeths and there a pineapple tart that captured Frank's eye- so we thought we would try that to accompany the raspberry strudel!!  Wandering around this market, I know I would frequent this place if I lived in NY.  After eating our way through the market, we ended up under the Highline and our final destination of the day.

The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th and 12th Avenues. The High Line is 1.45-miles-long. We entered at the beginning and walked the entire line to 30th, the last bit of the line was shut down for maintenance. It was a wonderful walk - although there were a lot of people. Each turn had a different site to see- there were stands set up to watch the streets below, all kind of street art to see and different flowers and plants along the entire stretch. A wonderful way to end a pretty perfect Saturday in this crazy city. We were too tired to walk to the subway after our day of about 14km's of hiking. Hoping in a cab we were back the hotel and ready for a nap before our night out.

We recouped and were ready to hit the town on Saturday in NY. We caught a cab to Greenwich Village and headed to the Spotted Pig for dinner- there was a 1.5 hour wait. Leaving our number we backtracked a block to the the White Horse Tavern - apparently one of the oldest continuously running pubs in the city. We had some beer and cider and got our test an hour later that our table was ready. Back to the Spotted Pig and our table- very tight quarters that was for sure. Frank had to have their burger as it is "legendary" and I had the Pork Chop. The food was okay, more about the ambiance and the notoriety than the food at this spot. We had reserved seats at the Village Vanguard for the 10:15 show and walked the few blocks to the club. We were seated and the show started on time. The club was small, very famous and the band were pretty amazing. Frank was in his element and the 2 drink minimum not strictly enforced as I only had one. After the show we wandered around the village a while and found a lively bar under some Brownstones and had a nightcap. By 1:30am we were pooped and back to the hotel after another long and wonderful day.