Nibbling Further

New York continued to surprise me as we explored some quintessential areas on our second to last day. 

Once you stepped away from Times Square the bustling "big lights" city, had a distinctly charming, almost Parisian feel. Ignoring the drizzle we wandered through SoHo and Greenwich Village in the morning. The streets were quiet, trees draped over little front gardens whilst people adorned the cute cafes. It was another world to Times Square. Everywhere we had gone in New York French was to be heard, it seemed that the entire country had just relocated for the summer. I now understood why, it was Paris with a twist and American accents.

We then wandered to sample Joe's Pizza, supposedly the best in New York. Now, I've eaten some pizzas in my time from cheap greasy takeaway to gorgeous Italian crusts with fresh oozing mozzarella so I was curious to see how Joe's measured up. Sold by the slice, decorated most popularly with chili flakes and consumed standing Joe's has gotten raving reviews throughout time and is known for celebrity visits. Needless to say it was delicious, the portions were huge and toppings simple (either pepperoni or mozzarella) but we loved it so much, after walking away we ditched sampling another pizza shop and came right back to Joe's.

The Brooklyn tour on Grayline's open-air bus was next on our agenda, and we caught interesting glimpses of New York's most populated city. Determined to get a good photo of us on the bridge we walked part of the way in the scorching heat and snapped some pics. I somehow managed to squeeze in a little souvenir shopping at the vendors' stalls on the bridge (typical) and Dad managed to squeeze in a dollar hotdog (also typical).

Now as a frequent traveller, I know my public bathrooms. The automatic self cleaning, squats, tiny ones in backs of cafes and the nonexistent or frightening. New York had so far impressed me with the number of clean, free public bathrooms. Years ago Mum and I had even developed a scoring system. There has only been a perfect 10 once in history, and it was nice enough to live in. Laugh if you may but I know you all secretly judge a country on its bathrooms.

Unfortunately Chelsea Markets, our next stop, had a only 4 toilets in an enormous complex and had over 50 people in line. A quick trip to Starbucks with some other tourists solved that issue and we explored the labyrinth of shops and eateries back within the markets.

After treating ourselves to a burger we strolled to the waterfront, where a public rec centre lay, complete with ping pong tables. We located Buddakan, a restaurant recommended to us numerous times and made a booking for the following day. Though tired from our activities we hopped on the night tour to see the city in the dark, lights twinkling and streets busy. A city always looks different at night, and New York looked simply beautiful. Yellow taxis dotted the street in front of us, people walked into bars and restaurants laughing and the architecture was lit up, the whole city aglow.

Something never to be missed, New York at night In the night New York has a magical, ethereal glow and its bright lights represent all the wonderful things the city has to offer.