Farewell to New York, New York Day 13 - Flatiron History and Food Tour by Like a Local Tours

Sadly, we came to our last day of our New York trip.  Not wanting to waste it, we booked into the Flatiron History and Food Tour by Like a Local Tours. 

We jumped out at the 23rd Street subway:

and had time to admire the Flatiron Building in all its glory before the tour started:

 

Our small tour group met our guide, Ben, at Eataly, an enormous Italian marketplace.  Our first sample of the day was at Caffe Vergnano, where coffee is served from this very handsome machine:

Our sample was an espresso, which really put hair on your chest:

Ben then led us on a whirlwind walking tour through Eataly, where among other things, you will find seafood:

fresh pasta:

bread:

pizza:

a deli:

fruit:

flowers:

and everything Nutella that you could ever want:

Our next stop after Eataly was meant to be the Union Square branch of Shake Shack - however, as you can see on the right, the line was ginormous and included a school group:
 

 
so as an alternative, we went to Schnippers:

 
Schnippers' decor imitates an old fashioned burger joint:

 
Our group each tried a quarter of a hamburger - it tasted fine, but it was worryingly pink inside:

In any event, there were no ill effects from the burger.

We then went back to have some touristy snaps in front of the Flatiron Building: 

 
and the Empire State Building:

You can see that the weather went from grey and moody to bright  and sunny in the space of less than an hour.

Our happy snaps done with a dose of history thrown in, we went on to Obica Mozzarella Bar:

 
Obica is a casual dining Italian restaurant that serves pizza, pasta and small plates:

 
At Obica, we received some crusty bread in a bag (which I wisely left given the carbs to come):

 
burrata:

 
and a slice of pizza:

 
It was all delicious, but I especially enjoyed the fresh flavours of the burrata.

At the front entrance of Obica, they have preserved the signage from the Exchange Buffet, being the first cafeteria in America:

I think it is a nice touch.

From Obica, we walked on to Beechers Handmade Cheese, a cheese store and factory right in the middle of downtown Manhattan:

 

There is a viewing area where you can watch the workers carrying out the cheesemaking process:

 

 

Downstairs at Beechers, there is a restaurant called The Cellar, where Tim and I found this cool sign on the milk tank:

 

 
In The Cellar, they have cheese in glass cases in various stages of ripening for you to view, although most of the cheese is ripened in offsite cheese caves:

 
The Cellar is as dark and mysterious as it sounds, even in the middle of the day:

 
Here is some fun artwork on the wall of The Cellar:

 
After a talk by the manager of The Cellar about cheese ripening, we went back upstairs to try a quarter of a toasted cheese sandwich from Beecher's upstairs deli:

Believe me, a quarter of a sandwich was plenty, as we had been eating all morning.  It was delish - who doesn't like a toasted cheese sandwich?

Our walking tour continued on past the site of Andy Warhol's Factory (which now houses Petco):

to Bread's Bakery, home of the famous chocolate babka:

 

Of course, our sample here was none other than the chocolate babka:

 

 

They warmed it up for us so it was all oozy chocolatey goodness.  It was very rich, so Ben gifted us the leftovers, which we took back to Oz with us for our own piece of New York at home.  You can find the recipe for the Bread's Bakery chocolate babka online here, should you be minded to try making it for yourself.  

Here is our guide, Ben, in front of the chocolate babka sign at Bread's Bakery:

 

Don't you think he looks like Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor?

 

 

Our tour being officially over, Tim and I went back to a homewares store pointed out by Ben called Fish's Eddy:

 

 

I was glad that we did - they had lots of cool crockery, glassware, tea towels and other miscellaneous gadgets.  I bought two small plates that were on sale:

 

 
and the matching tea towel to the cat plate:

 

I think they are really cute!

 

Tim was keen to visit the Chrysler Building before we left, so we went back into the subway, via the Mennonites, who were giving out free CDs:

 

and travelled to the subway station that is in the bottom of the art deco Chrysler Building: 

It was very beautiful in there, although you cannot actually go into the building proper.

Then, sadly, it was back to the hotel to collect our bags and catch a cab to the airport.

Thanks to the State of New York and its people for making our trip such a memorable, wonderful experience.

Eataly

200 5th Ave

New York, NY 10010

United States
Ph: +1 212 229 2560

Schnippers

23rd Street and Madison

New York, NY

United States

Ph: +1 212 233 1025

Obica Mozzarella Bar

928 Broadway

New York, NY 10010

United States

Ph: +1 212 777 2754

Beechers Handmade Cheese

900 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

United States
Ph: +1  212 466 3340

 

Bread's Bakery

18 E 16th St

New York, NY 10003

United States
Ph: +1 212 633 2253

 

Fish's Eddy

889 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

United StatesPh: +1 212 420 9020

Back to New York, New York Day 12 - Plymouth Rock, Harvard, Boston, Times Square and Lillies, NYC

 

On day 2 of our road trip outside of New York, we started off the morning with a visit to Plymouth Rock and a replica of the Mayflower.

Plymouth Rock is protected by a pergola-like structure: 

The rock itself is tiny - I don't now what I expected, but this wasn't it:

On board the replica of the Mayflower, actors dressed as pilgrims tell you stories about ship life in response to your questions:
 

From Plymouth Rock, we drove on to Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and found Harvard yard to be a sea of chairs in preparation for graduation and other ceremonies:

While we were there, an alumni event was being held:

and they were getting ready for some kind of military ceremony:

There were also normal student graduations under way.  Here is a happy family posing in front of the statue of John Harvard:

Tourists rub the shoe of the statue for good luck, not realising that students urinate on the statue.  It is also called the statue of the three lies for certain inaccuracies, which you can read about here.

Here are a few more views of Harvard:

My favourite building is the Harvard Lampoon Building, home of the college newspaper:

From Harvard, we drove on to Boston, Massachusetts:

 

Our first stop was Copley Square on Boyleston Street, dominated by the imposing Trinity Church:

Copley Square is also home to a sculpture of The Tortoise and the Hare, because Copley Square contains the finish line of the Boston Marathon:

Copley Square is named after John  Singleton Copley, an American painter, whose statue graces Copley Square:

From Copley Square, we drove to the start of the Freedom Trail, marked by Massachusetts State House, a very grand, golden-domed building:

Across the road from Massachusetts State House, there is an impressive memorial marking the start of the Freedom Trail:

We walked on past various other historic sites to the Granary Burying Ground, where the grave of Samuel Adams is located:

We continued to walk along the Freedom Trail, and came across a mosaic in the footpath commemorating the site of the first building of the Boston Latin School, established in 1635, being the oldest public school and oldest existing school in the United States: 

Nearby is the Old City Hall building:

outside of which presides a statue of Benjamin Franklin:

At the front of Old City Hall, you will also find the "Stand in Opposition" Republican shoe prints, complete with the elephant symbol of the Republicans inside:

and a donkey statue representing the Democrats:

If you are interested in knowing the story behind the donkey and the elephant, you can read about it here.

We continued along the Freedom Trail until we reached our lunch spot, Quincy Market:

We met Betsy for lunch at Quincy Market, where we dined at the Quincy Market branch of McCormick & Schmicks Seafood and Steaks:

Here is a photo of Betsy and I at lunch:

We had a marvellous time, and once again, it was like catching up with an old friend.

It was a bright, hot day, so I could not resist a glass of bubbles:  
 

Tim had the lobster salad ($19.99):

and I had the Maine Lobster Bisque ($13.25):

Good food, great company - it was the perfect lunch, and sadly too short.

Quincy Market is located next to Faneuil Hall, a marketplace and meeting hall named after a wealthy merchant and established in 1742:

There is a grasshopper weather vane on top of the hall, and Samuel Adams, among other patriots, gave speeches there.

 

Our next stop was the USS Constitution Maritime Museum:

 

I am not much one for maritime museums, so I was glad our stay here was short.

We then drove past Charlestown Square, where Paul Revere began his famous midnight ride in 1775:

After that, we began a long, four hour drive back to New York, entertained by Meet the Parents and/or sleep.  It was an anti-climax to a really good trip.

It was then sadly our last evening in  New York.  Tim and I went for dinner at Lillie's Victorian Establishment, an old-fashioned restaurant and bar near the Eugene O'Neill Theatre that we spied when we went to see The Book of Mormon:

Lillie's is named after the actress, Lillie Langtry, whom you can read about here.  I thought the Victorian style interior and decoration was exquisite:  

Here are Tim and I posing on the velvet corner lounge with our drinks:

I am wearing my dress from  Artists and Fleas at the Chelsea Market, by Sohung Designs.  I love the retro print and the triple zip down the front.

At Lillies, Tim ordered the Fish and Chips (beer battered cod with thick cut chips):

while I ordered the Roasted Free-Range Chicken with mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach and a lemon butter sauce:

I can't speak for Tim, but mine was delish.

We also had dessert - Tim ordered the almond cake with smoked maple syrup, candied figs and chocolate gelato:

I ordered the chocolate pudding with walnut cranberry biscotti:

I was a little surprised when my dessert arrived because I forgot that the American use of "pudding" is different to the Australian and British use, but it was delicious nevertheless.

For our last night in New York, we splurged on accommodation at The Marriott in Times Square, where we got fabulous aerial views of Times Square in all of its glory: 

I did not like The Marriott as much as our other hotel, because I found its size made it too overwhelming and impersonal, but it was fun to have a view of the lights of Times Square for our last night in New York.  Unfortunately, because we got back quite late, we didn't have much time to admire the view from our room before we went to the land of nod.  As Tim said, this hotel had the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in.

McCormick & Schmicks Seafood & Steaks

Faneuil Hall Marketplace

1 North Market St

Boston, MA 02109

United States

Ph: +1 617 720 5522

Lillie's Victorian Establishment

249 West 49th Street

New York, NY 10019

United States

Ph: +1 212 957 4530