Day 10: NYC (3)

I was extremely disappointed with the street food selection. It seemed to me that this one middle eastern vendor had a near monopoly on the street food market as I constantly saw the same truck peddling the same falafels/kebabs/etc all over Manhattan. So I gave in this morning and had a egg and turkey bacon sandwich for $2.25. At least it was a good deal.

Today I went to see the US open in Flushing. During the first weeks of the US open, general admission tickets are offered to the public for a mere $50 giving one unlimited access to outer court games from 11am – 7pm. From what I read, it’s a much better deal than spending more to sit in the nosebleeds and dealing with the bad viewing angles of Arthur Ashe stadium. Granted, you’re not going to see the top draws or seeds in the outer courts, but there are a number of seeded players in the outer courts.

I *just* missed seeing Maria Sharapova signing some autographs before enter Arthur Ashe. I actually like her more for her tennis skills rather than her looks. Go figure.

They were handing out fans at the entrance and this was a lifesaver as the temperature was in the mid 90s (~35 ^oC ). I imagine that the heat was a bit more intense on the hard courts and as I found later, a player collapsed because of the triple digit heat on the courts.

It was that hot.

Lifesaver

Citi Field

Joe’s Shanghai (Flushing NY)

Sliced braised beef

The beef appeared and tasted like it was sliced off a larger hunk of cooked meat. Still alright.

Pork boiled dumplings

Some of the best dumplings I’ve ever had.

Crab meat with pork meat steamed buns

Very good.

Scallion pancakes

Views from the Empire State Building

New Jersey, Lower manhattan, Ellis island and Liberty island

Flat iron building

Central park

The Chrysler Building aka the art deco skyscraper aka the pointy one

Madison Square Garden and One Penn Plaza

I headed for Shake Shack @ Madison Square Park, but ran into this line. The counter said it would be a hour, so I decided to come back later. Shake Shack sounds like NYC equivalent of In-n-out.

Line up for shake shack

Republic

Chicken and rice: chicken, Vietnamese rice, shiitake and wood ear mushrooms, asian basil and bean paste.

I then head all the way uptown to Harlem. I wouldn't recommend walking in Harlem at night. Although some areas were undergoing gentrification, some other areas were a bit shady looking.

After much walking I finally arrived:

Amy Ruth’s

Complimentary corn bread

Chicken and waffles. Side of sweet potatoes.

The chicken wasn’t anything to write home about, but this was one of the best waffles ever. I really wanted to order the sweet potato pie, but I was ready to burst at this point.

Times Squares at night.

NASDAQ

Favorite random picture

Radio city music hall

Ceiling of the Rockefeller Center elevator

Empire State Building

The bright lights of times square

So much for safety

Rockefeller plaza

Mcdonalds wild berry smoothie

Tastes alright. Certainly healthier than a milkshake.

Fancier than your average Skytrain station

Steps – 22,198

Distance – 19.15

Day 9: NYC (2)

Random Deli

It is really all downhill from here. The filling wasn’t sweet, the dough was kind of stale and it was a tad small for 2 bucks.

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine

The fourth largest Christian church in the world. This place was massive.

Library of Columbia University

General Grant National Memorial

The largest mausoleum in North America

Tombs of Ulysses and Julia Grant.

Katz’s Deli

Pastrami on Rye. Pretty good, but not cheap at 14 bucks. Tourist trap indeed.

Potato Knish

$3.25 solid

Veselka in the park

Cheese Blintzes with raspberry sauce. Didn’t really do much for me. The ricotta cheese was probably the reason for the mediocrity.

Magnolia Bakery

Red velvet cupcake. Really good frosting, but too bad the rest was just average. Talk about gimmicky.

Museum of Modern Art

Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night.

Being up close and personal, you can see the thick brush strokes used to create this painting

Cool CG art showing air traffic in the USA.

Serendipidity

Frozen hot chocolate. Tastes like its namesake.

At this point I was really pressed for time as I had a ticket for the yankee game, but I decided to make a take a detour.

Pio Pio (Upper east side)

Chicken pio: whole chicken marinated in special Peruvian sauces. Side of yucca frites.

Crispy skin that encased the tender and juicy meat inside. Fantastic.

Because of my detour, I arrived at New Yankee Stadium in the 4^th inning. Thanks to some confusion, I ended up essentially walking the entire inner perimeter to find my seat in the bleachers. During the game, I felt the urge to randomly start punching Yankees fans in the face, but for my own benefit, I had to repress those feelings.

It was a blowout and near the end of the game, I tried upgrading my seat, but unlike fenway, there were workers in the aisle way checking tickets. However they can’t stop you from standing in the concession area (see below), which is what I plan to do in future games.

Random grocer

Had to try the NY-style pizza, but I don’t think this qualified as the slice wasn’t that large.

Walking back to the hostel, I noticed there was Pio Pio on the upper west side a handful of blocks from the hostel. Geez I could’ve watched the whole game instead of missing the first three innings.

Steps – 22,422

Distance – 19.35 km