NYC Day 3

We woke up after 10 in the morning and missed breakfast.  It was pouring outside; wet, windy and cold.  Our plans had been to explore Central Park and we were determined to do just that.  But first, food.

We knew Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen was right next to Guitar Center so we moved as fast as we could through the rain and the crowds.  We’d brought umbrellas and this was one day I was glad I made room (and weight allowance) in the suitcase for them.

The inside of the restaurant is very nice and, no, I didn’t take pictures.  I had the Volcano chicken, which would have received 5 stars if the chicken hadn’t been dried out with overcooking.  Grant had pulled pork sliders and a beer.  Both were filling and the restaurant was cozy on this cold and miserable day.

We’d noticed another restaurant across from Guy’s called Junior’s, advertising their famous cheesecake.  We ducked in for dessert. I had the cherry cheesecake and Grant the apple crumble cheesecake.  Divine…

We hurried back to the hotel and realized just how soaked we were.  My backpack, holder of the camera, phone and all things electronic, wasn’t faring well in the rain.  My umbrella wasn’t big enough to keep my backpack covered and, wouldn’t you know, I didn’t bring a purse or any other bag for lugging things around.  We sat on the beds moping and wondering what we were going to do with our day.

The rain let up and the wind died down and we knew it was time to trek up 8th Avenue.

We only explored about a third of Central Park, the southern part, and it was just gorgeous.  This is a place I want to visit again.

On our way back to the hotel I ducked into a bakery and bought a Black and White cookie.  I remember reading about this in children’s books and always wondered about them.  The cookie I had was prepackaged so I don’t know if it was bad, good, or great as compared to another Black and White cookie from another place.  I liked it, though, particularly the white half.  Don’t eat too many.  The calories are insane!

We had to make one last stop before the hotel and that was to an intersection that was near and dear to my Kiss fan of a husband, the intersection of 8th and 23rd. Behold.

I’d left a nice tip for the maid and asked her to leave more coffee packets.  She didn’t. No coffee in the lobby, either, so we drank water and watched some TV and took a nap. Dinner ended up being pizza from one of the corner walk-up shops.  The sign says “Two Slices and a Can of Soda for $2.99” and our dinner was $12.  Huh?  Turns out the two slices includes only cheese and we didn’t have a single slice of cheese pizza.  The pizza was fabulous, hot and cheesy and the crust the perfect combination of crispy and chewy.  The slices were huge and very filling. These pizza places are all over New York City.  You can get a single slice (cheese) for a buck and we saw many customers, particularly young people, throwing a dollar on the counter and walking away happy.

Not the actual shop we visited, but you get the idea.

We got back to the room and packed up our suitcases for our departure in the morning.  We had such a fantastic time in New York City and want to visit it again, probably next fall.  There's another 11 days left of our vacation, which is astounding considering how much we’d done in the few days we were here.