Today, we checked out of our Airbnb and dropped our stuff off at Gigi's nieces' apartment so we could continue to explore the rest of NYC. Their apartment is within walking of distance of NYU and a few other downtown locations. Our day actually revolved around eating so I'm probably going to merge the two things.

We walked over to the Flatiron Building. The reason this is important is because Tam is a fan of Spiderman, and the Flatiron building is the one The Daily Bugle is in. So anyway, we went there and it apparently neighbors Madison Square Park which has a....

Madison Square Park - Shake Shack

Apparently it's the original one and it had just opened for the day... And while we had lunch reservations at 1230pm for Italian... It was like 1030-11am and we wanted a snack. I finished eating and stood up to toss my trash while Tam sat down. I told him to stand up immediately as a really aggressive squirrel began to approach him quietly and more quickly as it got closer. Even as we walked away it chased us until Tam finished his burger. Apparently tourists feed them, which is why they're so aggressive. Soooo no.

Flatiron - Eataly

Since I'm a dummy and left my sunglasses at home, we stopped so I could purchase some before heading to our next destination! I've heard Eataly has some good Italian, and we had a hard time getting recommendations from other people... So why not?

Eataly is cool because it's a market and restaurant collection at the same time. On the ground floor you can shop for meats, cheeses, and vegetables. There's also a themed restaurants around the ground floor for pizza, pasta, seafood, and a few other things. We opted for the meat one, which was having a pre-opening since it was down for renovations.

It was held in the section of the downstairs that I think they do cooking courses in. There was a TV that filmed over the stove so you could watch what was going on.

We got... Stuff. I don't really remember. One of them was a beef tartare, gnocchi, and something with pappardelle noodles. It was good though, Tam really liked it. It was fresh and not over-flavored which I liked. I'm terrible at remembering things that were ordered, and it's been a month and a half since. Soo... Oops.

Chelsea Market - The Highline

After lunch, we took a subway to pick up some camera supplies and go to the High Line. It's a freight line that was essentially repurposed to be a park/walk above the streets of New York. Of course, the blizzard was just two days ago, so it was brown and pretty dead. But, it was a sunny day and it made for a nice walk.

I don't know if it's an especially fun thing to do during the transitional seasons because it's not as pretty, but you still get a nice view down the streets.

SoHo - Dominique Ansel

Sine we were working our way from the western part of Manhattan to the east, we just walked most of the street over. On the way, over we passed by this bakery. I only discovered this bakery because my friend follows him on Instagram. Turns out, this guy is the one who created the Cronut... Which can be preordered ahead of time.

I didn't really want a cronut, mostly because I didn't like March's flavors. Fortunately, we walked by around the time that the cookie shots were being made... They started at 3pm and we were around there at 330 so why not?

They have a line that waits outside, so you can be funneled into a line inside. They also only have one bathroom, so I had to assert my position in the bathroom line as people tried to cut me. The store is essentially a very narrow hallway, so there isn't much space for either line. People sitting near the bathroom probably were the most uncomfortable.

Anyway, they have seating in the back area and the front. Though, you kind of wanna hang around the front so you can hear them call your order. Your order may come in segments depending on what you got.

Cookie Shots - Awesome! The cookie is warm and crunchy, and lined inside with chocolate so the milk doesn't leak out. I mean, it will eventually, so you do have to eat it quickly. The milk is sourced from somewhere close to NYC, and they flavor it with vanilla so it's sweeter. They say it has a more floral taste, I don't know if that's necessarily true.. But it was delicious.
Frozen S'more - Uh... It was alright. They have a homemade marshmellow and it's burned on the outside so it's chewy like a crème brûlée, but has the graham and chocolate on the inside. It was way too sweet, but we figured we should try it.
Madeleines - so buttery and so lemony. I've had madeleines from those Costco packs and I like them even though they probably have 2x the daily amount of sugar. You can buy bite-sized ones in small packs here... And because I'm a snacker I bought a small pack to eat through the streets.

Otherwise, SoHo is a very trendy and super nice neighborhood. There's a lot of shopping, but I thought the buildings were beautiful to see. We walked through an Adidas store, since we don't have any in Hawaii. The branding in those stores is really nice; very urban and trendy.

Gramercy - Joe Juniors

After using a combination of subway and walking, we ended up close to the girls' apartment. Because of my small bladder, I was able to find a Whole Foods bathroom that we could use. It's like a sixth sense for bathrooms.

We tried this place after seeing this Eater video, and while I wasn't hungry... It didn't disappoint from the ONE bite I had. It had a good char, and was pretty meaty in flavor. The place is super small, but definitely has the old diner feel.

The walk around this part of NYC is nice too, not super hilly and really it's just beautiful. The view up 3rd Avenue made me really understand why people are in love with NYC. Anyway, we picked up our stuff and took the longest Lyft ride to JFK. It was the longest ride because I needed to pee really badly. After checking in, I treated myself to a delicious beer and then passed out on the plane.

Drunk me had a slightly entertaining Instagram story.

Next blog is Iceland! I can't wait!