Looking Back at 2014

What a crazy year it has been!  At the end of 2013 I had nothing planned but a larger trip in 2015, we planned on taking it easy in 2014.  Boy was I wrong!!!!!

Little Italy in New York

From Canal Street in what I would call Chinatown there is a hanging sign for LIttle Italy.  They must be trying to lure people over from Chinatown.

We saved some tummy room for dessert in Little Italy after our lunch in Chinatown.  I really wanted to try the ice cream shop in Chinatown but Daughter wanted to go to Italy for dessert.

Little Italy was much smaller than Chinatown and I would say it was 80% restaurants.

We had gelato and a raspberry ice at Cafe Roma.

This sign was on the other end of Little Italy and it seemed to fit better here.

And passed this interesting car park as we walked back to the train.  How the heck do they get the cars in and out????

If we are back in the area again I would skip Little Italy. There really was not much to do in the area but eat.

 

Most Precious Blood Church near Little Italy

We stumbled on this church walking from Chinatown to Little Italy in New York.  If the doors are open I am going to take a look inside.

The church was founded in 1888 for the Italian immigrants who were not welcome in other churches.

The church was ornately painted and it was the first time Daughter had been in a catholic church.

We took a few moments to view the interior before continuing on to Little Italy.

The church can be found at 109 Mulberry St.

 

 

Lunching in Chinatown New York

New York health inspectors grade their restaurants A-C and these grades are displayed on-premise for the public to see. I think this is a great idea!!!  We wanted lunch in Chinatown so we were not only looking at menus in the front window but also inspection grades. I wanted an grade A with a lunch special for our meal.

We knew we either wanted sweet and sour chicken or orange chicken.  Several restaurants offered it for $11-13 according to their posted menus. It was lunch time, I wanted to save room for a snack so I wanted a lunch portion.  We stumbled upon our winner: Old Sichuan Cuisine.  The hostess saw us looking at the menu and beckoned us in for lunch.  She was working it, we saw her draw in several customers like us who had just been reading the menus on the front window.

We were seated and quickly served hot tea and peanuts.  We had the option of egg drop soup or hot and sour soup.  We both chose the egg drop.

Our food arrived quickly and was very tasty!

The lunch portion was just what we needed to fuel up for the afternoon.  The price was perfect at $5.50 each. We would both eat here again and order the same meal.  Very tasty!

 

Old Sichuan Cuisine

Address:65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

Phone:(212) 227-9888

More information can be found here along with a menu: http://www.oldsichuan.com/

Chinatown in New York

We hoped on a train in lower Manhattan and in three stops stepped off into a different world!  New York’s Chinatown was bustling in-spite of the light rain on Monday around noon.  We thought this would be a fun place to shop and hopefully find lunch.

 

Next time I would like to go more towards evening to see everything light up.

 

 

We did some shopping and poked around the few blocks that make up the district. There were many veggie and market vendors. And the expected t-shirts and bag shops.

We found the couple of souvenirs that we were looking for and did a little bargaining with a shop owner for a backpack Daughter wanted.  We found a nice lunch place and had a great afternoon!

 

Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan

I love to peak inside an old church.  Where I come from old church buildings are torn down and a new modern church with a gym and a rec center takes it place.  The current Trinity Church building was finished in 1846, its beautiful!

These brass covered doors are from 1893.

And the burial grounds were filled with Hostas and flowers.

It was a nice respite from the rain to pause inside the church for a few moments. They even had umbrella bags outside the doors for visitors.

Trinity Church is located at Wall Street and Broadway.

Hours are 7am – 6pm weekdays, 8-4 Saturdays and 7-4 on Sundays.

Hours

Trinity Church

7am – 6pm Weekdays
8am – 4pm Saturday
7am – 4pm Sunday
212-602-0800

– See more at: http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/#sthash.WMxXN9Vz.dpuf

Hours

Trinity Church

7am – 6pm Weekdays
8am – 4pm Saturday
7am – 4pm Sunday
212-602-0800

– See more at: http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/#sthash.WMxXN9Vz.dpuf

More information can be found here: http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/

9/11 Memorial

I Should Have Checked the Weather – Visiting the Statue of Liberty

When I packed for New York I assumed they would have the same weather we were having. Hot and Sunny. I packed the sunscreen, the shorts and tank tops.  We were busy and I never looked at the weather report.  We woke up the rain the last full day of our trip, not soft gentle rain but a down pour!

I was not going to let rain keep us inside, I had a full day planned of sight seeing.  The number one pick of the trip for Daughter was to see the Statue of Liberty.  I had a plan to ride the Stanten Ferry (its free and offers a good view) to give her the best views.  Then the rain got in the way.  We put on our ponchos and hurried through the downpour to an open variety store to purchase a couple of umbrellas.  The umbrellas kept us relatively dry until we were able to board the train.

Popping out of the station from the five line put us right at the bottom of the financial district. We had to walk three or four blocks to Battery Park. The rain had slowed to more of a mist but with the fog over the water we decided it just did not make sense to ride the ferry.

This was our view from Battery Park…

Cinco De Mayo in Flatbush Brooklyn

Everyday we walked past Cinco De Mayo on the way to the train.  We ate there for dinner on Sunday night after visiting Manhattan.  Out door seating was available and it was nice to relax while watching the world go by.

Daughter order the nachos for her meal.  She can be very picky about Mexican restaurants. But she gave the nachos two thumbs up.  I was happy at $7.

I ordered an item that I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It was so tasty and nothing like it is offered where we live. I think it was a sope, not sure.

We sampled the horchata and it was really delicious.  The girls ordered hibiscus to drink and we had very tasty sangria to wash our meals down.

We really enjoyed our meal and again I was pleasantly surprised how reasonable the food was.

Cinco De Mayo Restaurant

1202 Cortelyou Rd  Brooklyn, NY 11218

(718) 693-1022

 

Central Park in New York for Relaxing

We love to do free things on vacation, and Central Park is a great free location to visit.  After leaving the American Museum of Natural History we crossed the road to Central Park.  The girls needed some lunch and a leg rest.  My daughter chose a hot dog and soda from a sidewalk cart.  That will set you back around $7 but we were able to share it.  After a little sitting time we took off to explore the park.

There are some great photo spots with the city in the background.

There were many people out running, bike riding and lazing around the park.  People taking wedding photos and renting row boats.  The park seemed as busy as the sidewalks around Manhattan.   Boat rented for $15 an hour which seems pretty reasonable.

We hiked around a bit near the lake area…

The park is huge at 2 1/2 miles long and half a mile wide. We walked a few blocks of it before heading back out.  Its definitely a place we want to explore in the future. Daughter wants to run inside it next time.  The park also offers a carousel, a zoo and many play grounds.