We're known as the quality store, part 2

So, where did we leave off? That's right, we re-joined the tour at Battery Park, the southern-most tip of the island of Manhatten. The best part of the Hop-On/Hop-Off tour busses is the variety of tour guide you get. In the first part of our day, we had a native New Yorker who knew a ton about the city. We picked up the tour with a Chinese woman who pretty much stuck to the script, until we reached China-town where we learned all about how great the Chinese are. Luckily, it's Hop-On/Hop-Off for a reason, and it wasn't long until we reached our next desired stop--the East Village, home to Momofuku.

Momofuku might mean "Lucky Peach" but to J, it's been all about the steamed pork buns for weeks. Seriously, a visit to Momofuku was one of only three things on his list of things to see and do in NYC. Here are a few pictures from our visit.


















You'll note there aren't any pictures of me smiling with my pork buns. That's because I gagged on the first one and gave the other to J to finish. No offense against pork buns, but if you're really feeding me steamed pig fat, please call it that on the menu. We got the pork buns at Momofuku Milk Bar, which really is what it sounds like--they sell all kinds of ice cream, flavored milks, cheesecakes, etc. Around the corner, at Momofuku Ssam Bar, where we grabbed dinner, they serve country ham from Broadbents Country Ham. I was very excited to see a "local" item on the menu in New York.

We rounded out the Downtown Loop, then jumped to a different bus for the Night/Holiday Tour. We saw a few Christmas windows, Ground Zero at night, and a great view of the Manhatten skyline from the Brooklyn side of the East River, all the while cracking jokes with the women from Chicago in the seats in front of us. I didn't get many pictures on this tour because of camera issues, but here are a few fuzzy ones. My favorite is the one of the Empire State Building. The change the lights on this building on some holidays, and it was all decked out in red, yellow and orange for Thanksgiving.


We jumped off the bus next to Macy's Herald Square since that was the closest we could get to Grand Central Station from the tour route. I convinced J to let me cross the street to see the Christmas Windows up close (themed about what happens when we write and mail a letter to Santa), and then snuck inside for pictures of the decor and original wooden escalators (which don't actually start until a few floors up, but remain in place all the way to the eighth floor). Yes, J scored serious husband points for riding escalators and taking pictures of me riding escalators this late in the evening.

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After we escaped the Macy's crowd, J and I found our way back to Grand Central, with only a couple of brief stops--to take our pictures with the New York Public Library Lions (I later learned that J posed with Patience and I with Fortitude-rather appropriate, I think), and to ooh and ahh over the Lord and Taylor windows (just gorgeous in a very Victorian set-up this year).

We finally made it back to Chappaqua and crashed for the evening, after deciding that we would really prefer to sleep in a bit on Saturday and plan another trip to New York to see the rest this city has to offer.

Title: Macy's jingle, still. It's that good.