Grabbing a slice of the Big Apple

And so we have arrived once again in New Jersey to spend some time with family…. The flight over from Las Vegas was with US Airways and I think they have the number 1 spot on our “shitty airplane list”.

There isn’t all that much to tell about our first few days, we spent some time with family as usual, this time we also met a few family members from my mums side of the family that were visiting for a few days.

After about a week Aaron arrived down from Boston to stay the weekend and we decided that we had to go into the big city, New York, for a quick tour. He, as well as us, had already seen the major sights in the city, the tall buildings, some museums etc. But we were not going to do any of those…

We didn’t really have any specific destination in mind, we started out our day by getting to the train station in Radburn, picking up a bagel with cream cheese and juice for breakfast along the way. Once we got into the city we made our way into the East Village, without a doubt our favorite area of the city.

First stop in the Village was “Mud Coffee”, Aaron and I know how a good cup of coffee is supposed to taste like. So far he had experienced problems finding good coffee here in the US (as we all know what goes for coffee here is not the best stuff in the world).

After sipping his coffee he was sold! “This actually taste like coffee”, I think was his remark =)

We walked down to the ABC avenues, “Alphabet City”, and strolled the area for a while just chatting away. We stopped by Thompson Park by the dog area and watched people with their dogs…. quite interesting the things you get to see and the way people behave with their dogs among other dogs.

Eventually we left and made our way up to Bleeker Street, and after a quick refreshing drink we went to the Magnolia Bakery so that Suz could get some cup cakes (this bakery featured in “Sex and the City”, as we all know it’s one of Suz’s favorite shows). When we got there though the line up was enormous so we decided to give it a miss this time. Last time we came here we had visited on a weekday and it was empty… It’s a bit busier on a weekend I guess.

Well, can’t get it all now can we…. so from here we moved on towards Joe’s Pizza for a slice of the best pizza in town!

And it’s still bloody awesome!! Just a normal slice of plain pizza is all you need, very thin cripy bottom, fresh and tasty ingredients and with some extra chili on top….YUM!!

After some pizza we moved straight onto Mamouns Falafel, are you seeing a trend here, maybe even a slight feeling of Deja-Vu? After all, we were showing Aaron the places we like to walk around and eat in!

From here we walked though a street market selling a bit of everything and eventually we ended up in Union Square. Here we sat down at the Heartland Brewery, a microbrewery, and Aaron and I ordered the sampler plate, 6 of their beers in small glasses to try.

The beers went from very light to dark and we both had our own favorites among them, Aaron prefered the lagers while I tend to like the ales and stouts. Suz managed to get some nice cider as well so we were all happy….

Eventually we ordered the bill and it came with suggestions on how much to tip, “Suggested Gratuity”. Suz and I tip around 15% when we are in the US (I hate tipping just because you have to), but this receipt suggested that we give up to 25% in tip…. yeah right!! We gave around 12% and left!

After this we made our way back home and ended up later that evening with Kira and Freddy. The guys jumped into the pool (even though it was a bit chilly) and the girls sat on the side watching us.

Aaron left early for Boston the next day (he had a 5 hour drive ahead of him) and we promised that we would try to catch up again soon! We’re just not sure in which country that will be =)

The remaining days that we had in the US we spent shopping, or at least trying to shop. Both of us needed to find a few items of clothes for my sisters wedding, which we eventually found.

Our last night in the US we spent with Rene, Kira, Freddy and also with my third cousin Tove and her boyfriend Kalle. After a nice dinner we ended up chatting and playing some “Texas Hold ‘Em” which Rene totally trashed the rest of us in.

So, not much more to say really, this is an area that we will keep coming back to as long as my parents and family live here. It might not be the most interesting area to spend time in when it comes to sights and such but since we are in one location just visiting family…. we like it!