Our travel adventure continues!

On we go in NYC

Monday morning we were up bright and early, had breakfast and headed for the subway.  Today we were doing ''The best of Brooklyn Multicultural Food Tour'' which started on 4th St in Manhattan. 

The ''F Subway train was back in business so we arrived at our destination in Manhattan about fifteen minutes after boarding the train, so we were there very very early. 

Trying out the cannoli

After finding the exact spot from where our tour would depart, we got back on the subway and headed for La Bella Ferrara pastry shop in Little Italy to try out some of their famous cannoli with a cup of coffee.  This  pastry is made with a round folded waffle with the consistency much like a waffle cone and is filled with a vanilla flavoured creamy stuffing.  Rosella had heard about these on the cooking shows she watches on TV.  We were told by our guide yesterday that these were probably the best in NYC.  We both agrees that while they were very good, they were probably not worth the special effort we made to get to and from this place.  So you win some you lose some and some come out a tie.  This was a tie!

We took a cab back to 4th St to get on our Food Tour and Isaak was our guide.   Being born and raised in NYC, he was very knowledgeable about all aspects of the city.  We started by making two stops on the Lower East Side.  

The first stop was at Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery.  Knish is an eastern European  Jewish or yiddish snack food.  It is a dumpling covered with a dough shell that is either baked or fried.  I the most traditional version, the dumpling is made entirely of potato.   

Traditional knish

Early 20th century counters

This place was opened in 1903 and has not had any renovations inside since then, same counters, same ceiling, same dumb waiter to bring the pastries from the basement kitchen, same everything.  Being inside is really a step back into the the beginning of the twentieth century.

Sharing a cherry
cheese knish
on the sidewalk

We had a sampling of the traditional knish and Rosella and I bought a cheese stuffed cherry knish to try out.  The traditional knish was really excellent with a special delicatessen mustard but the cherry/cheese knish which we ate on the sidewalk outside was to die for!

Appetizers galore!

Isaak then took us to "Russ and Daughters Appetizers" where they specialise in hundreds and hundreds of , you guessed it, appetizers.  There we tasted pastry type appetizer which was very similar to balaclava.  It to was very very good. 

Lots of Polish goodies

The bus then took us across the river to Brooklyn via the Jewish district and we proceeded to a Polish restaurant where we sampled a whole bunch of authentic Polish food, like perogies, kielbasas sausage, pickled beets just to mention a few.  This sampling was almost a meal in itself. 

Yummy chocolate

Then we proceeded to visit The Jacques Torres Chocolate factory where we samples some of the best chocolate the we both ever had, truly a very special treat. 

Cubana sandwiches
in the park

The last stop was at a Cuban deli where Isaak had us try Cubana sandwiches, a Cuban specialty made with a crusty bun filled with pulled pork, cheese, ham, pickle, and tomatoes with a special sauce.  It to was an excellent choice.  





Rosella and I both agreed that this was a very worthwhile tour and we gave it a score of 4.9 out of 5, well worth the effort.  The bus dropped us at about 3:30 pm at the same spot we began the tour in the morning.

Billboard in
front of MSG

The next stop, Madison Square Gardens (MSG) for the highlight of this NYC visit for Rosella, The Josh Groban Concert.  We were there by 4:15 pm, the doors opened at 6:30.

Macy's all decorated
for Christmas

So we decided to walk around and went into Macy's on 34th St.  I ended up buying a tie for our forthcoming cruise.  After killing the time away and a bit of a rest at the Macy's cafeteria, we headed back to The MSG for the long awaited moment. 

Elew - Jazz pianist

The opening act, Elew a Jazz pianist started right on time.  This very talented guy really knows how to shake up a piano, he was amasing. 

Josh's opening songs
 in the middle of the arena

After he was finished, they turned the house lights on and took about 25 minutes to prepare two stages for the Josh Groban segment of the concert.  Finally, the lights were dimmed and out came Josh on a small stage in the centre of the Gardens, directly in front of where we were seated. 

Josh on the
main stage

From there he sang a few songs after which he was escorted through the crowd to the main stage where his orchestra had been accompanying him for his opening songs.

He sang many of Rosella's favourites and a few that we had not heard before.  We both agreed that a hockey rink with over 15,000 people in it is not a very intimate setting for such a beautiful voice.  However we thoroughly enjoyed our evening with Josh.  We took the "F Train back to the hotel, got home past 11:00 pm, way past Rosella's bed time.






Tuesday morning we were up very early, getting ready for our departure from NYC.  We were on the road by 8:15 am but our journey through Manhattan to take the Lincoln Tunnel to take us to the outskirts of the city took the best part of two hours.

We then made our way to the entrance of the Shenandoah National Park, about 250 miles from NYC where we drove the Skyline Drive through this magnificent winding, mountainous forest with a maximum speed limit of 35 mph, filled with lookouts and vistas and lots of wild life along the way. It was a very special ride! 

Admiring the scenery in the park

Hmmmm - checking out
the tourists!

Mama bear and her cub
alongside the road

It was pouring rain when we got up this morning.  We had planned to drive a good portion of the 200 or so mile Blue Ridge Parkway but to no avail, with the rain and the fog, it was useless to continue on that journey.  So we took the Interstate highways and made our way to Charleston North Carolina where we will visit this historic town for the next two days.

Stay tuned!