Today is the second day of Dear's conference and is a full day. So I will have to self-entertain until the evening.
Breakfast was from a food truck that happened to be good and near his conference venue. It was also a food truck that both Ms Hamster and I wanted to try, so I guess it is just nice.
So glad we managed to eat from a food truck as food trucks are a unique aspect of New York's food culture.
The food truck: Eggs travaganza. It specializes in egg breakfast.
My Mexican egg roll with chorizo and I can't rem what's inside now. Lol. It was a pretty good breakfast- hearty, fast and relatively cheap.
I went on my own way after breakfast. First stop today was to shop in Bath and Body works for stuff that my fren ask me to buy back.
Walking slowly and taking photos along the way.
It was a wet morning and Starbucks was giving samples of espresso coffee. I happily grabbed one and proceeded to spill some on myself. I had to pop over to the bathroom of a hotel to clean myself up. So fail.
Dear will always ask me why am I so clumsy :(
After fulfilling my shopping task, I went to the Madison Square Garden to buy tickets for the tour. Happily, I managed to get my ticket at student price. Tee hee.
Our guide bringing us along the main corridors in the studium where there are lots of exhibits from the many memorable events that have been held here.
The displays of historic events at the stadium were along this corridor of food stalls directly outside the doors to the seats.
The newly renovated stadium. We were lucky to see the ice hockey players practicing before the league finals that night. But because there was a match that day, it also meant that the locker room, which was a part of the tour that I was looking forward to, was not available for a visit.
More photos of the stadium which looked very new and grand
We also saw one of four beer rooms that serve the drink counter.
After the stadium tour, it was time to head to Clinton Street Bakery for the best pancakes in New York.
It was a little out of the way but I had the time to take the subway ride. And it turned out to be a horrible affair.
Here goes the story:
I went into the station and took the train in the wrong direction. So I had to get down at another station to take the train back to the original place again.
Then as I was coming down the stairs to the train platform to take the correct train, I saw the train has just came into the station. Thinking that I can just board the next train that comes in, as I was not rushing for time, I did not rush to take the train.
The real horror then started. I ended up waiting at the platform for 15min, with no announcement on any train problems. People around me was also hanging around to wait and didn't seem worried.
During this time, a train came in on another track and stayed there. I didn't pay too much attention to that until I realised there may be some problems going on.
It was very frustrating as there was no tv screens at the platform that could show you how long the train is taking to come or if there is a train problem.
Those of us on the platform started to fidget when a woman, who looks like a fellow commuter, came down to the platform and started telling some people that there was a power outage and the train was not coming.
I went up to a friendly looking girl to ask her what happened and how to get to my destination.
She told me I have to take the 7 train (what's tat??) up north and got to change trains multiple times after that.
That sounds like a bad alternative. I went to the train conductor who was on the train that had came in and stayed on another track when will service resume. No help too.
Then I got angry with myself for missing the first train that I saw. Or else I wouldn't be stuck here liao. Argh.
I don't even know where to take the train out of this station lor, cos this is one of the major stations with multiple layers of platforms.
But I tried to follow the walking crowd up to some platform and calmed myself down to some thinking.
I noticed there were still commuters sitting in the stuck train which has its lights off. So people were still willing to wait, which means the train service should resume soon. After all, the train service cannot be down for the whole day and if the locals know to wait, the restoration of service will not take super long also rite?
In the meantime, I has already texted Dear abt my predicament and he helped me check that the cafe I wanted to go opens till 4pm. I had almost wanted to give up going there.
So I decided that there is still time for me to go the cafe, and it is better to wait here then to take a train out only to have to take a longer and more complicated route.
So I walked back to the platform again and thankfully, my judgement was correct. The train service resumed in 10 minutes and I finally continued on my journey.
Through this episode, I finally appreciated SMRT a bit more. At least the tv screens they have on the platforms help to send some messages. And I was upset at the lack of announcement at the train station: hello wasn't I in a first world city?
So after all the pains, I am finally here at Clinton Street Bakery.
What was the good thing was that I could walk right in to get a seat becos I was there at the odd hour of 3pm plus.
The famous blueberry pancakes which was really really lovely. I brought back some for dear who could tell that it is good even though it was already cold for a few hours.
I have never eaten any pancakes like this: there is a crispy crust at the bottom and too was fluffy. The best was the sauce that came with it- so sweet and fragrant. It tastes like a caramel maple syrup. Must try to mix when we get our house next time.
Walking around the neighborhood after the meal
Thought this is a pretty cool community project.
I made my way back to the Midtown area and took quite a bit of photos on the way. Finally can walk slowly and take photos lol.
The steamers amaze me: I find them unsightly in a such a posh city.
Long queue to get into the live show
Was a bit surprised to find that horse are used here. And they were pooping as they walk
Back at the hotel, we watched TV and took a short nap while waiting for Dear.
Dear arranged for us to meet his friend who is studying at Columbia University for dinner. So we postponed the original plans for watching a broadway show and went out to the university to meet his friend and wife.
Yeah, don't need to see Ms Hamster. Lol.
The university is quite convenient as it is near the subway station. This is the mosaic at the subway station. Pretty nice.
We were brought on a tour to some of the iconic buildings of the university.
I was impressed by the beautiful campus. Can really feel the air was oozing with smartness. Haha.
This church was outside the campus. We went for dinner at Dino's which is supposedly good for barbeque stuff.
Along the way, his friend was telling us about the crime incidents that have been taking place outside the campus when dusk falls, which parts of the road that we were walking on is dangerous, and the help phones along the streets for those who met shady characters on the streets. So scary : (
Dear kept joking we should end dinner soon and quickly go home. Haha.
After a long walk, we reached Dino's. It is kind of like a sports bar place.
Buffalo wings,which was quite spicy shiok.
The steak was recommended by his friend. And we also ordered another platter (BBQ Korean marinated meat) to share among the four of us. I don't know how good the BBQ here is compared to American standards but I think it is pretty good compared to our Asian standards, hee. After dinner, the couple was so nice to send us to the subway station to make sure we were safe.
Night shot from our room after we got back to the hotel safely :)
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