Our day in NYC

Yesterday we went to NYC on a bus from Piney Orchard to spend the day in one of our favorite cities.  We left at 6:15am and arrived in Times Square about 10:30am.  We were let off at 51st and 8th.

I decided to take the ferry over to Hoboken (thanks John!) from 39th and 12th streets.  It was quite a walk but it was a beautiful morning and so we decided to take it on.  To our surprise when we hit 39th street, there was a great flea market with all kinds of stuff from different sellers.  There were tons of clothes, jewelry, shoes, pictures - you name it they were selling it.  We shopped a bit as we made our way down to the ferry.

We hopped on the ferry over to Hoboken which took us a whole 10 minutes to get across the river.   We found Washington Street without a problem and we had to make it to number 95 for Carlo's Bake Shop (Cake Boss). The end of Washington Street we were on HAD to be the wrong one.  We were at 3000.  ugh

Good thing it was a nice day, we took in the shops as we walked and walked.  Stopped at D&D and got an iced coffee and walked.  As we were getting closer, we were getting a little excited.  Would Carlo be there? Would he let us take pictures?  (we're Cake Boss nerds).

As we're walking up, we see the line AROUND THE CORNER!!  We can handle it - we just walked forever.  We'll take in the scenery and maybe see one of the familia.  As we got closer to the door, one of the windows on the second floor was open and we could see Mauro (Carlo's brother in law) and all kinds of people were taking pictures in front of the store.  Others walked by and didn't know what the "big deal about the bake shop is".  HELLO!?!?!?!

We got inside, and it was crowded beyond belief.  There were people and pastries everywhere.  We decided ahead of time that our waist lines could only handle a cupcake so that's what we ordered and then the TLC film crew started down the back steps.  We didn't move for a good 15-20 minutes.  The sisters came down and were working the counter with some of the employees and then Mauro came down to hang out.   We kept hearing that Carlo would come down in 5 minutes but we left before he did because we had things to do.   We decided to head behind the store in the alley because that's where they do the pranks on each other (like dumping flour on each others heads).  We took pictures and almost got taken out by an SUV who didn't feel it was necessary to beep at us to move. sheesh!

We hopped on the PATH down  to Newark and then onto the NJ transit out to Metuchen and walked to my brothers.  Thankfully it was not as long as the other walks earlier in the day.  It was wonderful, awesome, cool to see my brother out of the hospital and home with his family.  I got to see Sally (my sister in law - although they've been married since I was 9, so she's really my sister) who always has a smile on her face and is just an amazing person inside and out.   We hung out for a bit, Sally grilled some chicken and then we headed back to NYC.

We got off the subway at 38th street and realized we had another long walk.  Chantel was on the hunt for chinese food (she'd been asking for it since about 11am) and I was ready to get back on the bus at 51st street.  We found a great chinese place two blocks from the bus, grabbed some dinner and got on the bus for a long ride home.  

What a day.  We rode a bus, ferry, train and car from Maryland to NYC to NJ and back to NYC.  Needless to say, we slept very well last night.

Great but tiring day!