Soho, Noho and Mario's Place

We're back in NYC and wondering what took us so long to come back! The trip from Toronto was really quick. Getting to try out the full body scanner was a highlight for me. Marilyn says she was glad I was the random one! You stand in a big plexiglass chamber, raise your hands over your head and they examine you with some kind of rays, harmless I was assured. I wanted to see the image but the lady said no. Riding in the Dash 8 is not a quiet affair. We were sitting right beside the prop so it was extra loud. I gave up even trying to listen to the ipod.

Once in Newark, we took the Express Bus into the city and ended up at Grand Central Station. From there we decided to jump on the subway to the hotel. It was a pretty easy trip except for the carrying of suitcases up and down subway stairs. At the hotel, the guys at the front desk said our regular room wasn't ready so they would upgrade us to a superior king with city view. It seems to be the same size as the other one but with a better view on a higher floor. Everything is white. Walls, floor, bed, duvet, sheets and bathroom. So why are we sitting here drinking red wine? Well, why am I sitting here drinking red wine. Marilyn is fine. I'm being very careful...

Here's the elevator. This is what it's like all the time. The lighting is quite surreal all over the hotel. They are still finishing things and you can smell fresh paint. Still, it's a very cool place and we'll take some outside shots tomorrow.

After we got settled in, we took off to find Mario Batali's food market on 5th Ave. I had the address in the gps but all the tall buildings made that piece of technology not so useful. Plus, we took the subway to 59th and 5th which is just south of Central Park. Eataly, Mario's place, is at 23rd. So, we decided to go for a walk down 5th Ave. We did a lot of window shopping and saw a convoy of police cars and a black Suburban go flying by. Turned out something happened at the Empire State building and the Swat team was called out. They have some serious guns!

Finally, we arrived at Eataly and we were amazed. It was huge and reminded us a little of The Marche as there were food stations. But, there were also a number of actual restaurants in the place. And it was a giant market with an amazing selection of food. Thanks to Steve and Natalie for letting us know about it. We decided to eat at the pasta/pizza restaurant and weren't disappointed. We had glasses of wine and the following pasta dishes.

Mine was Vermicelli Bucati all' Amatriciana. That's spaghetti in a spicy tomato sauce with guanciale, which is pork cheek bacon. Very, very tasty.

Marilyn had Paccheri al sugo di mare which translates to her favourite, seafood pasta. Also amazing.

We also saw their cool wood burning pizza ovens and a stack of parmigiano reggiano that probably cost more than my Civic!

 

After all that, we continued walking down 5th Ave. and worked our way back to Soho and our hotel with the now cooperating gps. We managed to visit a couple of stores to buy some ceramic knives and a Yankees hat and some wine. We had thoughts of doing some more wandering but once we hit the room, we were toast. We're planning tomorrow now. Here's view out the window. That's the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance.