Getting up

Yesterday we had a late start into the day, I was having a massive headache that developed from 9 hours of sleep on pillow that I was not used to. In addition to that we had to clear up some details with our credit card.

Swipe it!

Speaking of credit cards, it seems everybody swipes their credit card a lot. I would have almost forgot how to use the magnetic stripe on my card were it not for the parking house cards. In Europe the electronic chip seems much more prevalent and I rarely see anybody swipe their card, even the mentioned parking house cards get stuck into the machine. Here in NYC you even swipe the metro cards. Upon first getting the 7 day unlimited pass I was asked to enter my ZIP code and knowing that this might happen I entered my Luxembourgish ZIP code (4 digits) and added a zero at the end. I am not sure if that actually worked simply because I entered 5 digits or if my card provider verified the input. Nevertheless it worked. So far it has been the only case where I had to enter the ZIP code though. The other times it has always been a question of swiping and signing (electronically) or putting in the chip and signing or entering the PIN. Its exciting ;)

Breakfast / Lunch

Ran propose to go to a Chinese restaurant to have Bao-tse, yummy Chinese steamed dumplings with savoury fillings. The place has the cute name Little steamed bun ramen. We had soup-filled crab baotse along with Kimchi, "West Red Melon stirring the Chicken Egg" (and they say the Germans aone can make up such overly long names) and Chinese Beef Pancakes which resemble Kebabs but having a fried Pancake dough rather than the Dönner bun.

Central Park

We followed this endeavour in Chinese cuisine with a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is also part of the City Pass and lies in the middle of Central Park which was also a welcome opportunity to visit the famous green spot. Being in the Park is amazing since you can completely forget being in this massive urban environment that surrounds this oasis.

In The Met

The museum alone is too big for a short and in-depth visit as it house numerous high quality exhibits ranging from Iranian exhibits to modern Photos. We decided to get an audio guide which provided some nice comments but on only a few of the things that we visited. Among those were the Astor Court a replica of a Chinese courtyard, Koi Pond and authentic rocks included. Other exhibits we saw where the Indian Love story of Krishna, European painters and the dream photo exhibit.

Raining Lady M

Not far from the Museum is the pastry shop of Lady M. It comes with another line of people waiting for entrance which makes me feel like I am not actually visiting New York but Disney Land. After ten-ish minutes we got in and ordered Strawberry sponge cake and its signature millefeuille (thousand layer) but with Matcha green tea flavour rather than plain vanilla. It was pretty good but nothing I did not have in France in various shapes and forms.
Once we ate up we went out only to be surprised by huge rainshower that felt like it wanted to drown the city. We found shelter in a nearby shop entrance along with other people. The only time it rained like this before was when we were on Wallstreet looking at the charging bull. Once it stopped we quickly went to the subway to get to Midtown 5th avenue, the Apple store. As it started to rain again it was filled with wet people occupying every free spot.

Dinner

For dinner we had the Hotel concierge, in the US its apparently not the Hotel reception staff but the aforementioned concierge(s) that help you plan your trips. We had some really nice steaks for dinner at Gallaghers Steakhouse which is conveniently close located to our Hotel.

M&More Shopping

Afterwards went back to Times Square to have a look at the M&M store and the Fossil store. I am not saying what we bought but I am glad the issue with our credit cards is sorted out.

The Attic

We finished the day with a nice cocktail on the rooftop terrace of The Attic. It wasn't very busy so we could lounge on the terrace and enjoy the windy view.

Stay tuned for new posts and pictures.