Day 34. New York & Princeton

Oct 14 2017

Before we left New York, we had an EPIC time in Chinatown before making the trip down to Princeton. We went to a classic Hong Kong Style Cafe and Taiyaki! The unicorn-looking ice-cream is actually a fish waffle that is filled with redbean paste and then topped with a delicious cool swirl! Next, we made it to a secret location for the best spongecake in town! Spongecake is a popular hong kong pastry that is fluffy (kind of like an angel cake) and we were going to take some for our drive down to Princeton!

 

Before we left, we inevitably had to grab some delicious fresh fruits at the market.

We made the drive down to Princeton and met Mike’s friend at “Hoagies.” I honestly wasn’t know what to expect, but it turned out that a “Hoagie” is pretty much a Subway, but instead of being filled with veggies, it is filled with an assortment of fried food such as chicken strips and fries! We basically shared one between the 3 of us and I could barely eat a quarter of it despite how tasty it was.

Our friend generously let us sleep in his basement and his cat came in to say hi. She was a real cutie and we fell fast asleep from a full day!

Meowmix.

Day 33. New York New York /3

We started off our last day in NYC by going to take the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. This is the cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty because it is FREE! As you walk closer to the ferry, there will be a ton of people trying to sell you a private water taxi package, but don’t give in. We have been watching a lot of “Scam City” and some of the things that they will say is that the ferry is a “two hour” ride and takes too much time and is not close enough, but that is a lie! (They are trying to sell you a $35 per person package that is one hour.) A one way trip is only 30 minutes and goes by super quickly due to the beautiful views, and you do get pretty close (see my pic above that is NOT zoomed in).

TIP: Do not buy any package and simply go to the ferry. When you get on, go to the right side of the boat to get a good view of the statue. You will see a ton of people go to one side as well, so that is a good queue for you to follow along. If you are on a time crunch, once you get to the other side immediately wait for the return trip or else you will have to wait 30 minutes (like we did).

Mike and I have really been craving Chinese food, so we decided to try some of the best cheap eats in Chinatown. We went to Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles for some soup noodles. There are two kinds of noodles you can choose from, one is the hand-pulled style which is actually made from one piece of dough that gets continually pulled until it forms into small strands. The other style are hand cut noodles which are shaved off from a large piece of dough. I prefer the hand cut ones and chose the duck noodles and Mike got the most popular #1. Both were delicious!

A trip to New York can not be completed without cheesecake! We then walked over to Eileen’s Special Cheesecake and had the original one. It was really nice and fluffy but I actually prefer Cheesecake Ect back in my hometown Vancouver!

We then walked around SoHo and actually stumbled into a shooting of Sesame Street!! In the car was Oscar the Grouch and the orange mammoth Mr. Snuffleupagus or “Snuffy.” We watched the filming for a little bit and then continued to shop around the area.

It was then time for our last dinner in NYC before we left in the morning! We went to Beaubourg. The service was slow, but food was delicious!

Day 32. New York New York /2

After a great rest, we were off to check out some more of New York’s iconic sites!

We started off the day by heading to see the Brooklyn Bridge. It did start to rain, so we quickly made our way to the subway to head grab some lunch!

A friend recommended us try the E.A.K Ramen, and we had been craving those tasty noodles so we made the trek to the stores. I give it a 6/10 and I normally don’t even rate that low, but the soup tasted a bit strange and the egg was weird! When you bite into the egg, it normally has a bright yellow middle with runny egg yolk but this one had a clear transparent one that was very chewy. We also tried the fried rice ($9) which was very small and not overly impressive.

TIP: Don’t go here.

Next up, we grabbed a coffee at Grace Street before finding a secret Korean Town near the Empire State Building. I was estatic to try some bubble tea from KungFu Tea. I found their classic milk tea a bit off and prefer ChaTime more, but it was nice to have a refreshing drink.

We didn’t go up the Empire State Building since it would be a $34 USD fee per person, so we decided to go to Time Square and go people watching instead.

Time Square was just as busy as everyone said it would be. We saw all sorts of tourists, and hustlers on the street! We stumbled across a street show, people selling CD’s and lots of people selling tickets of every kind. There were also many policemen stationed around the area.

Being in New York, my cousin had expressed that his favorite food was actually $1 pizza from the street, so we decided to stop by a shop that had a huge line up waiting for its pizza. At other shops, it was $2.99 for two pizza slices and a drink, but we found one for $2.59 right near Time Square. It was surprisingly delicious but I can not be sure if that was due to my hunger or not.

The best part was that they had Vanilla Coke! I haven’t had the flavoured cola in a long time so it was quite a nice surprise. We saw people grabbing a pizza and leaving the store, or quickly gobbling it down on the standing table ledge at the shop. We opted for the latter option.

Next, it was time to go to Central Park. The park is actually huge, so we didn’t walk the whole entire perimeter, but we did walk just enough to find a booth offering fashion advice from Victoria Beckham on an iPad! The cool thing about NYC is that there are always events going on around the city and if you just browse around, you are bound to run into them! So, you might see me on some viral Youtube video like this one Emma Watson did.

After browsing through the park, we made it to the MET just before it was closing. It is a by donation Museum. I loved it!

Our last stop of the day was Grand Central Station. It was absolutely magnificent. When you go up to the second story and just watch people running around, it is mesmerizing. At a glance it looks like they are all running around so quickly like working ants, but when you watch one person, they are simply walking. You can definitely tell which ones are the tourists and which ones are the locals.

We went to Ootoya for dinner which was a lovely wrap up to a very full day in NYC!

Day 31. New York New York /1

We woke up in Connecticut and stopped by Brick + Wood for some food before heading to New York to spend the rest of our evening. Mike got the Napolean pizza and I got the chicken panini. Both were delicious!

Next, we made the 1.5 hour drive into New York. Wow, they were not kidding about finding parking and the aggressive drivers.

TIP: Be careful with reading the signs to make sure that you don’t get towed. Check the website as well to see if there are any special events or public holidays.

Once we did park, we found ourselves in Little Italy and Chinatown. We stopped Cha Cha Matcha for a quick stop and foodie break.  They have all great matcha selections and we went with the soft serve which was delicious!

We were pretty tired by the time we made it to the Wall Street bull, so we called it a day then!

Day 30. I love Rhode Island!

One of my favorite things about College Towns are the cheap eats that you get since students can’t afford much! We found East Side Pockets where they serve fresh gyros. We had one to share and were ready to explore Browns for the rest of the day!

We stopped by a lot of the facilities. The first set included the Auditorium and Athletic Center which was extremely well equipped. There were also students playing ultimate frisbee outside!

Next, I took some shots of the different sculptures around the area including the Brown’s iconic bear, a random sculpture outside the Computer Science building, and a HUGE bear and lamp.

As we were driving into the university, we saw a beautiful parliament-like building so we drove back to take a look. It turns out that it was the Rhode Island State house!

After getting through security, we were actually able to go in quickly before they closed. They actually offer tours but we were too late to attend.

The inside is absolutely gorgeous and after taking a couple pictures, we left since we didn’t want to stop them from closing since it was already past the closing time!

Before we left, I found another cheap eats that was MIND BLOWING!!! If you are ever in Rhode Island, you HAVE TO COME HERE!! The place is a very small looking joint called Olneyville N.Y. System. When we walked in, there were already their famous weenies grilling. We chose to get the combo that includes 2 weenies and a coke ($8.99). The best part was Joe, our server. We sat at the bar as he told us stories about the place. He also gave us two coffee milk lattes on the house!! They were delicious. The weenies are topped with caramelized onions, celery salt, ground beef mix and a special mustard. IT WAS SO GOOD!! I seriously can not recommend a place enough. The service AND food were both amazing. I would come here again and again if I could!

We were off to Connecticut for the evening for a good nights sleep before making it to New York City!!

 

Day 29. A Day in Boston!

Hello Boston!

After a 6 hour drive from Maine, who does not appreciate a free brewery tour?
Our first stop was the Samuel Adam’s brewery tour. We got our tickets were good to go! It was my first time having Boston Lager, but I was very impressed! We got to try the original Boston Lager, and three others.

The tour was AMAZING! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and had a lot of good jokes up her sleeve. It was my first time trying the different malts. I found that the Caramel 60 was the most tasty. We even got to keep the glasses after the tour.

Next up was going to try out some local cheap eats. We found a place called Bahn Mi Ba Le and headed there for some late lunch. When you walk in, there is a table in the middle filled with asian products, and then a buffet-like serving deli at the back. We went in line and got a grilled chicken bahn mi. There was only one server who knew some English, but overall everyone was very friendly. For a mere $4 each, we were off with a sandwich and 3 spring rolls. There was no tax.

The grilled sandwich was SO GOOD that we ordered another one after! I walked over to the smoothie bar and saw lots of people ordering as well so I got an avocado smoothie with pearls. We walked out having spent just $16 for a very full meal for the both of us. We were very happy campers!

Our last stop of the day was the Harvard Campus. We did not get to go on a tour, but were able to walk around Harvard Square and score some pictures with the iconic John Harvard Statue while rubbing his shoe for good luck!

Also, now I can tell my mom I went to Harvard! 😇😇😇

Day 28: Making it to Maine!

DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE.
DAY AFTER NIGHT.
NIGHT AFTER DAY.

Our main motivation this time around was making it to Young’s Lobster Pound for some Maine Lobsters! We didn’t really know what to expect, but our experience was a 10 out of 10!! When we arrived, sunset was just starting and there was already a small line up of people buying lobsters to eat and to take home.

TIP: Bring your own booze! We didn’t know that you could bring your own beverage, and many people had brought in coolers with them to enjoy a drink while enjoying their meal.

When you arrive, the place is wet, noisy, and bustling! They have a full menu that is extremely reasonable, and you can even pick your own lobster. They are most famous for lobster, but also have other seafood like oysters, clams and mussels.

Once you order and pick out your order, you can find a seat upstairs and wait until your number is called on the loudspeaker. If you have access to a kitchen, I would definitely recommend buying your own to cook at home as well! There were many families that came in to pick up boxes of seafood.

We got the twin dinner which included 2 lobsters and chips. While we were eating, we even met a couple of fellow travelers from Cleveland and Maine!

It was pouring cats and dogs outside, but we did manage to get some beautiful views of the sunset.

Ep 27. Cabot Trail in a Day!

Honestly, I would NOT recommend doing the Cabot Trail in a Day. Even though we are used to driving every day now, it was a STRETCH trying to see everything and get through the park and out in just one day!

Despite the challenges, we loved every bit of it!

Our first stop was the Alexander Graham Bell museum which was fascinating. We got to see the first prototypes of wired communication. They also had kites that you could borrow to fly around.

The best part of the drive are the view points of the trees.

We took a break for some food. Honestly I can not recommend this place because the food was disgusting, but here are the pictures.

The next stop was my favorite of the whole trail! Ingonish Beach!! I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

The sand was soft and warm.
The water flows forever.
I could stare for hours.

The whole trail goes in and out of Cape Breton National park. The next stop was called the Green Cove.

We didn’t see any whales, but the view was still dashing.

I love looking into the rocks and seeing the fine details.

Even the trail makes a beautiful picture!

We found an old yurt before leaving the trail. This time around, our dinner was much better with fresh seafood!

It was time to finish our night drive.

But not before a quick celtic show! I had spotted a poster earlier and the concert would be about a 10 minute detour from our original route, so we stopped by for a couple of songs before making it to a Walmart for the night.

The barn was cozy and comfy. There weren’t that many people at the show, so this is probably the most private concert I have ever been a part of! After some hearty music, we made it to the town of Antigonish to sleep.

Ep 26. Nova Scotia is Heaven!

The first stop of the day was Peggy’s Cove. It is world famous for its amazing shores. During the fall, even the drive there is breathtaking.

When we arrived, there is a visitor center immediately available and you can park there to take a 10 minute walk through the village to see the lighthouse. Along the village are gift shops, stores, and places to eat.

The cove is unbelievable.

It is extremely fun for kids because you can climb over the rocks into the far distance. Behind me, you can see the “black rocks” that are strictly prohibited! Many have fallen or gotten injured trying to get a photograph too close to them.

We just couldn’t get enough of the view! We stayed for a couple of hours enjoying the view and made our way back to the car along the village. On the way, we found a stand offering to “Cook your own Lobster in 12 Minutes.” My favorite food in the Maratimes is lobster so we decided to wait until their booth opened. We arrived at 11:30am, and they anticipated to open at 12 but we waited until 12:30pm to get our lobster! Overall it was definitely worth the wait. We had our freshly cooked 2 pound lobster with garlic butter sauce!

We were then off to Lunenburg to see the famed “Bluenose” which is the boat on the Canadian dime!

It started to rain, so we were off Fredie’s Fantastic Fish House to get some dinner before driving to the small town of D’ecosse to our Airbnb located at a farm.

We got to the place at about 5pm since it closed at 7pm. Little did we know, since it was closed the next day, all the locals were in to get their fix of their amazing food! They actually ran out of EVERYTHING except for the fish and chips by the time we arrived! While we were eating, they actually ran out of ALL FOOD!! The food and service was excellent and fresh.

We were greeted by the owner’s dogs which were adorable when we arrived. We had a great night sleep before heading off on another

 

Ep 25. From PEI to Nova Scotia by Ferry!

From my previous post, there are two ways to get on and off of PEI (bridge or ferry). In the morning, we woke up early to catch the last of PEI before heading off to Nova Scotia by ferry. Coincidentally I had a friend living in Pictou County, so we were going to meet her at a local pizza joint for some late lunch!

Our day included:

1. East Point Lighthouse, PEI
2. Souris Historic Lighthouse, PEI
3. Ferry Ride from PEI to Nova Scotia
4. Acropole Pizza in Pictou County
5. Bluenose Laundry
6. Agricola Street Brasserie 

No matter what, we had to pay the toll, so taking the Ferry was a great option!

East Point is definitely worth the drive. There is a lighthouse here (was not accessible to public on the day we were there) and the “red shores” covered with rocks.

We then made it to the Souris Lighthouse which was my favorite! It’s the first ever lighthouse that I have been able to explore and walk all the way up and to the viewing deck!!

The 360 degree views from the top of the lighthouse were amazing. I felt like I was flying with the birds. I would 100% encourage you to visit the gift shop! We went at the end of the season, so everything was 50% off and Mike got me a pair of adorable lobster slippers so I wouldn’t be cold while sleeping at night!!

It was then time to drive to the ferry terminal for the 1pm ride!

It was such a beautiful day, the weather was perfect to enjoy the views of the surrounding islands. We used the time to plan out our route on the Cabot Trail and also there was free wifi!

When we arrived, we met my friend Heather who I had met in the summer when I was studying French in Nova Scotia years ago!! She took us to an amazing pizza place called Acropole!! The white sauce is a donair sauce that is actually sweet where you can dip your pizza in. It was soooo good!

It’s laundry day again, so we stopped by Bluenose Laundromat to get 2 loads of laundry done!

Our last stop of the day was at the Brasserie to try some beer and seafood. Our favorite was the mojito sour they had on tap.