An oldie but a goodie! - New York - Sep 2014 - Day 1

[AJ86]

As every other Brit has said the time difference can be a killer, and surprise surprise we woke at 5am! Not to be defeated we managed to doze a little and woke at a decent hour at around 7.

I sat up in bed and explored the weird and wonderful channels that American TV offers, and found Good Morning America, now I wish we had something like this in the UK, but all we get news programmes, repeats of Frasier or Every one loves Raymond! I love the style of the show and going out to present some of it in Times Square.

We were getting a bit peckish at this point and refusing to pay the ridiculous prices for the hotel breakfast we made do the cake pops and brownie the hotel gave us as a welcome. After unpacking and having a little tidy up we made our way out side for our first glimpse of New York in the day.

My partner had consulted her guide book and knew exactly what we were up today and was over the moon!

Out of the hotel we headed towards Hells Kitchen and came across a Flea Market, they had all sorts of wonderful bits and bobs, from old clothes to antique jewellery to life size statues of various animals, it was good to have a look around and see what was on offer, and as nice as a grandfather clock is we decided against buying it!

We then headed towards the Hudson and the 39th Street Port, taking in the view we were greeted with was a mixture of tourist boats, the Intrepid and these huge cruise ships, which still managed to dwarf even some of the buildings in New York, and I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful way it would be to arrive into New York on one of these.

At the port we had a Muffin for breakfast and waited for a ferry to take us to Hoboken. The ferry wasn’t that bad at $9 each and was a nice alternative to getting the PATH or Bus, getting to see the skyline as we pulled away.

Arriving into Hoboken was like a different world! We couldn’t have been more closer to New York, but we felt a million miles away, and can see why people would want to live here and commute into the city.

We walked down Washington Street taking in all the houses and local businesses, and it was such a nice place to walk. We were making our way to Carlos Bakery and the baked goodies they held! We are fans of the Cake Boss show and Buddy’s other work and it was amazing to see the original location in person rather than on a TV screen.

Having seen the location on TV and read about it online I was ready for massive 2 hour wait, no, not at all, walked straight in and got served within around 10 minutes which was a massive bonus.

I sampled some of his Cannoli and Crumb Cake which were amazing and found a nice spot across the road to sit and enjoy them while we watched people doing selfies in front of the shop. We then went for a walk and found the Pier A park where we marvelled at the sights and the stunning New York skyline and just watched the world go by while soaking up the sun.

Lunch time and we worked our way back to the bakery and came across the Taco Truck and enjoyed you guessed it…... Taco’s!

The second part of the day was still based in Hoboken and we headed for a Carlo’s Bakery cake decorating class at the Lakawanna facility.

We passed by Washington Street again on the way and noticed the police had sectioned the road off, being nosey tourists we thought we would have a look and next thing we hear is music and then some sort of Jewish parade coming down the street, there were lots of children holding candles and some men kind of dancing with these things that looked like massive silver trophies. We have not got a clue what we had just witnessed so if anyone can shed some light that would be great!

We arrived at Lakawanna way before the 1400 start time so walked a bit further and found Home Depot, not sure why we went in but we came all the way to New York and found ourselves wondering around a DIY shop looking at paint and bathroom tiles!

Anyway we head back to the massive Lakawanna building and waited for the class to begin, this was an amazing experience for both of us especially my partner and seeing the massive grin on her face made the price worth it. There were a total of 10 of us in the class another couple from the UK and a group of American’s celebrating their daughters birthday.

All of us were fans of the show and seeing behind the scenes and parts of the building was fantastic. They take you on a tour of part of the facility and show you a massive walk in freezer where they hold the speciality cakes, and go through other facts like they can pump out over 60,000 cup cakes in one shift.

Michelle our teacher was fantastic and answered any questions we had about the show and the cakes we were decorating. The class room is the same room as they film the Next Great Baker in so it really brings the shows to life!

You keep you apron and the cake is yours to take away which normally retails for around $50. For any one that is a fan of Cake Boss this is an amazing experience and would recommend it to anyone that has some spare time during their trip.

From here we made our way back to Manhattan on the PATH to 33rd Street and walked back to the hotel to rest our feet and have a lay down.

Out for the evening and we headed out to the madness of Times Square, offered various bus tours and comedy clubs. There is a lot of construction going on which has made it even more congested than ever, and I guess they are going to put a massive electronic bill board on the Marriott. Once it has all been finished and made more pedestrianized I’m sure it will look good and be easier to walk around.

We headed to Ellen’s Star Dust Diner for dinner and enjoyed the singing from the wait staff and the food on offer, headed back to the hotel and collapsed into bed.

Day 2