Sunday brought on and off again drizzle, and our wander intentions looked less attractive. But afternoon was clear {at least when we LEFT…} so we walked along the palisades to Port Imperial. We saw the NCL Getaway in port and that was pretty cool. We enjoyed the view both over to Manhattan and of the architecture.
The Ferry was fun. I love ships and the views were incredible. Once on the NY side, the freezing rain returned so we ducked into a coffee bar for a panino and good drip coffee. Think Coffee is an eco-conscious spot right at the northern entrance to the High Line. Very nice and the sandwich came on a great ciabatta roll. They have make to order breakfast items but we were far too late. What’s up with that? Haven’t all of us eaten breakfast at 2pm? Given its location near Penn Station right at the stairs to the High Line, I forsee return visits.
We went down to the 9/11 memorial. I find it an underwhelming monument as a neutral piece of art compared to other memorials of mass deaths we have visited. But it isn’t a neutral piece of art. I will keep my reflections to myself.
By now the rain was really more on again than off. I got the idea of taking the subway to Jackson Heights for Thai at Hug Esan. We had an outstanding meal. We had a type of som tum with the papaya replaced with white noodles. It was pungent with their house-made fish sauce. The salad was topped with bean sprouts and came with a side of pork rinds. Amazing.
Next was a pork rib soup with dill, which was perfect to warm us up. Dill-flavored soups are a favorite. While eating this we decided to order pork larb which was a good call. The large portion was filled with slivers of pork liver and pig ear. The flavors were nicely pungent. This was really good food.
We took the subway and walked to the ferry. But once in NJ we opted for a Lyft to avoid having to do the steep climb.
Monday was just too cold. We went to Las Chicas for breakfast of avocado toast and very good coffees. Then across JFK Blvd was a tiny office building shop run by Mohammad who was a delightful host. He made us arabic and egyptian coffees, served us dates and generally entertained us. By now, we were rundown and ragged so an early trip to Amtrak, a lazy time waiting for our train, and an uneventful trip back home to our two overlords who greeted us with “Oh! Did you go somewhere?”
