"Are you guys awkwardly waiting for this place to open too?" The walk to Taiyaki NYC from Thomas Paine Park had taken less time than I thought (these server legs are a blessing and a curse) and I had been creepily pacing outside, trying to look busy. Turns out the couple was from Texas, has visited NYC a ton of times, but had yet to get their hands on the "Insta-famous" unicorn ice cream cone in a pastry that looks like a fish!! That was about to change for all three of us.
After a long walk on the Brooklyn Bridge, and then promptly right back over it again, then a quick little rest on a bench in the park, an ice cream was well deserved! This thing was SO cute. I know, how typical that a lady would love something cute, but I don't care. I am who I am, I can't change that and I LOVE CUTE THINGS DANG IT. Which is why I also ended up buying doughnuts from the shop next door too. Whoops! The ice cream was tasty, nice and cold, and the fish-shaped cake was the perfect holder for the frozen confection. I'm not a cone person, so the cake was a welcome swap! Next door was a little place called The Dough Club, newly opened in 2019, that makes mochi doughnuts. Sounded unique to me (and they're bubbly and some of them had cat faces on them- yes and yes!) and they looked tasty. I bought one of each and carted 'em around the city until I was able to share them with my friends at the airport!! After tucking in to one on the way of course.
With a belly full of magical ice cream and my arms full of luggage and doughnuts, I made my way to the Central Park Zoo to check out some animals. I used to work at a zoo during parts of high school and college, for a total of 4 years or so and I loved it! So now I try to visit zoos wherever I go. This one was small enough to do with the time allotted and even allowed time to sit and just take in my surroundings. Looking like a pack mule, I had a large backpack on my back, a small back pack worn on the front of me, a sweater, insulated winter coat, (faux) fur-lined boots, wool socks, and thick leggings on. On the first day over 65 in New York City since probably winter. I was trying to pack more in my luggage by wearing all the bulky stuff, but man was that a mistake for walking around a big city. Pheeeew!
I was doing all of this and wearing all of this while also trying to film decent shots for the pilot episode of Crossing Borders and my god was it an ordeal. I must have looked insane walking around like this. But I guess its New York City, so maybe I fit right in? My flight, and it turns out Lara's and Christine's too, was from JFK even though I live about 8 hours away in Rochester...but the tickets were considerably cheaper if I left from NYC. So, I took an overnight Megabus ride for around $16 to get to the city, mucked around for a bit, and then made my way to the airport to continue the adventure in Iceland! Originally the plan was to get tatted in New York City, which would have taken up a good chunk of my time, but the appointment got cancelled so I filled up my time walking without really knowing what I wanted to see. I was super bummed about it, but turns out there was no way I could have kept it out of the water in the Blue Lagoon (I can't imagine what the minerals in the water would have done to it) because it was so cold out of the water, I submerged as much of myself as possible to stay warm!
I'm not a big city fan really, so I enjoy short trips to them, but even this was a tad too short for me. There's really so much that I want to eat in this city and I couldn't even travel to a bunch of them without running out of time before I needed to board the subway to make it to JFK. Like, honestly, all I want to do here is eat. And maybe walk one of the other bridges, because that was surprisingly cool. OH! Also, I've heard the Bronx Zoo is bonkers and I'd like to see how it compares to some of the others I've been to.
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