NYC Here I Come!

Wednesday, November 23 - a couple more stops before the Big Apple. But before I left my motel I wanted to pack as tight as possible because after dropping off the rental car I would be taking the metro and walking to my hostel. So I had to get rid of these shoes I've had since freshman year of college. It was hard to say good-bye but they were terribly worn and I didn't have room. RIP beloved shoes.

 I headed into downtown Albany to see the capitol. I parked on the street right by the New York State Museum.

Really cool building design. This huge plaza in the center of town appears to have fountains, but they weren't on. It's wet thought because it had rained all night and was still a heavy sprinkle for most of the day. 

On the other side of that big plaza - I have no clue what that circular building/structure is.

 The capitol was under construction, but it definitely looked pretty despite the gray day.

The other side of the capitol plaza - more government offices. 

 I ate my leftover Thai food in my car out of the rain and then drove a few hours headed to NYC. I made my final stop in Hoboken, NJ at Carlo's Bake Shop. This store has a show on the Food Network called Cake Boss.

 Being the day before Thanksgiving and the store being famous, it was packed, literally. Evidence below. You had to lift your bag above the heads, as you wiggled and squeezed between people to get out. There was also a 45 minute wait just to get IN the store.

Everything inside looked so tasty! I of course wanted to try it all!

Since I knew I wasn't going to have a Thanksgiving dinner and pie, I got a lemon meringue mini pie.

 I prefer more lemon to meringue, they have more meringue to lemon ratio, but it was still tasty, and the lemon was tart just the way I like it.

 I also got a mini strawberry tart, a mini chocolate tart, a mini cannoli, and a red velvet cream cheese cupcake (shown in the case above). 

There were so many options, I had a hard time deciding. After getting my order and wriggling my way out, I got back in my rental and hopped on the freeway headed to the JFK airport to return my rental. DANG NEW YORK!!! It took me 2 AND a HALF HOURS to go 20 miles! 20 miles! I was tired and tense by the time I got to the rental place. I was so happy to drop of that car and never drive again. 

While I waited for my train, I ate most of my treats and it definitely helped me relax. The tart's pastry was not at all sweet, but the strawberry and cream were sweet and it blended well. The chocolate cream wasn't sweet though and so overall the chocolate tart was too bland for me. Now the cannoli was super sweet, that cream filling was very sweet and thick. It was good, but I preferred the cannoli from Mike's in Boston. 

My train came and I headed into the city. I switched and got on a subway line and headed north to the upper east side of NYC. My hostel, Tone on Lex, was just a couple blocks east of Central Park, a couple blocks north of the Guggenheim, and about 3 blocks from the metro stop. It was a pretty good location I thought. You enter from the door under the stairs...

to this, there are so many colors everywhere.

Up the stairs, turn right (heading back to the street) my room  for two of the nights was on the left, right before the doors that led to the street. The other two nights I was up on the third floor, the room directly above the room I was in on the 2nd floor.

Here's the room I was in on the first night and last night, first night in the top bunk facing the window. It was an 8 girl room with its own bathroom.

 On the last night I was on the bottom bunk bed, right by the door.

 The other room was a 10 person, mixed room. Meaning guys and girls were in the same room and our bathroom was in the hallway shared by the floor. Everybody I met was really nice, and I wasn't creeped out being in the mixed dorm. Especially because every night I was the last one in and usually the first one up. Seriously people you can't sleep in on vacation!

So back to Wednesday night, I was to my room by 8:30pm and I originally had planned to go see a show but  I was way too exhausted, so I just chatted with a Brazilian girl that was doing some 6 week program at a University. I made some plans for Thursday and then I bundled up for bed. I brought my own pillow and a sheet, I knew I'd feel more comfortable with my own sheet touching me and sleep better with my pillow. Also I was up against a window and the girls told me the heater was broken in our room. I had brought long pants and thick socks to sleep in and I got two blankets from the desk, so with everything arranged, I actually slept very well.