NYC 2025-Day 2
Pleasantly surprised to sleep really well in this Pod hotel. Bed was comfy, the space is silent, but apparently well insulated, temperature cool; great first night of this adventure.
We tried to go to Buddie's coffee for breakfast, but they weren't open.
Instead we tried out Copper Mug Coffee. One oatmeal, a breakfast sandwich, and two coffees later, we were fueled to start our day.
We read and watched videos about Roosevelt Island, a tiny little strip of mostly residential spaces, tucked between Manhattan and Long Island.
Fascinated by all the different ways to live in this incredibly dense city, we wanted to see what it was like there.
Tram, subway, or ferry are the three options for pedestrians to get on the island, and for the trip over, we chose tram.
The ride was very smooth, and I was distracted from my discomfort with heights by the 4 y.o. little one next to me pointing to different locations in the distance and saying things like, "That's the Navy ship yards. Over there is the dock." No clue if he was correct, but his calm about being on the tram soothed my spirits.
Smooth ride
Grateful for our long, puffy winter coats, we walked all the way to the tip of the island, past the abandoned Smallpox Hospital...
...to FDR Four Freedoms Park.
The view from the point:
It is fitting that the United Nations building can be seen from FDR's park.
After meandering our way around the Island, the need for a bathroom and food, in either order, became the most important items to consider. We headed underground for the Subway trip to Manhattan to find some lunch.
We wanted to try out The Spice Brothers. We had heard about them on several videos we watched in preparation for this trip. They were featured in a NY Times article in December talking about the best new restaurants of 2024 (They were in a food truck before opening a physical location with seating.), so we wondered if there would be a wait.
As we walked to The Spice Brothers, we walked past Danny & Coop's Cheesesteak restaurant which, thanks to some Instagram posts, had a line of people waiting down the city block and around the corner, which had Buds and me discussing the amount of time we'd be willing to wait for food of a specific type due to internet fame. (No surprise, not a very long time. 😉)
Spice Brothers was filled, but we were able to walk right up to order. It was juuuusssttt warm enough for us to eat our lunch at a table outside, and it was all worth it. Though we prefer the pita at our local Rochester restaurant, Cedar, the fillings for both of us were top notch at The Brothers.
We loved our meals.
Pleasantly full from lunch, we subway-ed back to Brooklyn, making our way to Artists and Fleas, a gathering place for local artisans to sell their jewelry, candles, vintage clothing, and art. We did not find anything perfect for us, but it was fun to look.
After this, we headed back to the Pod for a break until the 3 p.m. outing we had planned; a big brass band at a beer garden! Dreams of our two visits to the Hofbräuhaus München were playing in our heads.
I was ready to drink that radler! But, alas, it was not to be. Radegast Hall was hopping, and the staff was very friendly, but it was cram packed, and our wait for a table was unknown (as with Internet-famous cheesesteaks, we aren't waiters). If we could have tucked ourselves away in a back corner to hear the band, it would have been perfect, but the people who had scored seats were not in any hurry to give them up as they ate their giant pretzels and drank their steins.
We bailed on that hipster experience and chose a different dream.
Another attempt to visit Buddie's coffee was decided, and this time they were open!
Buddies signature coffee was a Coquito Latté, a Puerto Rican blend of espresso, sweetened condensed milk, coconut cream, nutmeg and foamed milk. As with every coffee we've ordered here, it was superlative.
From here we headed home to the Pod to work and read and visit. It's our last night in this part of Williamsburg. Tomorrow we head to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), a different part of Brooklyn, and our stay will be with Harold here.
