New York Trip Post: Day 5 Lower Manhatten and Hoboken NJ

It's come down to the last full day of our trip and while we had a wonderful time and could've seen so much more, we all agreed we were ready for home. Ready for stars at night, birds singing, lots and lots of green scenery and not so much humidity. We all agreed it was a trip worth taking and one for the memory books. 

We had already been to lower Manhatten several times, but decided on one more trip down there to see a few places that were used in my girls' favorite TV shows or movies. We found 3; Ghostbusters fire house (which was being renovated so we couldn't go in), and the exterior buildings used for exterior shots of Friends apartment and Cosby Show house. We didn't spend a lot of time here as we wanted to get the ferry across to Hoboken and spend most of our afternoon and evening there. 

Our first stop when we hit Lower Manhatten was La Colombe Coffee Roasters. Here, I tried a draft latte. For those of us who like a more sweetened drink, this was good. Their blog is pretty neat so check out the websites in the links above. They have a coffee lab where they try new products, etc. Very cool. 

From there we found the locations we were searching for. We may have gotten turned around a few times, but eventually found what we were looking for. As we walked down one street I saw one of Christina Tossi's Milk Bar locations. We had just had our coffee and breakfast so didn't stop, but I would stop here on another trip. It was a slower change of pace, not so crowded as other areas and a good move for our last day. 

Afterward, we headed back to bus or Subway (I can't remember which) to take us to catch the ferry over to Hoboken. We hit Hoboken a bit sooner than we maybe had anticipated but that was okay, we'd make it work. The ferry ride over was nice, refreshing (we got to stand outside) and one of the crew members was great to talk to as was one of the local passengers...they were a hoot. Gave us a few tips and we were on our way. 

As soon as we docked I thought "I could live here"...it was more my pace, neat buildings, more grass, but still close to the city. The young lady we took with us, plays the violin and also just got a ukulele so our first stop was The Guitar Bar, which was recommended by the guy on the ferry. Owned by James Maestro who has toured with many artists such as Patti Smith, Robert Plant, etc and was prominent in Hoboken as part of the band the Bongos. Check out their About page for more information. I'm not a guitar player and I was fascinated by the store. There was a banjo from 1898, as well as the last Guild guitar made in Hoboken before the company moved to another city. Then there was the oil can guitar which was neat. From there we headed around the corner to a neat bookstore, browsed, chatted with the owner and then headed up the road. We browsed shops. I had to buy a new pair of sunglasses since I lost mine in an intersection the night before and no one could save them before they were crushed by cars. 

For lunch we stopped at a great little place called Total Nutrition Kitchen. The gal we traveled with is vegan/vegetarian so I really tried to choose places with food choices for all of us. I really wanted to try and find a place with Lobster rolls, which a gal recommended but we were too far up town and I think we were just kind of tired. This place was awesome though. I enjoyed a wrap, my daughter had an Acai bowl, and her friend had a veggie burger. we continued up the road for a bit, rested our feet in the grass at a park, then headed to the water for a bit. The girls wished they could swim but obviously the current in the Hudson river was too fast for that. 

The next stop was really the most important of all. Carlos Bakery..the original one. My daughter has watched Cake Boss for years and has always wanted to visit. Sure, we've visited the one in Vegas, and there was one in Times Square, but it's not the same as visiting the original. We got there at a great time and didn't have to wait in line too long. There were 3 of us and I'm pretty sure we ordered for 10. Yah, seriously. We ordered Lobster Tail (my fave), Cannoli, chocolate covered strawberries, cream puff, a couple cupcakes, and an individual chocolate mousse cake. So good. 

A thunderstorm rolled in so we headed for the bus station to catch a bus that would take us further down to where we planned to view the NYC skyline once it got dark. We wandered a bit, then tried to find a place to eat. This proved to be a bit testy as we couldn't agree on where to go, some places were closed and we just couldn't make a decision. We finally settled on Hudson's Tavern and thankfully we all enjoyed what we ordered. For appetizers we enjoyed Pierogi and Little Neck Clams in white wine sauce. Our entrees were grilled chicken sandwich, Asian Vegetable Stirfry, and Scallops with sweet pea risotto and asparagus. Pretty fancy for a Tavern.

Once we had our fill, we headed down to the pier to just sit, chill out and wait for darkness to set. We purchased our ferry tickets back to Manhatten so we wouldn't forget. We made sure that we caught a ferry that took us as close to our hotel as possible. We found one within walking distance. Yay! 

The skyline at night is truly spectacular. It was well worth the wait. We made it back to our hotel around 10:00 or so, I really don't remember. As we sat waiting on the dock, I checked us into our flight for the next day. I had to set an alarm on my phone so we wouldn't forget. As we returned to our hotel, we made sure we were ready to go for the next day. 

New York you treated us well, all except for my poor feet. 



With Joy Unquenchable,