Day 2

     After a few restful hours, we breakfasted on pastries, and then Jess went to her meeting, and I caught up on my daily games. I play solitaire, Words with Friends, and Merge Dragons every morning. They have daily goals that I challenge myself to hit them every day. I also did my scripture study. When she returned, it was time to catch the bus for our true crime walking lunch tour. 

    We walked through the East Village and Little Italy, learning about gangs and how they evolved into the Mafia during prohibition. Such infamous names as: Lucky Luciano, Dapper Don, and John Gotti. We started off at John's of 12th Street, a “Red Sauce Joint,” where Joe Masseria had an attempt on his life. Our tour guide was recently retired police detective Frank. He was great. I enjoyed his Brooklyn accent, and he was so knowledgeable. 

   

     We started with a spaghetti lunch and learning how some gangsters held court here in the 20's and 30's. During prohibition, John's lit this candle to say they had alcohol for service. It's actually several candles, and they still light them!

    The food was great, and the atmosphere was amazing. There were frescoes and paintings that were originals. They had so many pictures of famous people, including Danny Kaye!

    Then we took to the streets. It was quite the challenge to create the streets of NYC 1926 in 2026, but Frank was definitely up for it. He brought pictures and colorful anecdotes and regaled us with the gritty details of life run by crime. 

    I spotted a few of these tiny Amazon carts running around. They are wild.

    New York is Bananas! There were several bananas throughout the city, and then I spotted this store. I have no idea what they sell, but I had to capture them and the feeling of New York they evoke.

    This police precinct is famous due to Brooklyn 99. It was having some work done, so we didn't get the best view, but I was fascinated to learn about the green lanterns. According to the NYPD website, “It is believed that the Rattle Watchmen, who patrolled New Amsterdam in the 1650’s, carried lanterns at night with green glass sides in them as a means of identification. When the Watchmen returned to the watch house after patrol, they hung their lantern on a hook by the front door to show people seeking the watchman that he was in the watch house. Today, green lights are hung outside the entrances of Police Precincts as a symbol that the 'Watch' is present and vigilant.” Which is so fun.

    Our next stop was St. Patrick's Basilica. Built in 1808, this site is still frequented by the Pope when he comes to town. There are catacombs and a graveyard. I had to take a peek inside.

    We headed to our last stop, and I loved all the unique shops sandwiched together, like this clothing store: Decendent of Theives. Such cool ideas and things. 

We finished our tour at La Bella Ferrara for some amazing cannoli.

    This bakery is on Mulberry Street! And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, so you know we had to get a pic of us there.

    Down the road, you could see that Little Italy was ending, and there were paper lanterns up, so we went to investigate. We did get sucked into a tourist trap for a bit along the way, but they had fun magnets, so it was worth it. We ended up in Little Chinatown. We found this amazing food vendor that had fruit from all over Asia.

Jessica found some mangosteens, and we bought some to take home. 

    We went through a park where someone was playing a traditional Chinese instrument, we stopped for a bit, but the park was packed, and so we decided to head back to the hotel. It was at this point that my confidence became my downfall. We caught the train and had it to ourselves for a bit. 

I liked this peek, us on the train.

    Unfortunately, I headed us to Queens instead of back to downtown. We came out to a different fruit vendor, and his wares were very reasonable, which was our first tip-off. The next was the lack of skyscrapers. We tried to ask Google, but it made us more confused. We asked a few locals and finally figured out how to get back. We celebrated our return with mangosteens, and they were amazing. Jess had them in the Philippines when she went to pick up Makayla from her mission there. They were told you can't find them in the States, and she was so happy to find some. She texted Makayla to brag. She softened it by telling her she would bring some home. 

    We went to dinner at Veerays, a Michelin-awarded Indian speakeasy right next door to the hotel. We used Jess' food credit to try their 6-course tasting menu. We started with mocktails, and I had the Lucky Luciano in honor of our earlier tour. It was nice. We had the place to ourselves for a bit.

    While I wish I could tell you what we ate, I have no idea what they were. They were all amazing though! 

The bread served with this dish was quite spicy, which surprised me.

Dessert was this delicious custard. 

    After this fabulous meal, we walked it off on our way to the theater. The theater we went to was quite interesting. New World Stages is an Off-Broadway five-theater complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. It was so unassuming on the outside and goes on forever on the inside, like a Tardis.  I loved this mural we passed on the way there. 

    Our show this time is The Play Gone Wrong. I had seen it before in a middle school and high school production, and was excited to see a professional version. Jess had never seen it before. We were in the second row, just out of splash range, which was great. If you are unfamiliar, at a certain point in the play, the actors keep spitting out their drinks repeatedly.

    This play is hysterical and so much fun. Especially if you have ever worked on a play. My favorite bit was catching one actor doing everyone's lines under his breath. Jess really enjoyed it. It was fabulous. We headed home for a hot chocolate nightcap and didn't stay up too late this time!