Monday was quite a busy day for us, we woke up to a pair of warm raisin chocolate bagels courtesy of our innkeeper. They were even wrapped up in a tea towel for us so they would stay warm.
Deb unfortunately doesn't like raisins, so when we figured out what we were doing for the day we went and grabbed her what is probably the winteriest food we could find. Soup.
Hale and Hearty are a franchise over here, so they're everywhere. This one was a Broccoli and Cheddar. A little on the salty side, but it was a nice texture that did end up hitting that cold spot we both had. One would think places like these could do very well in Sydney in the winter months. A simple expansion of the menu could tide them over for the summer months too. But alas, diversity is not one of Sydney's strong suits.
A big reason for us picking a bed and breakfast to stay at for the first couple of days was to try to immerse ourselves in the surroundings of the neighbourhoods we shortlisted from cursory research, so after breakfast we had a wander up the seaside of Brooklyn to breathe in the surroundings.
You can see it was a beautiful day for a walk, something we hadn't done as a couple for a long time. All along the seaside was Brooklyn Park, albeit mostly under construction. But the posters billed around the construction depict a very special place, forecasting a blend of National Park type preservation mixed with Public Social Space vibe. Plenty of playgrounds for the kids, sports fields including Handball and Volleyball courts, and plenty of benches along the way for those treading the slower pace. It will be a nice place to visit when it's all done and the covers are off, but it still seems like they have abit of work ahead.
We headed north towards the Brooklyn Bridge as we had engagements later in the afternoon in the city, made a crossing towards Manhattan together as I had done the opposite journey on my lonesome the first time we visited New York. To say it was quite a tourist attraction would be selling it short, because the few people you could tell were New Yorkers were those out for a morning jog or cycle, madly tinkling bells and honking horns at the sightseeing aliens who happened to stray into the fast lane or bike path. Who could blame them... cultural ignorance of outsiders in a new land (of both the endemic and alien population) raises pulses in Sydney too.
Here you see the view out towards the Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge.
After we crossed the bridge we had a little time to while away before we were due to meet our rental agent, showing us around the upper east side. When we did meet up it was quickly decided that we quite liked the apartments that he had showed us but the neighbourhood was just a little too bland for us. More on this later. With knowledge reserves slowly being topped up, and it being about dinner time after the scramble around the upper east side, we stopped into one of Deb's favourite haunts for Pizza, Lombardi's.
We had the Bruschetta, which was huuuge compared to Sydney sizes.
And a small pie (that's pizza to you and me) with our choice of toppings, being panchetta (or was it proschutto...), sweet italian sausage, and roasted red capsicum. We concluded that the sign of the best pizza is one where you could just snack on the crust, the toppings are just the icing on the cake.
Once again I find myself having to commend the waiters for their polite, inoffensive demeanour. Some of them happily singing along to the background music while working in what most of us would consider one of the more difficult industries to work in.
Holding our bellies, we ambled off to our lodging, and promptly turned in for the night. Unknowing of the what the weather had in store for us the next day.
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