Saturday in New York

On Saturday, I decided that I could very easily move to Brooklyn. In fact, we even found a lovely brownstone for sale. We'll take it!

It was a beautiful, bright, sunny morning and we spent it at the Brooklyn Flea Market at Fort Greene. It was exactly what I thought it would be: lots of hipsters hawking overpriced thrift store goods and pretty, delicate gold jewelry. I loved it! The highlight for me, though, was my toasted coconut Dough doughnut. After the flea market, we walked around Brooklyn a bit, admiring the quiet, shady streets.

Then it was back on the subway to Manhattan and the World Trade Center Memorial. I wasn't expecting to feel so emotional here, but I did. I found myself holding back tears as we approached the  beautiful fountain. It is really well done, and feels like a special, hallowed place. I'm so glad we were able to visit it. We didn't go into the museum, but we stayed on the grounds for a little while, enjoying the feeling there.

We had planned on visiting the Statue of Liberty while we were in town, but I didn't realize that we needed to reserve tickets in advance, and by the time I checked, there were no tickets up to the crown available during our stay. We could have still taken the ferry to Liberty Island and walked around the base of the statue, but we decided to view it from Battery Park at sunset instead. (It looks much bigger in real life.)

Then it was off to Chinatown. Dinner was at Prosperity Dumpling. It is probably the best deal in the city. Four humongous, delicious dumplings for a dollar. We loved the sesame pancake, too. What I wouldn't give for a plate of those dumplings right now! We tried Rice to Riches for dessert. I've never really had rice pudding before, and it was really delicious, but I don't think I need to try it again.

We were in the mood to walk, so instead of taking the subway back to the hotel, we walked. And walked. And walked. And perused the books at the Strand. And walked some more.