New York
Did a New York City Subway Tour by Gary that was way cool. Didn't go into anywhere special, but his knowledge and enthusiasm were, if anything, overwhelming. Not sure I'd recommend it for everyone, but if you appreciate these kinds of details, it's a fun 3 hours of history and art, not to mention transportation engineering.
Lunch at Cho Dang Gol was pretty good. Someone *cough* apparently did not realize it was a tofu house (the same someone thought it was BBQ o_0 ), but the seafood rice cakes, the pancake, and yes, even the bulgogi were all pretty good. Fried chicken was delicious too-- Koreans definitely do that right!
Wandered over to New York Public Library afterwards. The Rose Main Reading Room was reserved for actual use, not tourists, but given that the entire building is historic, that didn't stop us from enjoying it. t'was a quick jaunt over to Hudson Yards and The Vessel, and while The Vessel's upper floors are sadly currently closed to tourists, it's still a sight to see, even two years later. Another Bluestone Coffee later (or two...), some shopping inside Hudson Yards, then found the Vessel equally picturesque in the dark.
Dinner was disappointing at Tacombi, even the tortillas somehow managed to be full of fail (they were tough). But after so many people have said Mexican food in New York has improved over the years, I actually didn't mind making trying some, even if it was three times the price I'm used to and significantly inferior in quality. Aka: now I don't need to repeat this experiment for a few years? Next stop was the infamous Rice to Riches for dessert. Parveen is very picky about her rice pudding and this was another massive disappointment, lumpy and everything. After two bad restaurants in a row, I had to salvage the night by going back to Prince Street Pizza for a slice of their OG spicy prince. A mere 15 minutes later and it was totally worth it, even if I was a greasy mess that Sam had way too much fun documenting.
Wrapped up the night with a late photo walk around World Trade Center, not only to burn off the pizza, but to let Sam play with his new camera. Photograhing The Oculus has always been a challenge for me, so it was nice to revisit it with Sam, not to mention to venture deeper into Battery Park for new (to me) vantage points.