travel diary Archives - Curiously Carmen

I spent almost a week in the concrete jungle, and am now back in Vancouver and ready to share my trip with you all. There was a lot my mom and I wanted to do, so our ‘vacation’ was really fast paced and I ended up doing a tremendous amount of walking there. Far more walking than I would normally do in Vancouver!

There are so many posts I have lined up from my Big Apple visit, but I decided to talk about the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise first because it was my favourite touristy activity.

I had the NYC CityPASS, which is a ticket booklet that offers you admission to 6 popular NYC attractions at a discounted price. You can click here for the full CityPASS review.

The Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise was included as one of the activities, and you had the option of choosing which scheduled cruise you wanted. You can go on the NYC CityPASS website for more information on the cruises.

We chose the Harbour Lights Cruise, as we wanted to see the city lit up at night!
Since this is the sunset cruise, this scheduled cruise only runs once per day, obviously. The other cruises, such as the Landmark or Liberty Cruises, run twice a day.

The pier where the cruise is located is about a 10 minute walk from Times Square, depending on how fast you walk. You can also take the bus from Times Square.

The weather was a bit muggy but that did not dampen our mood at all! Since it was more of a chillier day, we sat inside the cruise. Pictured above is the outside top deck (there are two floors).
Once the cruise started to move, people moved inside because it was a windy night and also raining a bit. But on a beautiful, warm day, you will definitely want to be on the balcony!

On Circle Line’s website, you can see the routes in which the ships go, as well as the length of time it runs for. The Harbour Lights cruise was 2 hours and goes around the bottom half of Manhattan, and back around the same way so you don’t have to worry if you are sitting on the side of the boat without the better view.

Now, on to the beautiful views!
On the cruise, we also got to see some attractions on the other side of Manhattan. We passed a port where soldiers were deported to Europe in World War 1 & 2 in New Jersey. We also saw the old Colgate factory in New Jersey. These things we wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for our informative and engaging tour guide!

Pictured above is the old Pepsi sign, where the factory used to be in Brooklyn!
Passing by New York City, with the Empire State Building in the background!
We scored great seats since we went a hour early! The only annoying thing about our seats was that it was directly facing the stairs to the deck. Since the boat was going pretty fast and it was chilly that day, the cold wind blasted up to us whenever people would open the doors. It got a bit annoying because other customers held the door open for their friends, which made our entire area really cold!

Good thing there was an angry customer who went down and told them to not leave the door open as everyone upstairs was starting to freeze. Thank you, haha!
Going under the three bridges that connect Brooklyn and Queens to Manhattan! The tour guide, who was awesome btw, told us an easy way to remember the order of the bridges was BMW – Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg.

This one was either the Manhattan or Williamsburg bridge, sorry, I don’t remember which one exactly.
The sun was beginning to set at 8 pm! Pictured above is the famous Brooklyn Bridge, one of the first steel cable and oldest bridges in North America. We learned that when it was first built, citizens and government officials alike were hesitant to cross the bridge because it was the first time they used steel cable there.

We also learned from the tour guide that the engineer used double the amount of steel cable than necessary. So, you can easily tell the Brooklyn Bridge apart from the other two based on how much more cable and wire it has.
I actually didn’t know the Harbour Lights cruise went around the Statue of Liberty, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was announced!

This picture is probably my favourite photo of the trip that I took. Lady Liberty looks so majestic and beautiful lit up like that.
On the way back, our side of the boat faced Manhattan so I was able to take nicer city view photos. This is a photo of Lower Manhattan, featuring the World Trade Center building.

Since my mom and I didn’t go on any tours and just explored the city on our own, it was really nice to learn about NYC from an experienced tour guide. Throughout the evening, the tour guide told us fun and interesting facts about the city – hidden facts you wouldn’t really know.

To add to it even more, he had a really great sense of humour and I had a lot of laughs listening to his stories and facts! For me, that’s what made the sightseeing cruise so enjoyable and memorable. I would highly recommend taking this cruise, whether or not it’s your first time to the Big Apple!

Check out the NYC CityPASS for tickets to the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise!

Yay!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

Media passes provided on behalf of CityPASS. Opinions are own.

I was also down in the States last weekend, and although I was hoping to have some quiet time to relax in my hotel room and blog, it didn’t quite happen. This time around, we decided that we wanted to try different restaurants that Seattle had to offer other than just the restaurant chains we were used to (I’m looking at you, Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs). Yes, they are delicious and reputable restaurants, but I wanted to try places that were only offered in Seattle.

One of the places that we wanted to try on our visit here last month was Toulouse, but we didn’t get the chance to. This time, we made sure that we would check this place out! We were also quite fortunate, as our hotel was a mere 10 minute walk away (if we didn’t get lost, that is.. but in my defense, we didn’t have a physical map or data on our cell phones to find it).

After walking around the Queen Anne neighbourhood for a bit, I knew that we had reached the restaurant when I saw tons of late brunchers waiting outside a dark/lime green-ish building. I braved the crowd and asked for a table of two. We were told that the wait was going to be 35-40 minutes. WHAT?! Since we were set on trying this place and we wanted a seemingly delicious lunch, we sucked it up and walked around Queen Anne a bit before coming back to wait in line.

After 35 minutes of waiting, we were seated at a big and high communal table, with 4-6 other brunchers sharing the space with us. The colouring and decor of the wall gave it a very rustic and homey feeling, despite the high ceilings. The liquor cabinet was definitely something to be marveled at though, look at how extensive their collection was!

But it was too early for alcohol and I had already bought a smoothie while waiting in line earlier. The boyfriend was very impressed with the intricate detailing of our tables, known as wood inlay. With his carpentry background, he knew and appreciated the about of labour and effort that went into what (to me, at least) looked like a seemingly basic painted wood design on the table. Needless to say, we were very impressed with the decor and ambiance.
Another thing to note about Toulouse is that it has won numerous awards and was featured a couple of times on The Food Network (!!!!!). We had absolutely no idea until we were reading the menu. That explains the long waits and high ratings!

Toulouse is rated one of the Top 5 Restaurants in America by Trip Advisor. That is crazy, I had noo idea and it just made our restaurant trip even better. At that point, the boyfriend decided to order two entrees because he couldn’t decide, and it wasn’t often that we ate in one of the “top” restaurants in USA LOL.
Snake River Farms Kurobota Ham Egg Benedict ($14). I thoroughly enjoyed the smoky flavour of the ham, which was a bit salty as well. The ham was very light and carved really thin. The yolk oozed perfectly onto the ham and english muffin. The hash was seasoned very well and very filling. I’m not a huge hollandaise fanatic, but I do appreciate a delicious hollandaise sauce, this one was no different. It went very well with the smoky and thin texture of the ham. This dish takes second place out of the three entrees.

This was the entree that I finally decided on, the Spicy Creole Andouille Hash ($14). First off, my eggs were perfect and ahhhhh-maaazing. It was cooked perfectly in the way that the yolk slowly oozed out, encompassing all of the hash, sausages, and veggies underneath. I was very impressed and happy at how perfect it went. As for the hash, tasso, housemade andouille sausage, peppers and tomato confit underneath, I enjoyed it as well but found the taste of the red pepper taste to be a bit overpowering. It was my first time trying andouille sausage, a Southern classic. I wouldn’t mind trying it again. There was a lot going on in this dish, but every ingredient complemented each other perfectly, bringing together a very dynamic Creole dish. The fresh green onions on top was the cherry on top of a great dish.

My favourite plate, hands down, of the day. We found ourselves constantly thinking about this dish even after we had finished it on our stroll back. Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash ($15), featured on The Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” TV show. Was it the best thing I ever ate? It certainly came close. The cured pork cheeks was SO GOOD, it was very tender and melted in your mouth, packed with flavour. Mixing in the ooey yolk, hash, arugula, and other vegetables, it was love at first bite.

I love my hearty Southern food because of how savoury and comforting it is. Would I wait 35 minutes again in line? Yes. From the friendly service, intricate decor, and delicious southern food, I am very glad we made the stop here on our trip.

Travel Diary: Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise, New York City

Toulouse Petite Kitchen Lounge (Seattle)