Last Day

With our last day at hand, we decided to go to Central Park. The day was hot, but the park provided shade and cool relief in the city. We strolled through the park and saw the fountain, pond, and went through the tunnel. Worrying about getting to Williamsburg in Brooklyn on time, we made our way to the subway and started our journey to the birth place of the hipster.

We grabbed quick iced lattes at a small cafe and then waited for our tour guide. At 1, he showed up and we found out that, once again, we were the only people on the tour! The tour was a food journey through the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn. We began by getting a bit of history about people moving to Brooklyn in the 80s due to crime and overpriced housing in Manhattan. Young people began to move into the borough and started to make it “hip” - hence the hipster being synonymous with the area.

Our first stop was a Polish bakery where we tried a meat filled perogy and got some sweet treats for later. We wandered over to our next stop which was a BBQ place called Mabel’s that is run by a husband and wife team. There we tried pulled pork, brisket, cornbread, and a bean salad. Evan loved the pulled pork and Brad and I agreed the BBQ sauce was incredible! Next was a stop for pizza. We tried a white slice (no sauce, ricotta, parm, and garlic) and a classic Neapolitan slice. Evan liked the red slice, but Brad and I preferred the white. We walked a little more while our guide told us about how the area has changed and some of the modern dwellings that have been interspersed between old factories.

A stop at Milk Bar was next and we ate bagels bombs and tried their cereal milk ice cream, which everyone enjoyed. I’d been looking forward to our next stop, which was Mast Brothers. They do artisanal chocolate bars and we got to taste one made with goat milk, one that had been smoked, and one that was made with sheep milk. The goat milk bar was my favourite, it was so tangy! Our final stop was Odd Fellows Ice Cream. We got to choose any flavour (they make them all in house), so I got sesame Nutella, Brad had coffee crunch, and Evan had pb&j! A delicious finish to our tour.Read more