Brooklyn Bridge and Ice Cream

New York City. The Big Apple. The City of Dreams. The City that Never Sleeps. Just a few monikers coined to address this gigantic urban jungle. And today we get a chance to step into its grounds and attempt to be demystified from what we know that is largely based from the silver screen.

On the way there, we were thoroughly delighted with the JetBlue Airlines service and were pleased that it was actually the flagship airline of the state of New York. They even served tasty snacks on the one hour trip to the Empire City.

When we arrived there, we were expecting heavily armed security personnel, but was pleasantly surprised that it was just like a normal airport. We were picked up by Tita Agot and David, her Jamaican friend and trusted driver for so many years.

We drove past the suburbs on the way to Brooklyn from John F Kennedy Airport.

We had a most welcome arrival at my auntie's place. She spoilt us with an extremely hearty lunch, and her spread included a KBL (kadyos-beans baboy-pork and langka-jack fruit all in a flavourful stew), some stir fried shrimp, some eggplant omelette and heaps of rice, with some cold young coconut juice as the accompanying beverage.

With such a hefty meal, we were all left clamouring for sleep just a few minutes after the last spoonful. Luckily that had been Tita Agot's plan all along.

After an afternoon nap, she then took us to Brooklyn Bridge via subway. It was clear that the dwellers of that area are more hardy. There seemed to be an aura of seriousness and brooding hanging low. On the way to the water side, we passed by Grimaldi's pizzeria, one of the oldest in New York, and the queue line runs through the block. We hoped we could try it soon.

When we got to the bridge, there were plenty of tourists again, and once more we are mostly surrounded by people on their holidays. It was very beautiful as we saw Manhattan's skyline silhouette with the fading dusk behind it. We even saw what seemed to be an Indian couple having their pre-nuptial photoshoot.

Tita then took us to the nearby Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. There was a bit of a queue, and when we had our turn, we ordered some peach, strawberry and pecan butter banana split.

At this stage, mom was experiencing the start of a sore throat, and so unfortunately she had to refrain from partaking the delicious treats.

Not long after a Korean girl asks us to take a photo of her. Mom then interviews her briefly and we found out that she had once visited Cebu.

We then returned to Tita's home and then enjoyed the remainder of the amazing lunch she served earlier. Afterwards we watched a bit of TV and then retired for the night for an early start the next day.Read more