Day 4 Upper East Side

Doggie Day Care

Rain, rain, rain, it was a complete day of rain. I got up early and walked around the area looking for a breakfast place. On the way I passed a totally entertaining doggie day care. It even had a separate rooms for both small and large dogs - New York's a crazy place. Anyhow, after walking in the rain for a half hour I settled on a diner just around the corner from our killer (34 step) apartment. It was a terrific breakfast; fresh orange juice, lots of bacon, good home fries, eggs, toast, and coffee ($7). Later in the morning we walked over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th and 82nd. What a great museum - it's about five times the size of the National Art Gallery in DC and has at least as good, if not better collection. We may have covered a quarter of the galleries, it's just so huge. If I lived here I'd need a lifetime pass to see all that I wanted to see. My limit in any museum is two hours and I lasted just a little bit longer before running out of gas. Leaving the museum in a fairly heavy rain, we walked over to Tiramisu on 3rd Ave and dried out with a bottle of wine and a fairly good lunch. We didn't want dessert, but the waiter decided we needed something anyhow and gave us a complementary Tiramisu. Of course I had to supplement it with an Averna - they'll do anything for a bigger tip. Still raining we went over to the East End and walked up along the river and through the Carl Schurz Park. I used to run through the park, past Gracie Mansion, and down along the river. It's one of the most beautiful places for a walk and hardly anyone ever uses it. Soaked, we went back to the apartment to dry off and hang out until dinner.

For dinner we walked up to Pinocchio Ristorante on 90th and First Ave. intending to have something light. As expected though, it didn't work out that way. Pinocchio is a very small restaurant - twelve feet wide and seats a max of 30. It has an warm ambiance complete with opera and an American waiter who tried to sound Italian. Started off with a Bresaola (thinly sliced dried beef with arugula and shaved parmigiano). Sylvia had Truffle Tortellini with Vodka Sauce and I had Osso Buco with Risotto. Everything was good and we managed to skip dessert even though they had homemade Cannoli. It's amazing how these small restaurants give you a check. It's hand written with absolutely no detail, just a few scribbles with a dollar amount circled, and its always a whole dollar amount.