New York 2019: Sunday: Church, the Cloisters, and Midtown some more

Cloistered courtyard at the Met at the Cloisters

We snagged bagels and a black and white cookie from Zaro's in Newark Penn Station and then waited for. ev. er. for a train to the city. Despite our careful transit planning, the rush of Pride paradegoers and Sunday schedule conspired against us to make us late for 10:30 church in Midtown. Instead, we arrived 40 minutes early for 12PM church and waited in the (poppin'! #thanksYSAward) foyer until the next meeting started. It was cool to go to Sacrament meeting above the temple! The person who conducted the meeting was talking to other visitors in the foyer beforehand and said there was a stake in Manhattan, plus a singles stake in the area. The Coloradan visitors were astounded that the New Yorkers didn't own a car. I'm not sure if they'd been on the sidewalk at all, but I wouldn't want a car in this city either!

After church, we took the Metro way, way up town. It was here we met our favorite character, whom we nicknamed Richard Rich (because #reasons #ridiculousreasons). When someone on the platform asked us in the train if we were headed to a specific location, Richard informed him that we were not. In response to another query, he rattled off a veritable alphabet soup of trains that stopped at that station. Obviously, we were very impressed. Even more so when the train began moving and Richard had to engage in some deep breathing exercises as if he were about to make a world record free dive attempt. At some point on the ride, we must have made eye contact with him because he looked at me and said, "That's a nice dress." Then he looked at Sarah and commented, "That's actually a nice dress, too" as if it were genuinely surprising. #SHOCKER

A path to the Cloisters

Jordan and Sarah at the Cloisters. Actually in a nice dress.

Finally, two stops before the Bronx, we disembarked and climbed way, way up the hill in Fort Tryon Park to the Met at the Cloisters. The Cloisters was designed to evoke European monasteries, and it definitely did that! The European religious art was perfect for the Sabbath, and the peaceful atmosphere and lovely gardens and views made us both wish for the cloistered life. We could also probably draw better lions than 98% of medieval artists.

Unicorn tapestry at the Cloisters

Artist's rendition of a *checks notes* lion? in tapestry

Also a lion? Y'all...

Apparently also supposed to be a lion.

Bread and pastries at Bouchon

Afterwards, we decided to embark upon a quest for more kouign amann, to become kouign amann connoisseurs. We found a few places that were supposed to carry them and headed down to Bouchon at Rockefeller Center (no kouign amann; we settled for a cream cheese danish that looked vaguely like a kouign amann), and then to the Plaza's cafes to Pain D'Avignon (success!), Boloud (fail) and the Doughnuttery (for doughnuts, obvs). We sampled our danish and kouign amann #2 as well as cardamom and rosemary sugared doughnuts. The doughnuts were airy and tender with just barely enough golden brown and delicious goodness on the outside, and and the flavorings were subtle. The danish was very sweet, with great layers. The kouign amann was good, baked darker than the DKA, but the DKA was still tops for us.

Kouign amann from Pain D'Avignon

Cream cheese danish from Bouchon

Cardamom and rosemary sugared mini doughnuts from the Doughnuttery

We needed real food after all that sugar. The shops at the Plaza were closing, so we quickly selected a pizza place, Pizza Rollio, and ordered a the Godmother: fig, gorgonzola and mozzarella. Their schtick is super thin, almost crispy crepe-like crust, which they cut in strips and then you roll up when you eat. It was tasty and we managed to finish our full pizza. Pastries in the Plaza followed by a pizza picnic in the park! We chilled in Central Park a little, too, enjoying the beautiful weather. This day was probably the best weather-wise--I don't think we even broke a sweat!

Fig, gorgonzola and mozzarella rolled pizza, the Godmother from Pizza Rollio

Sensing our impending departure, we started Googling to see what other iconic New York dishes we needed to sample when we came across the Egg Creme. I had long sought the elusive Egg Creme, finding great success in Texas once upon a time and even making them at home. Google eventually indicated that the nearest egg creme to be had was not too far away at a restaurant my friend Sally loves: Junior's. So we headed down for an egg creme and a slice of New York cheesecake, of the cherry variety. It was taller and thicker than Eileen's version, but both were pretty amazing. The egg creme was good, if not everything we hoped and dreamed. But now we can say we did it!

Junior's cherry cheesecake and egg creme

Source of the orange lighting

We were lucky to get seats at the bar, because as soon as we did, a long line formed at the hostess stand. We had to fight our way through it to get back out, where we discovered a concert had begun a block or two away, with a large LCD screen broadcasting the stage right in front of us. Lacking earplugs and having no clue who it was who was singing, however, we decided to pack it in and headed back to Newark. The trip back was insanely crowded, and the trip down the escalator was even more precarious than the night before. Once again, we were lucky to get seats on the train.

Our hosts returned from their trip to Boston a few minutes after our nosy/motherly Lyft dropped us off, and Israel regaled us with a tour of the amazing history and architecture of their home!