Governor's Island & EATALY

A few Saturdays ago (September 11th to be exact), Stacy and I decided to take full advantage of the gorgeous day. We headed downtown to catch the free ferry to Governor's Island. I had only been over to GI for the Polo match in June and it was crazy crowded and hot that day so we didn't really see much of the island. I was excited to really explore it! Governor's Island is an old Army Post and has a lot interesting buildings, many that the public are free to explore.

We took a ferry like this one

Once we got to the Island, we rented bikes and

spent about 2 hours biking around the island.

There was a trapeze school on the island

so we watched for a while - cool!

We found 2 churches on the island

We were allowed to go inside one-

it was pretty bare inside

This is the wall surrounding the barracks.

That's a moat you're looking at!

There were all kinds of interested buildings

This was a really pretty house - inside and out

There were many yellow houses similar to this one

Always love some archways

We saw no less than 4 cruise ships that day

Flag at half-mast for 9/11

Great view of Manhattan and a cool sailboat

Me and lady liberty

After an afternoon of sunshine and biking, we were hungry! We decided to hit up Eataly...it's what everyone is talking about these days!

Eataly just opened a couple of weeks ago and is a new food market/eating venue backed by Mario Battali. I was a little nervous about going as I'd heard the crowds were almost unbearable, but we decided to go for it anyway. It was really cool. There are all kinds of food stands...gelato, Italian desserts, panini's, cheese & wine, etc.... There are also a few sit-down restaurants - a steak house, a seafood restaurant, and one that has pizza and pasta. We put our name on the list for the pizza/pasta restaurant while we explored the rest of the space. In addition to all the foods you can eat right there, you can basically do your grocery shopping there, too! There is also a cookbook section and a kitchen supplies area. It's a pretty cool place! I'd love to go back sometime and pick up all the fixin's to cook a great Italian meal at home.

Fresh pasta

Fresh ravioli

Produce

Stacy and I split a pizza (fabulous) and pasta (also very good) for dinner. Afterwards, I got some gelato and she got tiramisu and we took it across the street to Madison Square Park where they were airing the US Open live on a big screen - fun! My gelato was excellent - I will be back! Oh, and we got lucky that night because Mario was in the house...Stacy was brave enough to ask for a picture!

I honestly didn't spend much time dwelling on the significance of 9/11 this year, but Stacy and I did head downtown that night so that we could see the lights representing the 2-towers...I can't believe I'd never seen them before. I think next year is the last year they will have the lights...I can't believe it is going to be the 10-year anniversary. It really does not seem that long ago.