Summer Morning at Rock Center

The view from our seat in the shade.

We found time on our hands before we needed to go catch our train home to DC, so we decided to take a walk around midtown last Wednesday morning.  From the front of the hotel on 6th Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Americas, which is how the Hotel showed it in their address) we could see Rockefeller Center just a few blocks south - so we decided to have a walk down there.

Of course, we needed breakfast first.  Here I'll make a blatant pitch for my friend Brian's blog before I mention that we found a Greek diner, Astro, only a block away.  Now, I won't review the breakfast, Brian-style, but I will say that I had a fine plate of eggs benedict with a side of bacon, and I even enjoyed a cup of house coffee - although I was looking forward to seeing if I could get a cup at Dean & Deluca down at Rock Center.

Looking down 6th Ave. from the hotel - Rockefeller Center
beckons, and the World Trade Center also calls out.

After breakfast we started our walk down to what I suppose is one of NYC's busiest tourist destinations.  We circuitously walked over to get a glimpse of St. Patrick's and entered through the plaza, passing under Atlas, and finding a seat in the shade for a moment to get our bearings.  Mary went to find the Dean & Deluca's, but couldn't, and made the decision on the fly to go to an alternative place where a bunch of construction workers were getting coffee on their break,

While the Today Show has taken off for Rio during the Olympics the crowd is less than typical for the morning.  So it was just a bit more enjoyable for me, especially now that my caffeine tank was full.

A dairy stall, all the way from Lancaster County.

We browsed a couple of the stores, including the Met Store and Godiva's.  Afterwards we walked back out to where they set up the ice skating rink in the winter, and found a farmer's market.  It was pretty swanky given the location - but since I have a continuing interest in them I stopped to have a look around.

There was a good range of products, with the stalls all arranged under a two-wide row of market awnings.  I found a dairy from Lancaster County - that's a testament to the quality of these offerings, but everything had come such a long way to be here, so you have to imagine there is extra cost.

The green grocer with the leafy greens - $2/bunch.

I also spied a couple of green grocers, one with a pretty exceptional display of leafy greens.  There was a honey vendor, and a baker, although I didn't get close enough to figure out where those folks were from.

Finally, the time for our train home was approaching and we made our way back to the hotel to finish packing and check out.

There's a Grace Jones song from the 1980's called The Apple Stretching  (YouTube link here) - I'd recalled it a couple of times during the trip.  But as we limped back to our hotel after all of that sightseeing, "beaten tourists" - it all rang very true.

It's time to get back to work on the hop yards and the brewery.  That's where I'll be the rest of the week.