NY Part 4

On the last night we were on Long Island, we went out towards Orient Point and stopped at a few wineries on the way to dinner.  There are more than 30 wineries along one stretch of road.  The owner of the company doing Pete's training lives in the area and gave us a list of which ones were worth checking out.  We stopped at the first one he suggested and each had a flight, with 4 1 oz. samples.  We enjoyed it, but didn't buy any wine thinking we wouldn't be able to get it home easily.  

We stopped at the next place and it was starting to rain.  It was 5 when we finished our flight there and the girl serving our wine was talking about getting things ready to close down for the night.  We ended up buying a bottle of Chardonnay from her thinking we'd drink it in our room that night. We asked her if most of the wineries closed at 5 and she said they did on weekdays, but there was one called Sparkling Pointe nearby that stayed open until 6.    I am so glad she told us about it, we wouldn't have known to stop there.  This was by far my favorite of the 3 places we went.  It was a beautiful building and we were the only people there.  We stood at the bar and talked to the girl working there.  She was very nice and we had a great time.  She suggested we try some Camembert with honey drizzled on top to go with our flight of sparking wines.  It was a fabulous combination.  I never would have put honey on cheese, but man, it was delicious.  We ended up buying 2 bottles there too.  The atmosphere and beauty of this place was awesome.  It made me want to get married there, you know, if I wasn't already married and if I was independently wealthy.  The wine maker for Sparkling Pointe is from Champagne, France and is well versed in making sparking wines.  Once again, being there made me fall in love with Long Island.
http://sparklingpointe.com/joomla/index.php/aboutus

When we finished our last sample of wine, we headed further East to Claudio's, our dinner destination recommended by the guy who lived in the area.   The food here was excellent, I really enjoyed it, particularly my appetizer.  I had spinach stuffed brie that was encrusted with something, man, it was good.  The bread was good, the wine was good, the dessert was good, the service, not so great. 

View from the parking lot of Claudio's

My fantastic Brie.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and packed while enjoying a bottle of our sparking wine.  We had to be at the airport by 5:30 the next morning.  All in all, we had an awesome time and got to do a ton of stuff.  I would love to make it an annual trip, but I'm thinking that won't be feasible on our budget.  I'm a Texas girl at heart, but I am ready to buy a bed & breakfast on Long Island.  I guess I'll start saving my money now, lol.

NY Part 3

These pictures were all taken from the top of the Empire State Building. It was cool being up there, but I got vertigo if I looked down for too long.  You spend about 45 minutes or so in lines, but the actual elevator ride lasts less than a minute.  Crazy.

After Empire State, we went and had Cuban food at a nearby restaurant.  I fell in love with Cuban food on our honeymoon and haven't had any since then, so I took advantage of being in a place where I could get some.  The next thing we did was to walk over to the NY Public Library.  They house the actual toys (Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, and Kanga) that belonged to the real life Christopher Robin, who was the son of A.A. Milne.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robin

The next part of our journey took us to Long Island.  The first day that Pete was in class, I drove out to Montauk and just relaxed.  It was an overcast, drizzly day and I loved it.  The drive out there took a little over an hour and it made me fall in love with Long Island.  If everything wasn't so dang expensive, I would want to move there.  We encountered very nice people everywhere we went and it was incredibly beautiful.

 Along the way from our hotel to Montauk, you drive through the Hamptons.  On the way back to the hotel, I was hungry and thought I'd stop for lunch.  The weather had cleared up and it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, but not too hot.  I passed by a cute little cafe with seating outside, so I pulled over and went in to get a table.  I was seated outside and they took my drink order.  Knowing how expensive everything had been on our trip, I thought I'd get water to save a little money.  The waiter, who was very nice and had a lovely French accent, asked if I'd like bread.  I said sure, that sounded great.  So here he comes with my water and bread, it was a big bottle of Fiji water in a special silver canister thing.  The bread was fresh baked and delicious.  He left me with a menu and I tried not to choke on what turned out to be my eight dollar bottle of water when I saw the prices.  A side of pomme fritz (french fries) was $12.  Gasp! I ended up ordering a cup of soup and a salad.  The food was good, the atmosphere was great, I had a great time.  When he brought out my ticket, I just calmly got out my card and gave it back to him.  The grand total, including my $8 water, the not free bread, soup, salad and tip was $55.00.  For lunch, for just me.  I do regret not having tried a dessert, it was a French bakery apparently known for it's great pastries.  If only I had known.  http://www.pierresbridgehampton.com/
I was at least dressed nicely that day instead of my usual ragged jeans and t-shirts.  When we had dinner that night with the men who were teaching Pete's class and I told them where I had eaten for lunch, the owner of the company said Pierre's is one of the places where the famous people who live in the Hamptons are known to go.  He told me that Alec Baldwin has a regular table at Pierre's and frequents it.