Our last full day in the states – we travelled to the southern end of Brooklyn and Bay Ridge. Nestled in the suburban streets was the unassuming Pegasus restaurant, run by friends of friends, so we popped in for a visit and a quick brunch. Inside it was a rather full and bustling diner. We introduced ourselves to Harris and Jamie, the owners, and enjoyed a delicious meal and a lovely chat. Such a nice place and a lovely couple, well worth the trip across town! 

   Following this we had one more tourist item to tick off – Leanne was keen on a horse and cart ride around Central Park. We found an Irish driver who took us around and showed us the sights, mainly pointing out locations used for movies and TV shows. Yet again, it was a stunningly nice day, quite hot and despite being a Monday the park was very busy. The U.S. Open had started and clearly there was an extra influx of tourists. 

Quite a few people were giving our driver dirty looks and making comments about our horse Buddy – apparently it had a slightly dodgy way of walking which meant people thought it was injured but we were assured that it was nothing to worry about. Mayor de Blasio is trying to have the horse and cart business shut down due to cruelty concerns, so perhaps this has raised the issue more closely with people. Either way, our trip passed without incident, and Buddy seemed pretty relaxed about things.  

  To mix it up we had a photo at the “Friends fountain” with the “Ghostbusters building” in the background.  

  Some final souvenir shopping then we grabbed the subway back to Brooklyn via a bagel place, then Deb and I dolled ourselves up (as much as travel clothes allow, anyway) for an evening in Williamsburg, a short cab ride from our hotel. We were meeting a friend for drinks at the rooftop bar of the Wythe hotel. Feeling somewhat outnumbered by the hipster beards and high levels of cool, we stepped out to a spectacular view across the East River, watching the sun set over Manhattan. Just gorgeous, sadly the drinks prices matched the view! 

 After a nice chat and a goodly number of beverages, we walked to a nearby restaurant the Aimee had recommended called, simply enough, Meatballs. It was either going to be an 80s movie tribute restaurant or do meatballs and thankfully it was the latter. So many good restaurants do one thing and do it well, and this was the case here – the meatballs were superb. This place would not be out of step in Thornbury. Thus sated, we returned to the hotel.