oysters

New York: The Mermaid Inn

My friend took me to the Mermaid Inn last Tuesday and I was already excited because of the name! Between 5 PM and 7 PM, it’s happy hour which means the oysters will be sold for 1 dollar each! Look at the pictures and stop by there whenever you’re near!

The staff was friendly, the vibe was good and the food was nice. You’ll get chocolate pudding after your dinner from the restaurant. With the bill they will give you a fortune teller fish which predicts your mood. Sitting outside and watching people during the oysters is a must!

A sneak peek of the menu:

New York: Chelsea Market

If you’d like to try a lot of different kinds of food at one place, the Chelsea Market is definitely a great idea. This indoor food hall is located in the Meatpacking district. The building used to be a biscuit factory. That’s why the market has an underground vibe with lots of nice food, drinks and more.

The market is open every day. From Monday till Saturday starting from 7 AM to 9 PM. Only on Sundy the market starts at 8 AM t0 8 PM.

The nice thing about the market is that you can get a preview of all the things inside. Check out the pictures below of the variety of food and spices:

The cookies from Eleni’s inside the market are playful and unique. They’re nice as a gift, also sold as a set in boxes. The cookies are shaped and colored as rainbows, taxi’s and other sweet things. Not only does she sell the cutest cookies but also the coffee is worth a try!

There is a nice Morrocan store inside as well with magical lamps and carpets. I liked the art work on the walls a lot. If they were sold as postcards, I would grab a few to enlist them at home 🙂

Enjoying Eleni’s New York coffee on the way back!

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!

I´m normally not that fond of major resort destinations, but I can´t really complain about the resort in Puerto Vallarta. This Mexican city is situated on the Pacific Ocean’s Bahía de Banderas. I had a wonderful time there and enjoyed the company of the Dutch and American tourists a lot. Actually, if you are ever going to plan a trip with your parents in law, this is a great place to go! Relatively not expensive, beach, sun and fun for all ages.. and I’m speaking out of experience!

My best memories include eating fresh oysters everyday (the fisherman catches these in the morning and this sounds very random but I like eating oysters in the morning), hugging dolphins in the water and simply watching the sunset on the beach (which was one step from my hotel) and enjoying my coconut juice. One remark: The activities that I’m going to mention can vary a lot in price, it really matters from who you buy a tour.

Sea Safari was so much fun! We went to see the waterfall in the forest and got to swim in the clean water. To get into the forest and near the beautiful waterfall we were riding horses. Riding on the horses was a bit scary because we went up and down small mountains of Sierra Madre the whole time. Riding a donkey was optional. Also we went on a boat to swim with brightly colored fish. This boat went to a piece of paradise called Pizotita, where you can BBQ and just lay down on a hammock.

As I said earlier, swimming with the dolphins was one of my best memories. The dolphins were so cute and not scary at all!

Whale watching on the other hand was so disappointing. Being on a sailboat for a few hours and having a spotter plane looking out for whales sounded hopeful, but no. I couldn’t take good pictures of whales because I didn’t see them (except the fins, that just sucks…) at all. But because I’m assuming that you’re curious about how it would look like on a successful whale watching day, here’s a picture that was included with the whale watching tour I took. I saw a few dolphings though.