August 19, 2025 Breakfast - Eggs, Sausages, pancakes, yogurt and fruit. Lunch - The Olde English Pub.

August 19, 2025 Breakfast - Eggs, Sausages, pancakes, yogurt and fruit. Lunch - The Olde English Pub. 

Back on the Spanish dinner plan today. We went down for our complimentary breakfast at 9:00. There were four hot dishes plus pancakes, fruit, yogurt, bagels and lots of pastries.

I tried to keep under some control yet get enough energy to make it to a late lunch. I ate two pancakes, a scoop of scrambled eggs, two sausages, and a bowl of yogurt with fruit and nuts plus a cup of tea.

We then drove north to Waterford where the Mohawk River joins the Hudson and the Erie Canal begins. There was a small pleasure boat with a husband and wife passing through the locks on their way to Schenectady. We were able to watch them pass through locks 2, 4, and 6. 

At Lock 4 the lock attendant offered us the apples from the tree by the lock and we ate an apple.

After we saw Lock 6 open, fill, and open on the up river side, it was 12:30.

We decided to visit the New York State Museum downtown.  It was extensive. We first saw an exhibit of the work of Margery Ryerson, Art is Contagious, who had an extensive career teaching children art and painting children at the Settlement houses on NYC’s Lower East Side.

We finished walking through the museum by 2:30.

We had difficulty deciding on a lunch spot but finally decided to go the Olde English Pub in a 1730’s building downtown.  It was a good decision. Suzette chose an English pale ale, Old Speckled Hen. I chose Carlsberg but they were out of it, so I drank a Belgian St. Bernardus white beer. Suzette ordered a favorite, Shepard’s  Pie, and I ordered, one of my favorites, French Onion Soup. Then as an afterthought I ordered something for an appetizer, Sausage Roll, that was seasoned ground pork wrapped in phyllo dough and baked and served on swirls of pub mustard, which was a mixture of hot English mustard and mayonnaise. It was delicious, especially with the beers.

We were served the Sausage Roll as an appetizer while we waited for our main dishes.

Suzette’s Shepherd’s Pie was very traditional consisting of ceramic bowl filled with a mixture of ground beef instead of lamb, carrots, corn, peas, in a Bechamel sauce baked with a thick crust of mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

My soup was in an identical ceramic bowl, but instead filled with port flavored beef stock, sautéed onions, and a slice of brown bread covered with mozzarella cheese and baked.

We enjoyed our meal and by 4:00 headed back to our room at Century Hotel.

There was a sell off in the tech stocks today with Nvidia down over $6.00 and tech darling Palantir down over $16.00. It appears that the economy is beginning to unravel on Trump. All the euphoria of the last month is gone, as the effect of increased tariffs and job layoffs impact the economy.

We rested until 7:40 when we turned on the TV.

We watched the last few minutes of the English Antiques Roadshow and then Finding Your Roots on PBS. Then switched to MSNBC and watched News from 9:00 until 10:00.

We each ate a Fruition chocolate cookie for dinner, which kept Suzette just within her daily calorie limit. 

I don’t worry as much as Suzette about calories, but am feeling a little better, especially on days when I eat only two full meals, as today.

Bon Appetit