The next day I got my head shaved at one of the old school barbers like you see in the movies.
Then we we got the A train up to 110th street and walked around Columbia University campus and over to Tom's Cafe (from Seinfeld) then back to the hotel.
When we got back we packed up and jumped in a cab to Newark airport to meet up with Ben when he flew in.
We picked up out Ford Expedition from Hertz and hit the road for upstate New York.
After about a 5hr drive we arrived at Fayetteville, near Syracuse, to Kate and Paul's place. Kate was our R.A. and next door neighbor at Cortland and we played basketball will Paul... they're now married with 1.5 kids and living the dream. They laid out some beers, home-cooked dinner and a bed for the night.
The next day we drove down to Cortland and found a cheap hotel for the night. We drove to West Campus, where we lived for the semester and caught the bus onto the campus where we had lunch, took some pics, used the phone, played some basketball and reminisced.
Our old apartment
That night we went out to the Dark Horse Tavern and played beer pong. After being ousted in the second round (thank god) we hit the road. We had grand plans to go to good ol' Frank and Mary's diner for a late night feed but to our extreme disappointment it was only open 24 hrs Thursday through to Sunday. So we grabbed a pizza slice and headed back to the hotel and fired off a few rounds with the BB gun, aiming at a Red Bull can on top of a cardboard box we set up in the parking lot.
The next morning we met Liz, who was the international student coordinator when we were there, for breakfast at Frank and Mary's.
Frank and Mary's
We did a load of washing at a nearby laundromat before hitting the highway towards NYC. We pulled of at one stage to get a few more shots of the BB gun in before we had to ditch it. We found a great place down a side road, set up a bunch of cans then I took one shot and the gun jammed up... daaamn! That's what you get for $24.99.
The BB Gun in the Expedition
We were supposed to have the car back by 5pm at Newark airport but as we drew closer the peak-hour traffic held us up. I called the Hertz office and asked if we could drop the car back in Manhattan, near the hotel in the Meatpacking District. They said that would be fine so I got my first chance driving through the middle of the city in peak hour... now I see why they love their SUV's in the US. It's not for off-roading, it's for dominating the traffic!
Friday we wandered around town sampling gourmet peanut butter sandwiches and getting a load of pics. I caught up with Jason, another mate from university, in the city for lunch and then we all met up at Grand Central Station and later went for dinner in Hell's Kitchen.
Peanut Butter & Co.
Grand Central
Ben and I decided to kick on afterward in the East Village and stumbled upon a series of live acts at a place called Under St. Marks on St Marks Place.
Under St Marks
After that we met up with Deven, a mate from Melbourne who was working just down the road at Tuck Shop, an Australian meat pie shop. We grabbed a few beers from the bodega around the corner, sampled some of the wares and kept him company for an hour or so.
Tuck Shop
Saturday morning Alex and Laury went shopping in midtown while Ben and I explored DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in the rain then made our way back to our hotel via Soho.
DUMBO
Alex and Laury returned exhausted with a bunch of shopping bags full of presents for friends and family back in France. We all had a few drinks and then they packed their stuff ready for their flight home later that night. When they were ready we helped them onto the subway and made our way to East Village to meet up with some more university classmates at a a karaoke bar called Sing Sing. Unfortunately Alex and Laury had to leave for JFK around 10pm. It turned into a massive/awesome night catching up with people we haven't seen in over seven years and meeting some new friends.
'Crazy Mike' our old flatmate
Sunday Ben and I moved from our massive room at Hotel 309 to the Loft Hostel in Brooklyn where we got a private room with an ensuite for $80 US.
Loft Hostel Room
Then we spent over two hours getting to Giants stadium for their game against the Cowboys. It was well worth it to see the Giants get up against the favorites in front of a sell-out home crowd.
When we got back into the city we met Deven at his studio/loft/gallery/apartment in SoHo... talk about living the life!! And we met a bunch of his mates at the second oldest pub in NY.
Deven's Place
Monday we rented some bikes from a shop near the Willimasburg bridge and rode all the way along the water and 1st Ave. up to meet Renee in East Harlem for lunch. Afterward we rode through Central Park, Times Square and Soho and back to drop off the bikes. It was an incredible rush riding through NY in peak hour, dodging traffic and pedestrians all over the place. We then went back to the hostel to pack up and head for home.
Can't wait to be there again!
New York City Dec. 09 from Jeremy Aiken on Vimeo.
See all pics
