Halloween in NYC!

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We started off the day with a starbucks mainly to take advantage of the free wi-fi they had so we could find our way to Madison Square Gardens and The Empire State building. First up was MSG so that we could all buy tickets for the New York's first NBA game of the season. Jake and Alex opted for the cheap seats right at the top next to a bar, me and Jack bought mid range seats near the basket and Grant and Harv shelled out $500 for premium mid court seats. I spend $220 on my seat which was as high as I was willing to go but it did still take out a big chunk of the money I still had left! Me, Grant, Jack and Harv went to the Empire State while Alex, who had already been up, and Jake, who was not that fussed, went to find some fancy dress for the Halloween night out later



We paid for the most expensive ticket so that we could head right to the top of building. The views of the city were incredible and is a must do when you go to New York however, the extra few levels did not make much of a difference so the more expensive ticket was not really necessary. We met Jake and Alex at the bottom who had turned up with paint for us to use later on which I was not too impressed with as I did not really want to go out in fancy dress. Me and Jack had been told that there was a very good burger place near the Empire State which we had to try and I booked a table at what we thought was the right place. While waiting we headed across the road to another Irish pub for a few drinks to pass the time, funnily anyone who had a post office card could not pay for the bill (which was all of us bar Jake) and had to go and get some cash out of an ATM. Unfortunately the meal was a bit of a bust and was clearly not the place we were looking for. The food was ok but it was way too overpriced and we had the most miserable and annoying waiter that I had ever had.



After the meal we went back to the hotel so that the face paint could be applied. However, as it was really cheap stuff it had to be abandoned as it was not staying on properly. Jack had been the test subject and it was hilarious because some of the white had seeped into his hair en eyebrows which made him look really old! Alex recommended that we head down to the east village as the beer would be cheaper there and there would be a lot more pubs to drink at. The east village was quite a distance and as a result a taxi was required and the journey turned out to be an unpleasant one for me as my bad stomach kicked in. While in the taxi I was talking with Grant and when I said "your mum" it coincided with Jake collectively asking what we were doing that night which did not go down well with Jake!



I cannot remember any of the names of the pubs but we went to 3 or 4 pubs before returning to a pub that we had already been into to finish the night. All the pubs we went to were all really good from what I can rememeber. I know Harv ordered some Haloumi in one of the pubs and he ate it so quickly so I could not have any! In one of the pubs we were able to order a whole crate of beer for $20 which was pretty neat although they put ice cubes in the box which started to melt on the table. My round only came to $18 when everyone elses came closer to $40 so I was told that I owed everyone a cheeseburger to make up for that fact! Grant brought a girl back to the hotel so me and Harv had to vacate our room as per the bro code, I had an embarrassing moment where I went to get my camera and heard that Grant was coming and tried to hide at the end of the corridor but he saw me do this. With all of us together there was not enough room in the beds so Harv slept on the floor and fell asleep straight away. Grant came into the room at some point asking for some protection but none of us had any on us.

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