Day 10: The real New York, so f*** you.

We caught up with an old friend of mine, Jeff, a native New Yorker. He's clearly a very good friend as he gave up his Sunday for us even though I haven't been in touch in around 20 years...

[Insert "guilty smiley" here]

We were particularly appreciative as Jeff had been at work that morning. He's Associate Director on CBS' "Sunday Morning", which means he has the joy of starting at 5am or somesuch hideously incomprehensibly starting time.

The tour was a local's view of parts of New York that most tourists never see.

First stop was Katz' Deli in downtown Manhattan, made famous in "When Harry Met Sally" - yes, that deli scene.

There’s a sign over the table where Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan sat that reads: “Where Harry Met Sally… Hope You Have What She Had! Enjoy.”

It was pretty close. I had the most amazing pastrami sandwich ever. I will never forgive Jeff for this, as for the rest of my life all other pastrami sandwiches will be but a pale imitation of this one: huge, perfect pieces of pastrami, on a sandwich so massive I couldn't quite finish it all.

Afterwards we walked some of the old streets around the area, many of which are being gentrified, and not always very well. Many of the old buildings are marvelous, while too many of the newer buildings lack character. Fortunately some of the older buildings are being renovated rather than replaced. The fate of the others is an open question.

Then he drove us into Brooklyn, which I'd never been to before. I hadn't realised how populous Brooklyn is: Jeff told us if it was an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States.

It’s a highly diverse place, ranging from the stereotypical streets usually shown in movies, to the extremely beautiful if unaffordable Brooklyn Heights.

One stop was Coney Island, which gave us a chance to walk on the famous Boardwalk, although we did decline the offer to "shoot the geek" - one of the attractions lets you shoot at a live human target with a paintball gun.

We did a bit of souvenir shopping near the place where they hold the famous hot-dog eating competition, then drove through various parts of Brooklyn on the way back to the East River.

Just after stopping by the old ferry terminal, which was also where Washington evacuated his troops to Manhattan in 1776, early in the American Revolution, we found a pair of handcuffs hanging from a doorknob. Maybe it’s because of the movies, but it didn’t seem all that wrong for Brooklyn. Disturbing perhaps, but not out of place.

Jeff finally dropped us back at the Westin. We hoped to see Al Pacino in "The Merchant of Venice" that night, but Al has Sunday nights off. Lazy bugger.

Instead we wandered around looking for a restaurant, and found a wonderful Jewish-Asian fusion restaurant called Abigael's, where Emma and I had the best salmon we've ever had.

Better still we just made it back to our room in time to catch the start of the 5th game of the World Series, which San Francisco won, wrapping up the Series.

Which caused me to wonder: how the hell did I suddenly show such an interest in sport?

A mystery for another day.