<p>astromom - if you take 81, I recommend eating at the Dutch Kitchen in Frackville if it hits the right time in your journey. They have a salad bar with fresh baked bread and applesauce and everyone in my family loves it. (There aren’t that many places to stop, but Hazleton which is about a half hour further north has a fair number of fast food restaurants plus a Perkins.)</p>
<p>The last time I took the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan on a weekday, it was 6:20 am, and it was just fine. I doubt there’s any time after 7:00 when that will be true, though. I sort of liked the idea of driving into Manhattan Thursday evening, but I have to admit that the possibility of going through central PA rather than towards the Jersey Shore on Friday makes sense to me.</p>
<p>Face it: Driving into Manhattan during (expanded) business hours is going to be a you-know-what no matter what you do. Get a map, study the alternatives, and listen to that radio station.</p>
<p>I live less than 15 blocks from Barnard. It is much less stressful driving up there than elsewhere in the city. If you decide to go to Barnard on Friday, I would suggest the Lincoln Tunnel going home. You can head down Broadway and at Lincoln Center bear right onto Columbus Ave. That becomes 9th Avenue below 57th Street, and you will stay on it in the left lanes to the Lincoln Tunnel. It won’t be too bad in the early-ish afternoon. There will be traffic, whether you go to Barnard on Friday and head to DC then, or go to Vassar Friday. I agree with another poster that you should avoid the Cross Bronx Expressway, no matter what you decide.</p>
<p>Lincoln Tunnel to 10th Avenue (watch for signs), north on 10th Avenue (one-way northbound) which becomes Amsterdam Ave., an easy shot directly to the Columbia campus. Amsterdam becomes 2-way at 110th St. I’d take Amsterdam up to 122nd St., make a left on 122nd, and park at the undergound garage at Riverside Church, 122nd & Claremont a block west of Broadway—two blocks west of Amsterdam. I believe this is the nearest public parking to the Barnard campus.</p>
<p>After visiting Barnard be sure to stroll through the Columbia campus across Broadway, through the 116th St. gate. You can’t quite grasp Barnard without seeing some of Columbia. And walk south on Broadway between 116th and 110th. Check out Book Culture on 112th between Broadway & Amsterdam. Stop for a pastry at the Hungarian Pastry Shop around the corner on Amsterdam, where Kerouac used to hang. Grab a hot-from-the-oven bagel with a “New York schmear” of cream cheese at Absolute Bagels, 108th & Broadway. Or grab lunch at the Indian Cafe, 107th & Broadway (best saag paneer I’ve ever had), or a take-out sandwich-on-a-bagel at Nussbaum & Wu (I know, only in NY) at 113th & Broadway.</p>
<p>Gosh, I miss the old neighborhood!</p>
<p>IIRC that place Absolute bagels got better ratings in some recent “bagel taste-off” than H & H. I asked my daughter about it, but she’d never been there. I’d never heard of it before.</p>
<p>I’ll have to try Absolute Bagels sometime, but I have to say that the corner on Broadway with Zabar’s and H&H is my Mecca (or Wailing Wall, of Golden Temple, or wherever it is that you go to find the holy center of the world).</p>
<p>Absolute bagels are lighter and a bit fluffier than H&H but still appropriately crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. My family swears by them, actually preferring them to H&H. Personally I prefer the denser H&H, but if you’re in the Columbia/Barnard neighborhood you won’t have much occasion to get down to H&H (or Zabars which is also great). Plus, Absolute has a high turnover so you can always get some still-hot freshly cooked bagels. Used to be you could get pretty fresh H&H bagels at the old University Food Market ('UFM") at 116th & Browadway, just south of the Barnard campus. It’s been replaced by some pricey upscale chain grocery. Don’t know if the new place carries H&H bagels, but even if they have them, they won’t be hot & fresh-cooked like Absolute.</p>
<p>ok folks, hate to break it to you, but my son just informed me that sadly, H&H is no more…</p>
<p>have you looked into jet blue? They were advertising $39 DC to NYC flights recently. Also Amtrak has a student rate specifically for students looking at colleges/college students. If you do decide to spend the night in the City, or have a few extra hours, try a hop on/hop off bus tour of Manhattan-- I bet there is a hop on stop somewhere nearby Columbia/Barnard. Also, can you possibly do this trip on a Mon/Tue and avoid the Friday nightmare? If you can there is a french bistro on Broadway and 104/105 st that has 50% off on mondays, and the food is great.</p>
<p>“ok folks, hate to break it to you, but my son just informed me that sadly, H&H is no more…”</p>
<p>??? It certainly seemed to be there August 9, and so was Zabar’s. I went to both, IIRC.</p>
<p>“…if you’re in the Columbia/Barnard neighborhood you won’t have much occasion to get down to H&H (or Zabars which is also great)”</p>
<p>…unless you hail a cab for what would be a trivial cab ride just down Broadway a bit. Or maybe around Barnard one usually has to get a car service? I would imagine somebody there would know how that would have to work. Probably the Broadway bus too, no?</p>
<p>With a car, you could simply drive right down Broadway, It’s just that then you have to find a garage at around 80th st & Broadway. If you call them, Zabar’s has an arrangement for reduced cost with a local garage, I believe.</p>
<p>Zabar’s/H&H is a pleasant 30-minute walk from Columbia, or a 5-minute drive. I have never been in the Columbia/Barnard area and NOT gone to Zabar’s and H&H. (Well, at least not in the past 30 years, when I have only visited New York as opposed to living there.)</p>
<p>Here’s my update–I’m much happier with this option. Barnard on Thursday, arriving in NYC after rush hour. Info session is at 11:30, tour after lunch, and interview at 4:00. We’ll have dinner and drive to Poughkeepsie after rush hour. We have reservations at the Vassar Alum House ($163 including taxes, breakfast, and parking!) and can the do the morning tour and info session.</p>
<p>I’m carefully reading over the advice about driving through PA and the bagels in NYC! Thanks so much for taking the time to help me with this.</p>
<p>P.S. We’re stuck with the Thursday-Friday combo, mhmm. I know it’s not ideal.</p>
<p>Have a great time & let us know how the trip went!</p>
<p>Just realized, this iteration of the plan might limit the Zabar’s/ Fairway idea, unless you have access to a refrigerator at the alumni house.</p>
<p>Anyway, have a successful trip.</p>
<p>^^^astromom,
Before you settle on the backwoods Pennsylvania route, you might want to consider possible construction delays on I-81 between Scranton and Hazleton:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/767008-desperately-seeking-detour-i-81-pa-woe.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/767008-desperately-seeking-detour-i-81-pa-woe.html</a></p>
<p>Summer travel can be difficult on the East Coast with even the normal amount of road construction, but I fear there’s more than usual this year with all that federal stimulus money being pumped out.</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>For a really nice meal, we really like Henry’s at Broadway and 110th Street. Not too expensive, and the food has always been perfect, and the service perfect.</p>
<p>And one day S (who had just gotten into Williams) was wearing his Williams t-shirt and Henry was very excited because he grew up in W’town. His sister is a Barnard alum.</p>