Lots of visitors (must be summer)

What a busy month it's been. Not only has work kept me busy, but the warmer weather has brought a train of people from out of the woodwork (aka Australia) to visit the Big Apple (aka New York).

Since the past blog, we had Shaun and Lesleigh grace us with their presence as part of their epic world tour. We did a few of the standard New York things (Statue of Liberty, Times Square), but also a couple of the more local things to show them how us locals do things here. Best of all, we did a Broadway show, and that show was Xanadu. Without a doubt, the best show I've ever been to. The music was fantastic, the venue was nice and intimate, and the show itself was an absolute blast. Alicia and I are dying to get back and see it. Another one to look out for is Young Frankenstein, the new Mel Brooks musical which opens in a couple of months. Xanadu totally deserves its own blog post, but there's been so much going on that I'll just have to mention it and move on. Best. Show. Ever.

After Shaun and Lesleigh, Lachlan from the Brisbane office came over for a couple of weeks. It was good to be able to show him around some of the sights of New York, and take him on a tour of the office. It was bizarre talking to Lachlan in the office; it was just like being back in Brisbane like last year, but this time, we were on the other side of the world. It sounds like Lachlan had a great time, but travelling with a couple of girls seemed to get on his nerves a little - he doesn't strike me as the shopping type.

When Lachlan headed off, Marcel and Belinda came up to visit from DC. As predicted, it was a fantastic weekend. We went to Jones Beach on Saturday. The sun we beautiful, the water was freezing (but great once you're in), and the sand was very prone to having a hole dug out of it. We went to a pub/restaurant on 5th Avenue for dinner, and then settled into the 4th Avenue Pub for a couple of nightcaps. On Sunday, we went to Governor's Island, which is in New York Harbor. It's a National Park, and a very historical part of New York. Everything was free, and there were hardly any people there, so it was a great day out.

In the middle of all our visitors, we've been doing other bits and pieces around town. Of particular interest was the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual Pride
Parade in Manhattan. It was very interesting to see, very noisy, extremely colourful and had thousands of people in it. Kyan loved all the colours, and it was good to see so many people having a good time. The parade itself went from 53rd Street down to Greenwich Village. I'm not exactly sure how long that is, but it's a good number of kilometres.

All our visitors got back home in one piece, so that's always good news. The weather's now fantastic. Every day is lovely, although the humidity in Manhattan seems oppressive on some days, especially since the buildings block any breeze that comes through. The beach was great; the parks are great. It's a good time to come to New York.

So don't be a stranger. Be our next visitors to New York!

We're looking at moving late-September, early-October into a nicer part of Park Slope, so if you're a previous visitor, don't be afraid to come back!