New York, New York

Mom and Dad were in New York over the weekend, and so at the very last minute (literally: we booked on Monday night to fly on Thursday), Kristy and I decided that we’d go over to see them. After all, we couldn’t let them wander around alone – they’re not trustworthy!

Turns out we weren’t the only ones gate-crashing the party – Mom’s two brothers came up, as did Martyn’s girlfriend Jenni Lopez (yes, really, but not like you’re thinking), and an eccentric old friend of all of theirs, Maria. To be fair, M&D knew that all of those folks would be there – but as a surprise, Natalie, Philip, Sami and Dani came along for the ride as well! That’s 12 people! Aged from 16, to 74!

On reflection, it would have been good to have arranged everyone in age order, but instead, it’s an exercise for the reader to figure it out. And yes, I realise that there’s only 10 people in that photo, but I was behind the camera, and Kristy was out drinking cocktails with Claire.

Anyway – though it was awesome to see Mom’s extended family all in one place, I have to admit it was pretty tough at times trying to come up with activities that would appease the entire crowd. We had some winners though – walking around in Greenwich Village, Dim Sum and ice-cream in Chinatown, the UN and our old neighbourhood, Ray’s Pizza, and of course the absolute, second-to-none highlight of the trip – Chipotle.

There were a few occasions where our group fragmented into sub-groups of similar interests, such that everyone got to do what they wanted to do. On one such occasion, Dad, Philip and I walked from Chinatown to the Brooklyn Bridge, as the bridge was very high on Dad’s list of “things to see in New York”.

We took a slightly wrong turn somewhere and ended up more under the bridge than we wanted to be. A cop directed us down a path which initially took us right next to the bridge, where a bunch of young folks were tricking it up on their bikes and skateboards. Some of them were absolutely sensational! We stopped and admired them for a while, taking a few photos for posterity’s sake.

Figuring that we’d only be in our room to sleep and get changed, we decided to save some money by staying at the YMCA. It’s a good thing we didn’t host any parties there, because the room was very basic – two bunk beds, and very little else!

But, at only USD$306 for four night’s accommodation in midtown east, we were hardly in a position to complain. Also, we got to use the gym for free, and being former members, we knew just how good it was! I really enjoyed waking up each morning and going for a run – all the while watching cable TV!

It was awesome being back in Manhattan, especially so with Mom and Dad and the rest of the troops. Four days was barely enough to give everyone a taste of how great the city is, but I think it was just about the right amount of time to allow such a large group to leave on amicable terms; if there’s another group holiday, I’m going to suggest we all just go and sit on a beach!