Hot and Sticky in the City

Ethan's college friend Ben and his girlfriend Kelsey came to visit over the weekend. They took the bus up from DC, about a 4 or 5 hour trip, depending on traffic. Their first night sleeping on the air mattress was quite eventful. Luna decided to play on the mattress and I came into the living room to find her pouncing on the sheets. After waking up in the middle of the night on a deflated bed, Ben and Kelsey found a few tiny holes that matched Luna's claws. Ethan got out his trusty bike tire repair kit and patched the holes right up. Luna is now banned from the air mattress.

Saturday morning we headed out to the LES (Lower East Side) to a really good brunch spot. The Clinton Street Baking Co. is always packed on the weekend and we waited about an hour and half. Vivek, another college friend, and his wife, Stuti, met up with us. They live in downtown Manhattan. That's all of us in the photo, waiting for our table. Saturday was miserably humid -the temperature got up to 87, but with the humidity factored in, it felt like it was 100. After a great breakfast of blueberry pancakes and fruit salad, we hit the streets, and met up with Ben's friend Tim, who took the train down from Massachusetts. We walked up to Union Square, stopping along the way to get a Mister Softee. In West Coast terms, this means an ice cream cone from the ice cream man. I ate the cone in record time, so it didn't melt all over my hands and shirt. By the time we got to Union Square, we were all very hot, sweaty and ready to go back to Brooklyn. I think it was the hottest day of the summer.


That night, Ben, Kelsey, Tim, Ethan and I went to an Upright Citizen's Brigade show. It's an improv theater troup, where many Saturday Night Live actors got their start in comedy. It's amazing how fast they can think on their feet and come up with clever stories in front of 150 people. Most of the skits were funny, especially one about a guy who has a blog that no one ever leaves comments on. Not that I'm hinting at anything. :)

The theater is in Chelsea and after the show, we went in search of some dessert. We walked by a HUGE gathering of NYPD cops, cars, and vans. There were black uniforms everywhere! It didn't seem like they were worried about anything, they were just standing around, taking up the whole sidewalk and creating a traffic jam on 8th Ave. Our theory was that a training of some kind was going on, maybe emergency response? I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out very clear.

We had a fun weekend and saw many new areas of town. We expect to explore some more in September with more visitors. Ethan's sister, Erin, is coming into town with a friend, and Ethan's parents come the next weekend. It should be a beautiful time to see the city, cooler temps and leaves changing color.