B-day bash, Midsummer fest, Gay Pride, Brooklyn = NYC

I had a great time in New York with a lot of events and festivities!

Friday night was my former London roommate/Toronto classmate's birthday party in his apartment on East 50th street. A supergood location and fun people to have some drinks with. With a hangover in the morning I managed to wake up early and take myself over to Brooklyn, where I would couch crash for the rest of my weekend. I have been many times in New York but this was the first time I have really been to Brooklyn and it is a really nice place. If I would work in New York Brooklyn would be the place to live in. It is calmer and just so much cuter :)

Through Couchsurfing I happened to meet another Finnish-Swedish girl that also lived in Brooklyn and she invited me to Prospect Park in Brooklyn for a Midsummer's Day picnic with other Nordics, Scandinavians and the random American. We had a lovely afternoon eating Swedish meatballs from Ikea, ragbrod(!!), Finnish licorice, Wasa knackebrod and other yummy stuff while playing charades and enjoying the sun. :)

Sunday was all about the NY Gay Pride parade! I met up with two other couchsurfers outside the Empire States building and we managed to find a good spot in the crowds to check out the fab and crazy gay parade. Some had beautiful amazing costumes while others barely had no clothing what so ever. I loved it! Who would say no to watching naked hot men dancing on the streets?! ;-)

Since I stayed in Brooklyn I had to do the famous walk over Brooklyn bridge even though I had done it before. It is just such a nice walk even though it was 31'C warm. Hot, hot, hot! After the hot catwalk, I cruised around lower Manhattan; Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho and then met up with my new found friend Kwon in Chelsea. There she showed me the High Line, a new park that has been built on top of the old railway lane. It stretches out for 3-4 blocks and they plan to extend it for 10 more. It was a cool and refreshing park, very innovative and creative with flowers and trees planted on the railway. You can see pics of it in my pictures.

I had a very good time in New York and walked so much that my feet needed a foot massage or at least a gentle foot rub. But it is all happy days for my feet as they have been in flip flops now for 7 months, so they can't complain really.

Anyways, after my fun days in NY I jumped back on the double-decker megabus to DC to spend my last week in the States with the president (and yeah my friend Margo)!