My wife, Laia, told me last week that she really wanted to attend the Coney Island Mermaid Parade this year. She’d been to it twice before, once with her family who were visiting from Barcelona and another when I had just started on tour with Justin Bieber, both times I was unfortunately unable to attend. Coney Island is a place I rarely get to, so it was a nice change of pace to zip out to the beach on my scooter with Laia today.

I’m not sure what to say about the parade other than it’s Coney Island’s official start of summer, it has a Mardi Gras feel to it with dancing, some brass bands, and lots of people dressed in ocean-themed outfits. Oh, there’s a fair amount of boobs too. Lots of these outfits are made entirely out of body paint, so there’s some partial nudity.

We arrived before the parade started and walked around, ate some hotdogs, and scouted out locations to shoot. We bounced around from the start and finish and decided to hang out for a while at the end in hopes some participants would peel off and head to the beach. They did, which was nice because it gave me an excuse to get into the water a bit. It was super hot and the sun was taking a toll. Laia and I got a lot of sun today.

We decided to call it a day pretty soon after as we had another 1+ hour ride on our little scooter. Coney Island is the farthest we’ve brought our little bike. Another fun day in NYC! My photos are in the order they were taken.

Last Saturday I had an unexpectedly fun experience when I attended the Barcelona Three Kings Parade with my wife and her family. The Three Kings Day isn’t a holiday I’d ever heard of before marrying Laia, but for those of you who don’t know, the tradition is somewhat like Christmas, in that children write a letter to old, bearded men who then sneak into their homes and leave gifts for them. Kind of creepy now that I think about it.

Anyhow, the Three Kings Day takes place Jan 6 in most Spanish speaking cultures. As the story goes, the kings come from the Orient on their camels just to bring presents for youngsters. In Barcelona they arrive by boat in the Barcelona harbor, where they give a speech with the mayor of the city, and then are transported by fancy old cars to the start of the parade route, which is quite extensive and runs all throughout the city.

I was able to witness the boat coming into port along with the masses of children and their parents. I missed the speech, but was able to catch a glimpse of the kings as they departed in their fancy cars flanked by horse-bound police officers. Many of the various characters whom are part of the parade also preceded the kings as they set off for the start of the parade.

I’ve seen the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC a number of times as I live in the neighborhood in which that parade starts and I’d have to say the Barcelona Three Kings Parade gives it a run for it’s money, but without all the massive balloons. Unlike the Thanksgiving parade, the Kings parade is entirely set around a theme of “Hey kids, did you write the letters? The kings are coming! Go to sleep, it’s bedtime!”

The streets were jammed packed with exhilarated kids and equally trilled parents excited to share this tradition with their young ones. Barcelona is a city with many multi-story apartments, most of which have balconies. Adults and kids alike were in nearly every window as the parade made its way down the streets. Many residents with the higher balconies provided homemade confetti and kept a constant flurry streaming from above. Those who didn’t have confetti just threw rolls of toilet paper which became streamers coming from the sky.

The entire parade lasted about an hour and consisted of monster floats, the biggest being those that carried the kings. There were also bands and buses and horses and, my favorite, many characters with baskets either tethered to their backs or on long polls that could be reached out into crowds to collect last minute letters written by children to the kings listing all the presents they desired.

If you ever find yourself in Barcelona during this holiday, I recommend attending, especially with children. It’s worth the wait and fun for adults too.

Today I decided to wake up early on the weekend and head to midtown on my bike with my wife and photograph some of the activity around the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Normally I try to stay as far away from Fifth Avenue parades as possible, but I felt motivated this morning. Also, this was not for an assignment, rather just for ourselves, so there was no stress with deadlines or editor’s expectations. We decided to  concentrate on the activity around the parade because in order to get a good spot, we would have to stay in one place and not move…this way we got to roam and see all the participants of the parade warming up for the before the parade started.

It was fun, but as the start time approached, more and more highly intoxicated revelers began pouring out of bars, which wasn’t so fun. Anyhow, I hope you like my take on the parade!