Day 3: New York City

Today we are just 'winging it'!  We have absolutely no plans but one reservation that is flexible anytime before 8:00pm.  Sort of going with the flow the best that I know how.  Colin did not wake up until 10:30am so sort of hard to beat the crowds.  I was up early so just studied the map of where we were probably going to go.  Oddly enough the subway map that I had did not have where we wanted to go so this might be interesting.  Our first stop took us to Queens to the Museum of Moving Image . . . probably not on many must visit list while in NYC but the main reason we are going is they have a special exhibit called Arcade Classics.  I wanted to show Colin how we played video games and knew he would enjoy this type of museum.  Oh my goodness they had so many of the games I remember from growing up:  Q*bert, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Ms Pac-Man to name a few . . .

I loved playing Space Invaders as a kid on my Atari!  Oh how I wish I would have kept it now!

Colin loved Frogger . . . he played it a lot!  We spent a lot of time playing and just having fun!  The tokens were 4 for $1 so bought $5 worth and we each received 5 with our paid admission.  There were a lot of summer camp kid groups too, but they did not stay long in the game room.  One of the adults even gave us some of their left over tokens.  We did check out the rest of the museum, and I happened to find my brother . . .

Just kidding!  I grew up an only child and would often get poked fun at my name as a kid.  I can't tell you how many times people would ask if I had a brother named Howdy; my maiden name is Duty.  I know the puppet above is Howdy Doody and absolutely no relation.  Anyway, at a certain point I just played along and would say yes.  Looking back it was funny and when I went to college at Texas A&M the joke continued but you know what . . . people really would remember my name!  In fact over the years, I have collected some Howdy Doody memorabilia too.  It was fun to see my brother and share the story with Colin too!  We headed back to the subway for our next activity which was renting bikes in Central Park . . . oh how I just love Central Park!  Renting bikes can get expensive so I booked them last night for a steal!  I booked 2 bikes for 2 hours for $28.  As we showed our voucher I noticed 1 bike for 2 hours cost $20.  So plan ahead or at least book it online before you show up at the store.  I expected some crazy fee when we checked in but only paid an extra $1 for a basket to hold all our stuff.  It was easy and just a block from Central Park.  When we were here last year, Colin really, really, really wanted to do the remote control boats, but we were on a tour so it did not work out.  So today we did it.  He was so excited and proclaimed he could mark it off his bucket list!  I turned him loose and stayed with the bikes since I forgot to get a lock when we picked them up . . . oh well it was fun to watch him across the water!

We rode bikes for 1 hour 45 minutes and it was H-O-T!  Like super hot and we did not eat breakfast, and I was starving!  The funny thing is we had so much fun we did not take one single photo!  We returned the bikes.  I wanted pasta and Colin pizza so we asked where the closest place would be and quickly headed to Bella Vita Pizzeria where I stuffed myself!

I forgot to mention to Colin we would be walking all the way back to the hotel and he was not too happy!  It was only about a mile so no big deal except we had just been on bikes for two hours and eaten a lot of food quickly!  I might have stopped for a bribed ice cream along the way!  We headed back to the hotel to relax and take a nap.  Hey there is nothing better than a nap on vacation!  There was no way I was sitting in the room the rest of the night so we headed out to Times Square.  I can say it is nice that they have seemed to establish a small area for all the crazy characters to stay which is nice.  I think we were traumatized last year when they would basically all run up to you and want a photo and of course money too!  We made a quick stop to the M&M Store which was fun but packed!  I find great joy in just walking around while the kiddo only likes to have a destination in mind!  We sort of don't have the same outlook at times, but he does humor me often.  Of course in my head I knew exactly where we are going but usually keep that to myself.  So it was dinner time and for years I had read all the hype about Shake Shack so I wanted to check it out . . .

First, the line is long but moves quickly.  Note to people:  look at the menu while standing in that line so you know what you want when you get to the register to order.  It amazes me people get to the register and then look at the menu.  Ugh!  I can say it was really good even Colin liked the burger!  The bun and meat were fresh and the vegetables crisp . . . oh and the brewed ice tea was so good too!  The price of the meal is cheap for NYC too.  Of course I also knew just a block or so away was that yummy gelato place, Amorino.  Oh yes we did . . .

Colin stuck with the lemon while I had hazlenut (center), chocolate, coconut (outside).  Oh my the combination was to die for!  When I lived in Germany I always would get hazelnut and chocolate but the chocolate went with the coconut so well too!  Thank goodness we are walking back to the hotel . . . no complaints from me or Colin!  I spent some time packing our bags because tomorrow we change locations for part two of our trip!