New York brought it today. After an obscenely early start, we arrived in the city around 1:30 and checked into our hotel. Tim selected the Knickerbocker Hotel for us this week – a storied hotel right off Times Square (which we learned was previously Long Acre Square). In the day, the history includes a long, contentious rivalry with the Waldorf Astoria, an uneasy ownership by someone widely known as John Jacob “Jack Ass” Astor, a speak-easy, and the fabled invention of the martini. For us today, we’ve appreciated the great location, kind staff and comparatively spacious rooms (although our bar for room size seems to be set by Tokyo, and by that measure nearly every US hotel room is huge. So I don’t know if our assessment means much).

After we checked in, we took a quick walk through Times Square. And with it came the dreaded parental moment when we had to explain that it’s best to steer clear of all the Elmos, Minnie Mouses (Minnie Mice?) and Batmen in the area. But the kids were agog at all the people and sights and sounds. My favorite observations so far: “I was expecting it to be like Tokyo, but this is just… {waving hands dramatically} messier” and “I’ve already learned that I need to watch where to step!”

We ate a late lunch of scrumptious New York pizza at John’s Pizza. And then we wandered around Times Square a little more and experienced the wonder of the M&M Store where the kids chose their own combination of M&Ms and even got them printed with four of their own custom designs.

And then the best part of the day, when we met up with a college friend of mine who I haven’t seen since our wedding, nearly 20 years ago. He and Tim became friends as fellow pilots, so we had a lot to catch up on, despite the number of years. Whatever you may say about Facebook, that’s a couple times now that I’ve been able to connect with old friends because of a last minute post to Facebook.

Tonight we’re heading to bed early to try to recover from our early morning. Tomorrow is the Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial and hopefully the Brooklyn Bridge.