So, time for another Pops in the City story.

Anyhow, when we arrived in the city we started out at a local parking garage that had been arranged and pre-paid for. Pop took one look and tried to decide to go for another parking garage that was a whopping 70 feet closer to our hotel to 'save us some hauling'. One suitcase each? With wheels? Anyway, he tries to back up in New York City Monday rush-hour traffic ... at least, until I mentioned that we were pre-paid and it was non-refundable. OK, so maybe plan A works after all ....

We get checked in and then Pops goes through a long list of potential amenities, asking which were 'free', and then requesting each freebie. For two. Good thing I ain't embarrassable. Queenie would have been mortified. And on the elevator ride up, Pops bragged about his travel knowledge ... and about the great deal he made off the hotel.      ;-)

We get to our rooms and get settled and Pops says "Let's go for a walk, see if we can find where we're going to do dinner.". So we get headed out. On the way down in the elevator he says "Can we go through Times Square?" Um, sure, since that's on our way to everywhere no problem. This would start a theme.

So we hit Times Square and Pop is all gaga over it: The lights, the architecture, the scene, the 'culture'. Uh, nope. If you've been to Times Square any time in recent years you know the score: The entire thing has degenerated into a blinding constant monstrous 'smart' billboard, there is little of the architecture or anything loosely cultural left to it, lights and a scene. And sell sell sell, a thousand ways to spend more money. And Pop just ate it up, wandering from place to place followed by the requisite pirouette to take it all in.

As soon as he was completely mesmerized I directed him towards Carnegie where we wandered around making note of close-by restaurants we could treat the more famous Carnegie Hall singers we were to meet later. Pop seemed to be in some hurry so we were done fairly quickly, still a hour before we were to meet for dinner, so he says "we have time, let's go back to Times Square!". And so it was, every time there was more than 30 minutes' break he'd steer us back to the bright-lights, big-city scene and gawk. It was kinda funny. We were there just shy of 24 hours yet managed to hit Times Square 8 times, like a moth to a bug zapper was Pops. The last visit every bit as exciting and mesmerizing as the first.

For him, anyway.

And for the record, this was not at all the first time he has been there. He's simply smitten.