The big birthday finale

After the Lego Store, we still have some time before the last two highlights of the day. Once a 'bus tour' and then a visit to the M&M Store.

But first, finally sit down and eat something. We sit down in a diner and get good advice because the food is great and we are happy about the great day.

Then we walk to Times Square and board a bus called 'The Ride'. When we enter the bus, we realize that this is not a normal tour. All seats are oriented to the side and there is a huge window front. We are immediately greeted by two funny moderators who ask where everyone comes from and start a conversation with the guests. It is casually mentioned that there is a 'German Boy' on the bus who is celebrating his birthday today. Lukas "outs" himself and is then asked his name and age. Lukas handles it with flying colors and the whole bus congratulates him. And then the Ride starts.

We drive through NYC and suddenly a song starts and a lady on the sidewalk starts dancing. The Ride continues and there is a man standing there with a basketball and starts juggling. In between, we learn a lot about NY, laugh at crazy passersby, wave a lot, and play a quiz. And the Ride goes on. A few meters away, there is a rapper who starts rapping about NY, in the middle of his song he talks about a German boy Lukas who turns 12 today and the whole bus laughs and celebrates with Lukas. We are amazed, we didn't expect that... and Lukas certainly didn't either. But he is beaming. And the fun continues with funny anecdotes, we have never laughed so much on a bus tour. We reach the largest and only roundabout in NY and as we go around it, a ballet dancer accompanies us and performs a beautiful pas de deux. On the next corner, there is a saxophone player who meets a young woman who sings songs with him. Then the young woman also talks about the 'German Birthday Boy' and she calls on the whole bus to sing Happy Birthday to Lukas. We are amazed, everyone sings and laughs and is happy. Luke is super proud. What a great party. We can't put into words how amazing it all was and how happy Luke was.

As a grand finale, we go to the M&M Megastore and get our well-deserved treat.

Arriving at the hotel, we have more than 21,000 steps on the clock and we are really exhausted but also happy. Luke says it was a perfect birthday. Let's see what happens tomorrow...