Things To Do This Weekend in New York City and Roosevelt Island - Moonlight Bike Tour, Holiday Train Show W/Thomas the Tank Engine, Van Gogh & RI Tour

You Tube Video of NY Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show from David Hartman and PBS

Looking for fun things to do on Roosevelt Island or in some other part of New York City this first weekend of 2009? Here are some suggestions.

Free NYC recommends a moonlight bike ride later tonight through Central Park with Time's Up. According to the group:

This is a fun, relaxing auto-free ride through Central Park. Enjoy the tranquillity of the park & its beautiful ponds & waterways: a nature lover's dream. Totally safe. Bike guides front & rear.

Meet at 10 p.m., Columbus Circle (SW corner of Central Park) on the first Friday of the month, every month. (There is also a Prospect Park Moonlight Ride.)

The ride moves at a very leisurely pace with a few stops to enjoy the scenery. We usually finish before midnight, back at Columbus Circle. Total mileage is under 10 miles. We do not require lights (although if you have them you should bring them), and any kind of bike will work.

Sometime this weekend, try to visit the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibition before it closes on January 5 at the Museum of Modern Art. Writing about the Van Gogh exhibit, The Smithsonian Magazine says:

... What van Gogh fixed on, by daylight or at night, gave the world many of its most treasured paintings. His 1888 Sunflowers, says critic Robert Hughes, "remains much the most popular still life in the history of art, the botanical answer to the Mona Lisa." And van Gogh's visionary landscape The Starry Night, done the next year, has long ranked as the most popular painting at New York City's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This inspired the museum, in collaboration with Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, to mount the exhibition "Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night" (through January 5, 2009). It will then travel to the Van Gogh Museum (February 13-June 7, 2009)...

Parents can take the kids to have their picture taken with Thomas the Tank Engine at the New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show this weekend. According to the NY Post:

CHOO-CHOOSE THE BRONX

Trains - All weekend!

The New York Botanical Garden Train Show chugs along until Jan. 11, but Thomas the Tank Engine rolls into town tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and hangs around only until Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. before continuing down the line. Adults can check out an elaborate miniature train that travels around mini city landmarks (like Yankee Stasdium, above) while kids visit with Thomas, take part in arts and crafts activities and become certified honorary engineers. Adult tickets are $20 and kids 12 and under pay $10. 200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard, The Bronx; nybg.org, 718-817-8716

On Roosevelt Island this weekend, the Farmers Market will be open as usual on Saturday as is Gallery RIVAA, the Roosevelt Island Visual Arts Association which is exhibiting the Winter of Change group show. Also, RIOC has produced a great self guided tour map (PDF File) of Roosevelt Island for any visitor or resident looking to stroll the Island and learn something more about it.

Good weekend transportation news. The MTA is reporting normal Roosevelt Island F Train subway service in both directions and RIOC is not reporting any Tram service advisories either.

Check out some other ideas on what to do in New York City this weekend from the NY Times Urban Eye, NY Post Weekend Calendar and Newyorkology.