Day 66 – Friday 16 December

Auckland, NZ – Melbourne

Having missed our scheduled connection in Auckland, we flew home on the next flight, which was 4 hours later – a small dampner on another great holiday.

The highlights of this trip were:

1. catching up with great friends, namely (in chronological order):

 - Joan & Peter (first on our West Coast road trip), and then at their home in St. Louis, Missouri, with their grown-up children, Shona & Thomas,

- Bill’s cousin, Maria, in San Diego,

- Lee, at his home in Winona, Mississippi,

- Mitch & Regina, at their home in New York City

- Abigail & Andrew, at their home in New York City, with their rapidly growing-up children, Amelia & Asher

- Jamie, in New York City
- Jeremy & Holly, visiting from the UK
- Carol & Peter, visiting from the UK

2. making new friends, on our Panama Canal cruise:

- Gary & Roni

- Shirley & Lee

- Rick & Maureen,

- Fred

- Hans

3A. our 23-day West Coast road trip, which included lovely stays in Santa Barbara, LA & San Diego, in California, Portland, in Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. We drove 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres), through 4 US states (California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington),

3B. our 2-day West Coast rail trip, from Seattle to San Diego,

3C. our 16-day cruise, from San Diego, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, via the Panama Canal, and visiting Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rico, Columbia, and the Bahamas,

3D. our 14-day road trip in the mid and eastern states, which included lovely stays in Winona and St.Louis. We drove a further 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres), through 15 US states (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania & New Jersey), and

3E. our 11-day finale in New York City

Nb. We added visits to a further 7 Capitol Buildings, namely: Carson City, Nevada; Sacramento, California; Tallahassee, Florida; Montgomery, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Frankfort, Kentucky; Richmond, Virginia.

Home safely and surely.

Signing off now – thank you for keeping up with us.

Day 65 - Thursday 15 December

LAX - Auckland, NZ

Flight 2 of 3 - Day lost in translation.

Unfortunately, due to a delay in departing LAX, we will miss our connection in Auckland, for Melbourne.

Day 64 - Wednesday 14 December

New York City - Day 11 of 11 - LAX

In the morning, Di carried out her normal great work in packing our luggage.

Di then did some last minute shopping.

Bill went on an interesting self-guided tour of Grand Central Terminal.

We then met back at our 'home', before ubering to Newark Airport, and saying farewell to NYC.

We flew to LAX, on part 1 of our 3 flights home.

Day 63 - Tuesday 13 December

New York City - Day 10 of 11

Today was mainly a second last day's shopping, starting at Saks Fifth Avenue.

We then dropped into St. Patrick's Cathedral.

We then had an Asian-Fusion lunch at - http://taorestaurant.com/mobile/ .

Next we went to Bloomingdale's.

Then it was Macy's.

We then walked north up Broadway, passed Gotham Hall,

and some Fancy Animal Carnival sculptures.

We then arrived at Bryant Park,

where Di bought some spectacle frames from CJ, and his colleagues at  https://sireseyewear.com/ .

We then met Jamie, and went to the movies.

Day 62 - Monday 12 December

New York City - Day 9 of 11

This morning, we walked passed a dying business in a lovely building on 42 Street.

We then dropped into the beautiful Public Library, with its Christmas tree and rooms.

Behind is Bryant Park, with its festive ice skating.

After lunch, we made a return trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

the living room from a Frank Lloyd Wright designed living room.

We then went to 53rd Street & 8th Avenue, to look in one of Di's favourite shops.

We then passed the Church of Sweden on 48th Street.

In the evening we went down to Soho, with Jamie, for dinner at the amazing - http://beautyandessex.com/new-york/ .

We then went to the nearby Jewish delicatessen, but got no satisfaction (i.e. no hot chocolate).