Day 31 - Friday 28 December

Flying from Auckland Airport to Melbourne Airport.

And finally home.

Another wonderful, albeit short (for us) holiday.

The highlights were catching up with great friends:

- Joan & Peter, in California,
- Trevor, Katharine, Aimee & Liam, in NYC,
- Abigail, Andrew, Amelia & Asher, in NYC,
- Mitch & Regina, in NYC.

The other highlights were:

- revisiting San Francisco, after almost 30 years,
- driving from San Francisco to LA, along the coast (in our opinion, slightly better than south to north),
- relaxing on our Mexico/Caribbean cruise,
- visiting Chichen Itza, Mexico,
- spending Christmas in NYC (obviously we missed having Christmas in Melbourne with our friends).

Yet again, fortunately, another great time.

Day 30 - Thursday 27 December

Landed, transferred and about to fly from San Francisco Airport to Auckland Airport.

Day 29 - Wednesday 26 December

New York City - Day 10.

Some last minute shopping.

We then checked out of our hotel at midday and ubered to Newark Airport, where we checked in for our flight to San Francisco Airport, the first part of our marathon journey home.

Day 28 - Tuesday 25 December

New York City - Day 9.

A wonderful Christmas Day.

After completing most of our packing in the morning, we met the Leedens for a great, long lunch at - https://www.brasserie812.com/ .

We then walked through Central Park, making our obligatory stop at Strawberry fields .......

..... on our way to revisit Andrew & Abigail, and Mitch & Regina, and Amelia & Asher.

We then walked down Broadway back to our hotel.

 

Day 27 - Monday 24 December

New York City - Day 8.

A quiet day, mainly spent wandering nearby to our hotel.

In the late afternoon, we went to the home of our friends, Mitch & Regina.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas Eve.

Liam, Asher, Margot, Jane, Amelia, Abigail, Katharine, Mitch, Di, Trev, Elaine, Andrew, Regina, Maggie, Aimee.

We then strolled back to our hotel.

Day 26 - Sunday 23 December

New York City - Day 7.

Another lovely day.

In the late morning, Bill walked over to the nearby Paley Center for Media, but didn't spend much time inside (too much time required, if interested).

Bill then caught the subway to the near top of Manhattan, Washington Heights.

Bill walked down Sylvan Terrace, to .....

.... the Morris-Jumel Mansion - http://www.morrisjumel.org/briefhistory/ .

Bill then caught the subway back to Grand Central Terminal to meet Di, who had been to the Christmas Market.

After lunch, we strolled down Park Avenue.

Then back to Grand Central Terminal.

Grand Central Terminal & the Chrysler Building.

Then we caught the subway to midtown for some shopping.

Empire State building.

Madison Square Garden.

Pennsylvania Station.

We then headed back to upper midtown.

Tiffany's.

BG has the best Christmas window displays!

BG also has a fantastic Christmas department.

Outside the Solow Building on 58 Street.

We then walked through the Plaza to 59 Street, on our way To Wholefoods for a takeout dinner.