Friday 18th April 2008

After breakfast we had to pack our cases! I hate packing to go home. Even though we arrived with 2 we are going home with 4! When we were with Katie we collected one of the suitcases she took with her last August and put her skiing outfit, her ball gowns, scarfs etc., in it so that we could take them home for her and we also collected the suitcase that Lizzie had left there. We have filled that with new clothes for Frank and me!

After leaving our bags at the hotel we went back into NYC to do the uptown tour. The guy taking the tour was called Tony, he was 75 and came from The Bronx. He was so interesting. He told us loads about Harlem and The Bronx and what it was like when he was growing up there. We saw where John Lennon was shot and where Bill Clinton has his office! We were unable to travel the proper uptown route as roads were closed due to the Pope's visit. This meant we didn't get to go right around Central Park. We just drove up one side of it!

After the tour we had lunch then headed back to the hotel to get our luggage and then finally back to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 8.30pm but it finally took off at 9.30pm. The flight was pretty uneventful - we only landed in Amsterdam about 10 minutes late and then we had a 2 hour wait for our flight to Birmingham.