New York 2015 Pictures Days 8 and 9

So at 11:55AM we went into Ben's. Renée had half a pastrami sandwich and chicken soup with kreplach. I had a roast beef sandwich with lettuce. I had some of the soup. The Kreplach were very tasty. It was a pasta parcel with mince meat inside. The sandwiches were delicious! I wolfed down my one but it was a bit too much for Renée. But hey ho. Renée kindly treated me to say thanks for the organisation and planning. She paid up and at 12:50PM we left.

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Chicken Soup with Kreplach.	Roast Beef Rye Bread Sandwich.

Oh good the rain had now stopped and it was brightening up. We headed up 7th Avenue to Times Square, looking at more shops on the way as well as at M&M's world.

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1501 Broadway (Paramount Building).	As ever all sorts of dressed up (and undressed!) people are present at Times Square.	Another look over the crowds to the Coca Cola board and the New Year ball.		Hershey's Chocolate World.

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M&M's World.	Inside M&M's World.		Another external view of M&M's World.

By 1:30PM we'd had enough of the crushing crowds at Times Square and escaped. We went along 46th Street back to the hotel at 1:45PM for a loo break and to stow some shopping. At 2pm we decided to walk back to Grand Central. The sun was coming out now but it was very hazy. The shops in Grand Central all seemed very up market and expensive. The main market initially looked good but was expensive and not very fresh so it was all a bit disappointing. We left at 2:15PM and walked Eastwards on 42nd Street looking at yet more shops. We went round the back of Grand Central to Lexington Avenue and then back into Grand Central. We went down to the food court at 2:30PM and went straight to Magnolia Bakery for goodies. Renée loved the last Magnolia iced coffee so had one again with a red velvet cake. It was huge! She couldn't finish it. I had a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing and water. We relaxed and stayed until 3:15PM.

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Renée enjoying a Magnolia Iced Coffee and Red Velvet Cake.	Mike's Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Icing.

Then we went via the shops on the junction of Madison Avenue and 45th Street to the hotel at 3:30PM. We were shopped out and tired so we rested in the lobby using the hotel WIFI and loos until 4:10PM. Then with our cases retrieved we walked to the bus pickup point near 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. We got there at 4:25PM, with 5 minutes to spare to the scheduled time. However the bus arrived a little late. We got on board ok and left at 4:45PM. Bye bye Manhattan! It was great knowing you again for a week. I was able to use the advertised free WIFI on the bus and made contact with home before they retired for the night (5PM for us was 10PM back home).

The bus took the Queens Midtown Tunnel under East river to Queens. The Queens Midtown and Long Island Expressway traffic was terrible and reminded me of the rush hour M25 back home. It was a relief to get off it onto a clearer road... briefly... until the next jam was reached. However I reckon the traffic jams were normal and catered for by the timetable as we eventually got to the airport within the expected journey time. The control tower top was in cloud and it was all rather murky and drizzly here. After dropping off others at terminal 7 we went round the spaghetti road system seemingly a few times and then we were dropped off at terminal 4 at 5:50PM, exactly 1h5m after we left, as promised by the timetable. Can't argue with that!

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Here comes our bus.	Heading down 2nd Avenue to the Queens Midtown Tunnel.	Driving along the Van Wyck Expressway under the Airtrain. Nearly at JFK.

There was no queue at the checkin desks so it was indeed a good idea leaving checkin until the airport. Security was also fairly quick and painless. We were through to duty free by 6:15PM. Now we had over 3 hours to spare until takeoff so plenty of time to roam duty free.

After looking at all the shops we went to MacDonalds at 7PM. That was some yummy comfort food. There wasn't much else in the way of cheap food choice anyway and the fish fillet is usually tasty.

Fog descended as the day got late. We didn't expect to be able to see anything out of the windows on take off. I tried a Dunkin Donut while we waited. It was ok but the cream inside wasn't very nice. The glazed one I wanted was sold out alas and the only chocolaty one I could find was this Oreol one. Oh well it got rid of some unwanted loose change.

We boarded at 8:50PM. Oh no! There were two toddlers behind us being noisy and kicking the seats. It was going to be a long flight! It was also a pretty old 747 plane too so I didn't expect much out of the entertainment. However, it turned out to be more comfortable and roomy than the Dreamliner we had comeout on. So that was good for the night flight home. We left the gate bang on time. Alas it was still foggy and damp outside. It was a smooth flight home. Thankfully the toddlers settled down and slept most of the flight. The entertainment, although on older equipment, was identical to the system on the Dreamliner. I watched a film before trying but failing to sleep as expected. Once we were getting close to the end of the flight and it was light outside I took some pictures.

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Renée getting settled in for a long night flight.	Cloudscapes after sunrise as we approach the UK.

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Flying past a virga as we get closer to home.	Carpets of stratus cloud below Western England.		More broken streeting clouds over Southern and Southeastern England.

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Turning over broken streeting cumulus clouds.		Descending down to the cloud tops.		The River Thames seen through a gap in the clouds.

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Aproaching and landing at Heathrow.

We landed a few minutes early back at Heathrow. And there ended a brilliant holiday.

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After a sleepless night and a nap this cup of tea was heavenly!	A selection of the Westchester cookies at work on Tuesday 12th May before they got devoured by my colleagues!