Saturday 15 December - NYC

Started the day with breakfast at a local cafe with the Aitken family and then headed off to visit the New York Historical Society museum near the AMNH. Enjoyed a well made multi-media film presentation about the history of New York city and the special exhibit on New York during WWII. Then off to the downtown area to visit the Merchant's House Museum. This house was home to the one family from the mid-1800's and on the death of the last daughter in the 1930s the home was turned into a museum preserving much of the original layout and furnishing.

The next plan was to visit a display at the museum at Central Station but there was quite a queue so we decided to give that a miss and head on foot to Fifth Avenue and up to Tiffany & Co to pick up a previous purchase that Jessica was having engraved.

Alison picks up a younger man at Tiffany & Co. Note how her jacket and scarf match the Tiffany colours.

Fancy Christmas snake decoration at Bulgari across the road from Tiffany

 The shopping crowds in Fifth Avenue were horrendous and Alison and Philip both came to the conclusion that their time in NewYork was ready to end. Thankfully we are scheduled to pick up our car and head to Washington tomorrow.

Late "dunch" or early "linner" of salads from the same cafe where we had breakfasted and then a nanna nap for Jessica and Philip while Alison re-packed for tomorrow. Tonight Alison and Jessica have headed off to Broadway to attend a play starring with Katie Holmes while Philip watches television.