Day 38 - 23 Oct: New York, NY, to London, UK

So the last day of our US adventure. It's been incredible, a truly amazing experience, with nothing disappointing, and everything exceeding our expectations. 

As I've mentioned, we've been lucky with the weather right through, narrowly missing the tail end of a hurricane in Zion and tornadoes in the south-east, seeing very little rain and being able to walk our way around the country.

We can hardly complain, then, that our last couple of days have been a bit wet. It was a shame that we weren't able to hire the bikes to see Central Park from that vantage point, and we didn't manage to walk the Highline, but otherwise we ticked off pretty much everything on the list.

With the rain persisting we spent this morning packing up our stuff and taking it pretty easy - after Ruth and the boys had walked Nate to school and come back via a costume shop for Hallowe'en supplies.

It was looking a bit brighter by lunchtime and we had a couple of things to pick up before we left the States, so we ventured out and did those errands, and checked out some of the local shops. 

After delicious and substantial sandwiches from Lenny's we walked down to 50th to visit the Lego shop, which was really cool, and then stumbled upon Nintendo World, which was even more so.

By the time the boys had tried out the numerous consoles and games - and there was a hot chocolate stop somewhere, too, at Bon Bon's in the Rockefeller complex - it was time for Top of the Rock.

This had been sold to us by a number of people, and sunset recommended as the best time, so having rescheduled from yesterday morning to 5:30 today and with the skies clearing during the afternoon, we were really looking forward to it.

And it did not disappoint. The view was always going to be great, the Empire State Building front and centre, but to get up there just before the city began lighting up was really special. 

A fitting end to an amazing few days, an awesome few weeks.

Walked our way back to the apartment and had a last hour and meal with the Cohens, then said our goodbyes and expressed our deep thanks for their tremendous hospitality, and got a car to the airport. Queens, our third burough.

UK, here we come.