Last Sunday – my nieces’ last day here in New 
Jersey. There flight out was going to be late, at 7.30 pm, and we had already checked them in first thing in the morning. Next up for the two of them was packing all there new and old treasures while David and I cleared the breakfast table. Obviously we did not want to drive too far, but we still had tons of time before we had to go the airport. By the time everybody was ready it was past noon and we went to visit the Whippany Railway Museum NJ. Since David and I moved here last year we, or rather David, had wanted to check it out. Now was the time and we dragged our nieces there. If you are into railways and/or you are in the vicinity you should 
definitely check it out. They have a little shop with an exhibition of vintage railroad related items and a little Titanic exhibition. But most of the museum is outside 
i.e. the wagons. Not all of them are open, but some of them are and you can see the old interior. But for the most part, you can wander the whole grounds of the Whippany Railway Museum NJ by yourself and marvel in ‘the good ol’ times’. I was quite surprised to learn that not all the wagons are owned by the museum, but by private parties, too. While we were there some of those enthusiasts were there repairing, renovating and painting different wagons or locomotives. If you go way to the back you can also see very rusted ones, which I am not sure they will ever get up to scratch again. We spent quite a while there, in the end the girls 
and I were sitting at a picnic table enjoying the sun and waiting for David.
By now it was about 2.30 pm, so still plenty of time. Since, for a change, the weather was really nice, we decided to go back to the Arboretum Frelinghuysen and have a picnic. And we were not the only ones who had this idea. There were a few more parties enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the park. We had bought some berry pie the previous day at Delaware Water Gap, which disappeared very quickly while we were reading or, for my part, wandered around taking photos of flowers and butterflies. By 4.30 it was 
time to pack our things and go home to get the suitcases and head for the airport. Being a United flight I was certain they would fly out 
of terminal A, so we parked there. But far from it – we stood in line for quite a while at the United counter only to be told ‘you are flying to Germany? That is terminal C’! Stupid me not to check… But in the end we were able to get the boarding passes in terminal A and also drop off the 
suitcases here. Sonja & Sandra were checked in, had their boarding passes and there was still plenty of time for them to go via airtrain to terminal C. But we said our goodbyes here, and reassured them yet again 
that they are welcome back any time. I am fairly certain they will be, sooner or later. When I saw them walking towards the airtrain though, I felt a certain loneliness after having them around for over a week. And sure enough the next few days our house felt pretty empty while going back to normal.
So, this was it, the wrap up of my nieces’ visit. Next up I will concentrate again on photography, show you more of the photos I took that week and, of course, our shower…
