Some of my fellow travelers, on our way back to England on the ferry

Approaching the White Cliffs at Dover, England

Picadilly Circus at night in central London

This was a bittersweet day. While it had been a fantastic 12 days travelling around Europe, it was also our last day together. After breakfast, we loaded the motorcoach and headed back into Amsterdam for a diamond cutting and polishing demonstration.

We then said goodbye to 4 people who decided to either stay in Amsterdam for a little while longer or were catching their flight out from there. The rest of us jumped back aboard our motorcoach for the long drive out of The Netherlands, through Belgium, and back into France. It wasn't until mid-afternoon until we made back to the ferry docks at Calais. We helped unload the luggage from the coach and said goodbye to our driver, Lucas. We boarded the ferry and started our trip back to the white cliffs at Dover and an hour backwards for the time zone change. Many photographs were taken as it was one of the last opportunities for photographs, and some people were just using up their rolls of film.

After landing at Dover and waiting for almost an hour at customs, we boarded another Trafalgar bus for the drive back into London and the Barbican Hotel. After a long and brutal stop and go drive through rush hour traffic, we arrived at our hotel by early evening. We parted ways with the few who were headed to the Trafalgar Tour Departure Centre and/or Victoria Station, as well as goodbye and thanks to Andee for a well-organized and well-managed tour. The bulk of us checked into our rooms at the hotel. As with several others, I was given a room where the previous occupant hadn't completely packed up and vacated their room. As a result, I got a free upgrade to an executive suite. (When I checked into the Barbican Hotel at the beginning of my tour, I was given an executive suite automatically.)

The tour was now officially over, but we still had the night to spend in London before nearly everyone's flights would be leaving the next day. Helen, Steve and I accompanied Melissa to a different hotel closer to the centre of London via taxi (as she was still staying there for business for a few more days). We then walked around the city of London, and had dinner at one of several Angus Steak Houses (I had a classic English fish & chips meal). We then wandered around the centre of London, browsing in souvenir shops (which seemed to be all that were left that were open). When we got to Piccadilly Circus, we bumped into Rich, Lynn, Kim, Brian and Julie, all from our tour. We chatted and said our final goodbyes, then Helen, Steve and I accompanied Melissa back to her hotel via one of London's renowned red double-decker buses. Steve, Helen and I were then going to take the Tube (London's underground train system) back to our hotel, but had just missed the last train out of the station. So we hailed a taxi and headed back to the Barbican Hotel. I said goodbye to Helen and Steve and went back to my hotel room for a final night's sleep in Europe.