Our time in America has been truly remarkable. So many wonderful people, conversations & shared stories but now it’s time to continue our journey to England; or more precisely Liverpool. Our museum-in-a-rucksack is packed up once again & ready to be shipped across the Atlantic. The original tiles & fragments now carefully wrapped in protective bubble wrap & about to cross the Atlantic for a second time; 150 years since they were transported from Liverpool to Manhattan in the mid 1860s. Which ship & ‘packet line’ took them over the ocean? What was the weather like? How long did it take? Did expert installers travel with them? The ‘return journey’ will be in the hold of an aeroplane rather than sailing clipper; not quite so romantic perhaps but not without its own contemporary twists & turns including Homeland Security checks & explanations! Depending on conditions; the outward journey could have taken a week to complete. The return journey will take slightly less than 7 hours (to Manchester Airport).

THANK YOU New York; next stop Liverpool…