Well, That Was Fun.

I never know whether to put up a final blog post when I get home.... to those around me I'm obviously home, but for you further away folks, I figured it was good to fill you in on the final leg of the trip (for me). 

Maren and I had a fantastic last few days in Paris. We continued to walk more than we've ever walked before... along an artsy little street called Belleville, around various sites from the movie Amelie, to the Eiffel Tower, up the Eiffel tower, away from the Eiffel Tower, and back to the Eiffel Tower at night to get amazing photos, through Musee D'Orsay, and eventually, to the train station, to catch a train north to Thionville and my dear old friend Jess, who I met long ago as an au pair in Australia. She hosted us for the weekend, fed us cheese fondue, did our laundry, and let us sleep until noon. Last Monday we all took a train to Luxembourg. Jess went to work, I said a sad goodbye to Maren, and got on a bus that took me to Germany, another bus that took me to the Frankfurt airport, then a sky train to the international terminal, followed by a bus to the correct plane. After landing in Vancouver 12 hours later, I came very close to kissing the sweet North American airport carpet. It is strange and wonderful to be home; the sun is shining everyday. Maren ventured from Jess' today to a little French town called Nurlu, and will go on to see Belgium and Germany before coming back for Thanksgiving dinner. She is missed. 

Maren being Maren. 

Nothing quite as good as an enormous old
cemetery in autumn. 

Artsy Fartsy. 

A sweet old French lady offered to take this if I held
onto her dog. I tried to get the dog into the picture
it was not very cooperative. 

Classic tourist shot.  

Maren having an "Amelie special" in the cafe from the movie.
(Right after this a French guy told us we should go try a frappacino
from the Starbucks around the corner. What???)

Bam. 

Strange things in the endless aisles of cheese
at the grocery store. 

Eating Raclette (cheese fondue) with Jess,
her boyfriend, sister, and chatty cousin.

Along the River Moselle, in Luxembourg. 

That's all for now. Love to each of you. 

The Whirlwind Week That Was.

Hello from Paris! I don't even know how to begin describing the past week. First, miraculously, my passport arrived at the Southampton DHL last Wednesday morning at 8.28am (thanks for the prayers). We arrived at the ferry landing just in time to check in -- many thanks to dear Mr. Wall for getting us safely on the boat and Mrs. Wall for packing an excellent lunch on the assumption that we'd make it! The ride across the English Channel was stunning. White cliffs, wind, blue water... oh yes, and a passport in my pocket. We arrived in the little port of Dieppe, hopped on a bus to the train station, took a train to the town of Rouen, and spent two nights with our sweet host, Linda, and her rather aggressive cat, Jules. Rouen is where Joan of Arc was imprisoned and killed, so we learned a lot about her and explored pretty much all of the little city. 

On Friday, we arrived in Paris and once again found ourselves trying to maneuver the maze of a huge city transport system with all our baggage. There really is nothing more fun, and by fun I mean exhausting and stressful. We stored our bags, grabbed some quiche, and scoped out Notre Dame before going to our hosts Flo and Bruno's, a lovely French couple in the suburb of Alesia. Over the weekend we explored le Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin de Tuileries, the Louvre, Champs D'Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, and probably our favourite thing after all that touristy stuff -- a darling little marche aux puce (flea market) in Port de Vanves. Yesterday after exploring as much as we could of the insides of the Louvre in 3 hours, we found our second Parisien hosts, Sophie and Thomas, in Ourq. Today we explored gorgeous Parc des Buttes Chaumont near their apartment, and hiked to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, where we managed to find the graves of Edith Piaf,Frédéric Chopin, and Oscar Wilde among a bajillion tombstones. A few photos from the wild week..

Saying goodbye to England and the white cliffs of the south. 

At the Jeanne d'Arc wax museum. 

A REAL Monet, at a fine arts museum in Rouen
that we got into free with our student cards!

Is she alive? 

Notre Dame, the Siene, Maren, and the rain. 

Inside. 

We have grown to love this sign very, very much. 

A Louis Vuitton window display on the Champs D'Elysee.
Completment bizarre.. 

Arc de Triomphe at 8 in the morning!

Love locks on the bridge. 

Maren mange une baguette avec les petites ouiseaux. 

A fireworks display at La Defense.

We love flea markets. 

This is about as close as we could get to Miss Mona Lisa. 

About half way through the Louvre, Maren realized her map was in  German.
Didn't help much that mine was in Polish. 

View of the Louvre, from inside the Louvre.