Hello again, Hard to believe our time in Europe together is soon over.... Our last day in Paris was quite filled but yet also gave us some free time for last minute exploring and shopping on our own as well.
We started off with a metro ride into town to see the impressive church of Notre Dame with some time to walk through it, before we would have almost 4 hours to ourselves! Everyone went off in small groups into different directions - on to the Arc de Triumph, a hike up the stairs of Notre Dame for a view over the city, shopping in some Parisian boutiques or the best chocolatier in town, a stroll through the Luxembourg gardens and the Latin quarter or on to exploring some used book shops. Even though it was ample of time compared to our other free hours during the week, we all could have used a few more and just "be"...!
We had an early dinner that night at a speciality restaurant serving Flemmenkuchen, a bit like pizza - Alsatian flat bread with cheese and toppings (ham, mushrooms, peppers, onions,...) and for dessert the same type of bread with creme freche and chocolate or fruit. It was quite yummy but unusual for many - not quite a full dinner meal in our minds. I guess it's all a learning experience of the different cultures and cuisines!
Afterwards we walked through town, with some of us being already quite tired - we did a lot of walking those days and our legs definitely felt it....! Doug, our tour leader, had a fast pace and it took all our strength to keep up with him that evening. The bright side of it is, that this is the best way to get to see a city and explore it - at home we have time to rest our sore feet and remember all the wonderful walks! A river boat ride, on the Seine, seeing the beautiful old buildings come to life being lit up, gave us a second wind, which we needed for our visit up to the Eiffeltower at 10:30pm. It was a spectacular view to see the city of love from above and even though many of us got disappointed and couldn't go up to the very top, it was a perfect ending to our time together!
We were all filled with happiness and gratitude to have lived together for the last 10 days with all of it's highs and lows, having experienced being together for so long, which none of us had done before. We had no idea how it would all work out and I think and are sure most all of the other 38 will agree - we managed really well, stayed flexible, helped each other, worked it out and most of all enjoyed each other's company! We did have a few sad moments of some sore throats, upset tummies and fatigue, missing items like an Ipod, a camera, a money belt and obviously Maya's broken pinky finger was one of our biggest group lows. (How she managed the days after, treating it like it never happened though, was amazing - heads off to you Maya!)
So with all of this said, we hope you enjoyed following us along, reading the blog and looking at some of our photos giving you the evidence, that we really were there ;o) I most certainly enjoyed writing it, and apologize that the last ones came so late - but are glad they are complete now!
So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good bye.....
Alison, Gretchen, Kim, Kimberly, Mark, Niki, Rosey & Sarah - YOUR COMMUNITY MAMAS AND DAD
David, Jack, Hannah B, Megan, Ethan, Colin, Jonathan, Aurora, Keith, Cole, Stevie, Taylor, Molly, Penelope, Amelia, Narayan, Sebastian, Shayne, Rosa, Anaka, Maeve, Nina, Georgia, Saisha, Hannah J., Amalia, Jameson, Hannah T., Grace, Silas, Maya - A WONDERFUL GROUP OF KIDS TO BE WITH!!!
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