Au Revoir Paris!

Hello all!! I'm writing to you from the beautiful Salzburg, Austria, but more on that later! I'm here to tell you all about my final days in what has been the most amazing home away from home I could have imagined--Paris, France! Upon arriving back from Corsica, Ally and I had a "bucket list" of things we wanted to see/do in the few days we had left. We arrived home Friday around 6 and immediately dropped off our bags and set out for the night. We roamed one of our favorite districts, the Marais, by night. I had heard all year about a wonderful Mexican food restaurant in the area, so we decided to give it a try. It's called Candelaria and it is such a whole in the wall place, I could have easily walked by without a second glance. We settled in with our Negro Modelo beers, our carnitas and steak tacos, and our chips and guac, and enjoyed a wonderful, quite authentic meal. From there we decided to roam to the Latin Quarter, but were distracted by the final days of the Paris Plages taking place. Gallons of sand dumped along the banks of the Seine, sand castles, playgrounds, lounge chairs, bars, ice cream stands, and musicians surrounded us as we meandered down the river for the final time. We soon ended up in the window seat of a random bar, sipping rose, watching the passersby, and recapping what an amazing year it has been. We called it a night soon after, but not before a pit stop in a long admired jewelry store to buy some gorgeous matching rings as a memory of the friendship we were so lucky to create this year.

Walking the Paris Plages

Drinks in the 5th

Now we had been looking forward to Saturday morning for quite some time now, as it would be our first day in 1 month to be able to sleep in without interruption. Turns out our body clocks disagreed, so by 8:30am we were wide awake. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, a nice chat, started some laundry, and planned our day before deciding to actually shower and head out. Unfortunately our relaxing day went to hell when I went into the bathroom to shower, only to find the entire bathroom floor covered in 2 inches of water. Oh shit. The washing machine had overflowed to give us a nice "welcome home!" present.  It took 1 hour to mop up the floor, and another hour to hand wash all of our laundry from the last 3 weeks. Let the vacation begin I suppose!! We managed to get out of the house at a reasonable hour, as I had a special assignment for the day.  I just learned in the last couple weeks that apparently the sister of my great great great grandmother was a famous silent film star who lived in Paris.  She was quite well-known, and owned quite a few bars/clubs in the area, and when she died, she was buried in one of the nicest cemeteries in Paris.  My task? Find her grave and take pictures of it for my Grandmother.  So Ally and I went out to do just that.  We thoroughly enjoyed roaming the gorgeous cemetery, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.  Finally we found her, Pearl White, took our pictures, and made our way to the Trocadero for some lunch.  We sat at a nice outdoor cafe ON the Trocadero enjoying salads with the best view of the Eiffel Tower Paris has to offer.  Wonderful afternoon!  Soon we made our way to the Opera area to hit up our favorite stores for a little last minute shopping. We were so tired that after just a few hours, we retired back to ally's to watch a movie, catch up on Skype dates, and cook up a little Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. Not a day we expected, but a pretty great one either way!

Painfully mopping up the lake

Passy Cemetery

Can anyone tell me what her relation would be to me?

Not a bad resting place...

Delicious salad and delicious view!

Sunday was the day that Jaimie would finally arrive in Paris so our threesome could be reunited for our final days. However, before her arrival we decided to head back to the Marais for some strolling and to take in some of Paris' finest people watching. We had a last taste of our favorite falafel place for lunch, stopped in for some delicious mojitos at a cafe we've been meaning to try all year, and came across an amazing band from Warsaw, Poland playing on a street corner. After watching them for a while, we bought their cd and called it a day. Jaimie arrived around 9pm and we spent the rest of the night catching up on all we've missed out on in the last few months.

One last falafel

Delicious mojitos in the sunshine

Paula i Karol

Monday. What a great day Monday was. Long story short, Ally and I met a couple people in a bar awhile back who both work for Disneyland Paris, and they promised us free admission if we ever wanted to go. So Monday was the day we decided to take them up on their offer, and here we are being escorted into Disneyland as VIPs, with fast passes and all!! We spent the day getting in touch with the inner child in all of us, pigging out on hot dogs and ice cream, and nearly puking from the insanity that is their version of Space Mountain. After returning home that night, we freshened up and went out to the 5th for some drinks, before ending our night with a trip back to our old stomping grounds, The Great Canadian! So many amazing memories in this bar, it was only fitting that we bring our year to a close with even more amazing memories there.

WOOOOO!

Oddly familiar...

Best Friends <3

Clearly thrilled

This soon turned into genuine thrills...Thunder Mountain Railroad with a 360 flip!?

Ending the day with delicious ice cream!

Tuesday began our final full day in Paris, so we began it doing what we love most--sleeping in. Breakfast, showers, and a little Bachelor Pad later, we were off to do a little more shopping. Mainly just to visit our favorite stores, rather than actually buy anything as we are all far too poor for that by now! We came home soon after and indulged in our final group nap together, something we had trademarked this year. This was necessary to prepare us for our final night out together in Paris. We began the night at the famous Chartier restaurant, where we indulged in rose, escargot, and fois gras, our favorites! We continued on to another favorite of ours, Cafe OZ, where Jaimie sweet talked the bartender into 2 drinks and a shot each for just €5!! If we learned anything this year, it's how to sweet talk the bartenders! (just kidding, we learned so much more)!! We managed to call it a night around 4am, which is pretty good for us based on previous records this year! I think we were a bit hesitant to leave, knowing that when we woke up it would finally be the day for goodbyes.

Our usual pre-party drinks and photobooth sesh :)

They have made this year the best of life.

Such a perfect night...after the thunderstorms

round #1 of free drinks!

And round #2!

Both fortunately and unfortunately, mine and Ally's internal clocks kicked in again and woke us up at 9:30 after just a few hours of sleep. So, we decided to take advantage and wake up Jaimie to go to our favorite little street to our favorite little restaurant for a delicious breakfast. We took our time walking home and taking in our last Parisian sights. It was the perfect way to end a great year. As soon as we arrived home it was a whirlwind of showers, packing, and lunch-prepping before making our way to the train station for our 6 hour, 3:30pm train to Munich. Ally escorted us to the train station, where we exchanged a very tearful goodbye. I knew the day was coming where we would have to say goodbye, but I never really thought about what it would be like. It was hard. It was surreal. It was heartbreaking. I am so grateful for the friendship we have shared this year and I have no doubt it will continue forever. To my best friend--I'll see you in Hali or Cali!!

Our final goodbye.

In short-Munich was absolutely amazing. I'm currently in Salzburg, watching The Sound of Music in preparation for the Sound of Music tour I'm going on tomorrow--childhood dreams coming true!! Next blog is all about Munich and our first couchsurfing experience, so stay tuned!!!

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

And this end came yesterday when Ally and I packed our bags to leave Corsica after an incredible, busy, tiring, beautiful, whirlwind 3 weeks of "vacation".  While some of you may have heard that I was just about ready to pack up and leave halfway through, thinking back on it I really was in the best position in the house.  Here I was staying for free in an amazing beach villa, on an island I have never visited, eating extravagent meals (that I didn't have to cook), lounging on the beach or at the pool all day, and to top it all off--getting PAID to do it all!  Who can complain about a setup like this, right?  Well, it wasn't ALL fun and games for Ally and I, as it was probably the most exhausting 3 weeks of my life.  Our job as the nannies were to essentially occupy the kids so the adults could relax, drink, and then cure their hangovers every morning.  This meant that we were some of the last people to go to bed every night, usually around midnight.  We were also the ones waking up with them in the middle of the night if they had a nightmare, cried for their parents, felt sick, or had to faire caca (I swear the words "J'ai fini de faire caca", aka "I'm finished pooping!" aka "Come wipe my butt!" are imprinted on my brain).  And last but not least, we were the ones who were up with them at 7am, feeding them breakfast, entertaining them, and constantly shushing them so their parents could sleep until 10 to cure the hangovers from the night before.  Luckily once the parents woke up and ate, that gave Ally and I a good 2 hours of free time as we were given the option to stay home alone everyday while the families all went to the beach together.

Mine and Ally's new and improved bedroom

Having a "boom" aka dance party before dinner!

Anna, the 4 year old in my care

Juliette, 2 year old in my care

Lounging in the garden during snack time

These 2 hours of alone time we spent daily laying out by the pool, tanning, swimming, chatting, listening to music, and pretty much doing whatever we wanted to.  It was my sanity, the part that got me through the day, and the part that got me my awesome tan that I sport now :)  But in all seriousness, we owe the parents so much for giving us this time to relax and rejuvinate and get to enjoy the beautiful scenery before us.

The backyard, oh how I will miss this...

When the families returned home around noon, we were on lunch duty, feeding the kids and then cleaning up.  After lunch was naptime, which was pretty much universal.  We ate lunch with the adults a bit after the kids went to sleep, but as soon as lunch was over, even the adults and us settled into a comfy position to read or nap.  The afternoons were spent almost always in the pool, and more times than not, the nights were spent picnicing on the beach.  The 3 weeks were quite monotonous, and Ally and I left the house just a handful of times, and it was always to go to the same beach.

Playing Duck Duck Goose at the beach

Me and Juliette in the sunset

William in the forefront, me getting attacked by two 3 year olds in the background

Swimming with Gustave!

Ally and her babies, Baptiste (6) and Mahe (9)

The men rented a "paddlo" one day to take the kids out in the water

The women decided to try their hand at paddle boarding...success for some (Al), failure for others (me)

Me, Al, and Mahe with our matching green toes

Going to miss her so much :(

One of the prettiest sunsets I've ever seen

A few days that varied from the rest were when we went on little excursions.  The first was a 2 hour drive to the Cascades Anglais, or English Waterfalls.  Driving up windy mountain roads with a bunch of quesy kids was surely an experience, but that doesn't top the hour long hike along cliffs and rocky mountainsides that lay before us.  After many tears, slips, water breaks, and meltdowns, we made it!  To one, single, measly waterfall, that you could barely even see.  Maybe that was just mine and Ally's opinions because North America has so many amazing waterfalls to offer, whereas France just doesn't.  Needless to say, it was a nice change of scenery and a fun way to see something new!  Another excursion was a short little hike up to Napoleon's Tower, just to see what it had to offer.  Turns out, it had nothing to offer, so we were up and down that hill in about 30 minutes.  On two other days the group decided to rent a big boat to go out on the water in for the day.  Lucky for us, Ally and I got to stay home with the 2 little ones :/  We were quite bummed to be stuck home with them, especially because they both have serious mommy-attatchment issues.  The first time was rough, as there were pretty much tears all day long, and a terribly short nap time.  The second day was much better, however, as the youngest had finally warmed up to us, and the other little boy, and she wasn't so upset about being away from mommy.  We called it our "P" day because everything we had planned for the day began with a "P"--Pates a modeler (playdoh), piscine (pool), pates (pasta), petit dodo (little nap), peinture (painting), pipi (pee pee-both are toilet training, which meant lots of pipi), and finally pleurer (crying).  Lucky for us we accomplished all of this, but managed to leave out the pleurer, thankfully!  The day turned out quite well, the kids took a long nap, and Al and I had time to bake a dessert we had promised the adults (Viennese Plum cake, but with peaches instead of plums, so yummm)!

The whole group at the base of the waterfall

Sadly, this is the only picture that even shows part of the waterfall, but it's enough to show how measly it was!

The beach by our house was called Plage des Pirates, so one day we decided to all dress up as pirates and take a trip down to collect shells!  The kids loved that even the moms and nou nou's dressed up!

RRRRRR Matey!

So Al and I thought it would be a nice treat to let the kids make s'mores one night for dessert, but the kids were always in bed before the men even started the BBQ for our dinner every night.  So, they decided they would start the BBQ specially one afternoon and let the kids make them for snack.  Only problem was that they picked the hottest day of the month and everyone was dying of heat!

But that didn't stop Baptiste from throwing back about 10 s'mores!

Andddd I might have had to try one for myself...much better around a campfire...

Napoleon's Tower, impressive, eh?

For one of our last nights in paradise, the moms decided to give us a break.  After all the kids were in bed, all of us ladies got to sneak out to the bar at the beach and enjoy some much needed girl talk and mojitos!  It was nice to be at the beach and be able to sit with adults, instead of having to chase around kids.  And it was completely shocking that the men stayed home with the kids (against their will, but whatever)!

Strawberry Mojitos with the ladies!

Now I know I make the month sound awful, complaining about how much the kids sucked (they were horribly behaved), how much the parents sucked (they treated us like slaves), and how much the situation sucked (really, I can't go 3 weeks on just a few hours of sleep each night), but I suppose overall, it wasn't too bad.  If I knew the full details of what I was getting myself into, I probably still would have done it, just for the experience.  Now having done it, experienced it, whatever, I would never do it again, but I certainly don't regret it.  I am thankful to be provided with the opportunity to be a part of that and be in such a beautiful environment.  I am thankful for the opportunity to drastically improve my French (and trust me, it has drastically improved).  Last I am thankful for the opportunity it gave Al and I to spend 3 amazing weeks together, bonding over good and bad, and spending quality time together before we go or separate ways for who knows how long.  For all of these reasons, I feel blessed to have been able to be a part of this trip and will look back with fond memories and lots of laughs. 

Mom's visit and Holland!

Well, it looks like I have a little more time to myself than I originally thought.  I'd like to thank nap time for that, and the fact that all the little ones can sleep for days.  AMEN.  It is my only saving grace in the day, honestly.  Anyways, now that I have more free time, I decided to make good on my promise of a blog from my momma's visit!  It's taken me a while, but alas, here it is!


She arrived in Paris on one of the biggest party days in France--Bastille Day.  After a quick nap, I forced her out the door to meet up for dinner with Ally and her family, who were visiting from Canada.  From there we made our way to the Champ de Mars at the base of the Eiffel Tower for what was guaranteed to be an amazing fireworks show.  Well, I don't know about "amazing", but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experiences that we were all thankful we go to witness.  The entire park was packed full of people, standing room only.  There was a massive stage set up at the base of the tower with live bands and performers leading up to the show.  Finally around 11pm the fireworks began to the theme of showtunes.  The finale consisted of a melange of West Side Story songs, primarily "I want to be in America", which I thought was hilariously ironic for French Independence Day.  When all was over, we found ourselves in a bind, as the metros were insanely packed, and we were on the complete opposite side of Paris from my house.  So, we walked.  And walked and walked and walked.  Probably at least a couple miles, and about 3/4 of the way home, until we finally decided to say "screw it" and we quite literally squeezed ourselves into a metro.  Such a great night, but so long and tiring!

So beautiful!

The next morning we were up and out far too early to catch a 7am train to The Netherlands.  We were staying at a hotel in The Hague for the first 3 nights, and at a bed and breakfast in Amsterdam for the last 2.  That afternoon we decided to visit my favorite city, Delft, for an afternoon of sightseeing with Jaimie.  We showed my mom all around the town, and then decided to rent a paddle boat to take a tour of the canals.  We happened to pick a super sunny, hot day for this, which turned out to be perfect cuz we were practically rained out on the rest of the trip.  That evening we went to mine and Jaimie's favorite restaurant in Delft for dinner, and her boyfriend Chris met us there after work.  The food was amazing as always, and the 2 bottles of wine between the 4 of us were great as well!  We decided to continue on to a little bar afterwards that is known for it's high percent beers.  Let's just say that the combination of alcohol and some...interesting conversation topics led to the funniest night of my life.  I have honestly never laughed so hard for so long, ever.  And my abs proved that fact the next day.

After sleeping in a bit the next day, we ventured out to do a little shopping and then head to Rotterdam to see Jaimie's new apartment and hang out with them for the day.  As it turns out, a major storm was blowing in and it was raining like crazy, so we decided to stay in The Hague.  Our hotel was right in the city center, surrounded by cute little passages full of some of the best shops Europe has to offer.  So obviously, we were quite content to stay and explore the area, even if it was dumping outside.  It was actually raining so hard that we made an impulse purchase of some matching green and blue raincoats that were on sale.  They made the rest of our vacation much more enjoyable, because the rain never seemed to end.  That night we decided to venture out to try some Indonesian food.  For those of you who don't know, Indonesian food is to Holland as Indian food is to the UK, so it was essential that we try some.  We ordered a sampler plate that came with a little bit of everything on the menu.  It was quite possibly the closest thing to heaven I have yet to experience.  Everything was so good (except for one beef dish that mom and I both had to spit out it was so rank).  With extremely full bellies, we retreated back to the hotel and out of the rain to take in a movie on our comfy bed and head to bed early.

Holland might as well be known for their insanely odd sculptures as well...

The next day we ventured back out to explore new areas of The Hague, but the day didn't begin without a pitstop at a famous Dutch pancake house.  The Dutch are quite well known for their pancakes, and being a pancake lover myself, I just had to have one.  Unfortunately, it was quite a far walk from the hotel, and it just so happened to start POURING rain immediately when we left the restaurant.  The luck.  However, we decided to push on and finally made it to Rotterdam later that day to visit Jaimie!  We got to take a look at her snazzy new apartment, and then she and her boyfriend gave us a little tour of Rotterdam and the famous port/harbor.  We ended up back in The Hague for dinner that night, because we wanted to try out a highly recommended Chinese restaurant in the China Town there.  Again, it surpassed our expectations and we over-indulged in delicious walnut chicken and shrimp noodles.  After an early bed time yet again, we were up bright and early the next morning to visit our 4th city of the trip, Gouda (yes, the cheese!  but fun fact: it's pronounced "how-da")!  After attempting two different trains and having them both cancelled on us, we decided to ask what was going on and how the hell can we finally just get to Gouda.  Apparently they found a body on the railroad tracks, and in response to our surprised reaction, they brushed it off and says it happens all the time.  Can't the Dutch be any more original?  Anyways, after a couple hours and a whole lotta trains (and a whole lotta Rummikub wins for moi), we made it to Gouda and were pleasantly surprised.  Of course it was raining, but we used that as an excuse to sneak inside every one of the bajillion cheese shops there are there.  We tried all flavors and colors of Gouda, including a green Wasabi Gouda and a Strawberry Gouda (not good).  We ended up buying a little piece of Dijon Mustard Gouda, along with some bread from a nearby bakery and made ourselves a picnic on a bench in the rain.  Not quite as great as I pictured it in my mind, but it was still quite fun!  On our way back to the train station, we happened across a fresh Stroopwafel stand and I demanded a pitstop.  We shared our giant, hot, gooey, delicious stroopwafel as we walked back to the train station, and it was definitely a day well spent!  It was that night that we were off again, but this time to our final destination: Amsterdam!!

...VERY weird sculptures...

Cute little street in Gouda

So much cheese!!

When we arrived at the B&B, all we wanted to do was relax and eat our leftover Chinese food.  To our surprise, we were able to do so, as we had the ENTIRE B&B to ourselves.  It was literally as if we had our own adorable apartment in the city center.  We put on our pj's and the robes that came in our room, and we sprawled out on the living room couch, eating leftovers and skyping family.  The next day we made a giant loop around the city, taking in the flower market, Dam Square, many street markets, churches, and of course the red light district.  Then Jaimie met up with us for the day and night and we decided to take a boat tour of the city.  We lucked out with some amazingly warm and sunny weather, so the boat tour was perfect!  After that we settled down for a drink at a cafe on the canal and enjoyed people watching all the passersby.  We took my mom in for a look at one of the famous coffee shops..it's a must see!  We then made our way to a well known Thai restaurant in the red light district for a delicious pad thai dinner.  After that, the fun began, as it was finally late enough to enjoy all the happenings of the red light district.  We walked down every street and alleyway, looking in all the windows, listening to the deals being negotiated, watching the bachelors parade through the streets for their stag parties.  It is pure madness in the red light district, and something that everyone needs to see to believe at some point.  Jaimie and I had a more "been there seen that" attitude, as we have seen the red light district a few times now, but watching my mom view this spectacle was truly fascinating.  I wish I had videotaped it.

The delicious Dutch pancake breakfast served to us at the B&B

Wednesday finally arrived, our last day in Holland, and neither of us were ready to leave.  Luckily we had the whole day ahead of us before our 3 hour train ride took us back to Paris.  So, we started at the Anne Frank House.  Mom wanted to see it, but Jaimie and I already had, so she waited in line while we sat at a cafe and had some coffee and a game of Rummikub, oh and some bird poo, in my hair, cool thanks.  We got bored and ventured to the city center to do a little shopping, so Mom met us there when she was done.  From there we walked down the famous shopping street and stopped to have a beer at a big open cafe.  Sitting there on the street, we witnessed directly in front of us an undercover operation.  Two guys walking along, not suspecting a thing, when out of nowhere two cops come from the alley and jump them, choking them out and taking them to the floor.  Then two more plain clothed cops come from out of nowhere and jump on top of them as well.  In less than 2 minutes, the guys were spotted, taken out, and rushed to a waiting cop car, while the 2 undercover cops continued on their way like nothing happened.  Absolutely insane!!  Such a scary/cool thing to witness.  Never do/deal drugs, my friends!  With all that excitement, Jaimie called it a day, so after saying goodbye we frantically ran around buying last minute souvenirs before making our way to the train station ourselves.

Back in Paris, I pretty much worked every minute of everyday, so we really didn't do much except play with the kids.  We made it out to the big department stores and to dinner a few times.  We also wandered through the Latin Quarter on a busy night, which is now my mom's favorite part of Paris.  On our way back we happened upon a big concert going on outside of Hotel de Ville.  Probably the most exciting part of Paris was being able to see part of the final stage of the Tour de France, as they cross the finish line on the Champs Elysees.  Unfortunately we had somewhere to be, so we didn't get to see any bikers, but we got to see the big caravan of sponsor cars that proceeds them, which was quite the spectacle!  I was said to see her go after what felt like such a short trip, but it was such a fun-filled whirlwind adventure that I am so thankful we got to share.  Now just another 4.5 months till I see her, and my daddy, and Ian, and everyone again!  Counting down the days....

On the train after picking up the kids in Nancy