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!!!