All good things must come to an end...

Today is the last day of our trip in Europe. Tomorrow morning we fly home at 11:15AM from CDG airport here in Paris. I think today we are going to go see the catacombs and maybe bop around town some. We are staying at Caroline's brother's place with her, so I think we are doing a day late Thanksgiving dinner tonight as well. I think that all depends on the availability of turkey and/or chicken at the grocery store.

Paris was a good place to end the trip, especially with 5 days in which to take in the sites via a sane and less wearying approach. I would have liked to get to Versailles, but as Rick Steves says, I will just have to plan to come back. Next time I think we might rent bikes in the bigger city to help with the commuting to the sites as walking and metro is effective but pretty tiring after a while.

Speaking of tiring, I think we have both lost about 10 pounds and stairs are no longer as daunting as they were at the beginning of the trip (even with the 15 kilo packs on our backs). I hope we can somehow continue this level of activity at home, but I think that might be pretty challenging. I guess lots of dog walks and maybe a treadmill?

At the end of the day, this trip was awesome. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Other than the night train from Milan to Paris I don't think I had one bad experience the entire time (and really that wasn't so bad either, it was just kind of irritating). Sure, there were some exhausting moments, but they were worth it in the long run. I think everyone should have an experience like this, traveling to another place and seeing how the other side lives.

What is next for the traveling Sauters? I think there is a trip planned to New York next October, but other than that nothing is in the works. I would like to visit some of the places we did on this trip again and spend some more time there, but then I also would like to see Croatia, China, Morocco and about 10 other places. I suppose we will have to see where life takes us now!