I'm home, I'm home, I'm home! And there is about 12 inches of snow on the ground outside and I am trapped at home. But I haven't been home in ages, so that is all right.

Monday was my last day in Salzburg, and I checked out of the hostel and then stayed to watch Sound of Music, because Salzburg is where parts of Sound of Music was filmed, and I hadn't seen that movie in a very long time. Then I went out and wandered through the hills around Salzburg, which was lovely. It was a warm day and the mountains and hills were beautiful and I had another view over Salzburg. After a while of that, I wandered around the town of Salzburg some more, and found the building where Mozart was born. And basically I didn't do anything all day, but there wasn't really much to do in Salzburg, so it was a pleasant day, but not an overly exciting city.

I was originally supposed to take a train to Berlin at 9 and then have 15 minutes to change trains before taking a night train back to Paris. But then I decided that 15 minutes was a very risky transfer time, so I decided to go to the train station early and try to get on an earlier train, which I did. And the trains were uneventful, and I even slept well on the night train for once, and then I arrived in Paris at 10am.

I went from the train station to Jean Claude's office, which I had never been to before. And I walked past it the first time because the number wasn't prominently displayed, and Jean Claude popped his head out and yelled "Elizabeth!" and then I went into his office. And it turns out he has two motorcycles that he keeps in his office, and I was not expecting that. And he gave me his keys and I went to drop off my bag.

My last day in Paris was great! I ate lunch in a cafe and talked to the waiter a bunch, made random friends with two guys on the street who wanted to talk to me, wandered along the Seine, bought cheese from a very friendly fromagerie-man, and had a delicious crêpe! Plus, I had become a regular at my favorite crêpe place and they would ask "Comment ça va?" when I came, which means "How are you?". And that doesn't sound very impressive, but people in France don't ask that to strangers because they don't care how you are if they don't even know you. So that meant that I was a regular, and I was very excited when they started asking! But anyways, on Monday when he asked "Ca va?" I said I was good, but that it was going to be my last crêpe in Paris, because I was leaving the next day. And then he gave me my crêpe for free!

So my day was great and I walked a million miles because my metro pass had expired, and it was great and I was smiling a lot! And then I had dinner with Jean Claude and Ingrid and that was great and I am going to miss them!

The next morning I woke up at 6:30 and ate breakfast and headed for the metro. The plan was to take the metro to the RER station (which is like an express subway), and then the RER to the airport. And Jean Claude told me to buy the RER ticket at the first station so that I didn't need to wait in line at the busy train station. So I lugged my backpacking backpack, messenger bag, and 50 pound suitcase down into the metro, but the ticket person wasn't there yet (it was around 7:15 am), so I needed to use the machine. Except, the machine only took coins and the RER cost almost 7 euros, and I was 65 cents short. So then when a man came into the metro I asked him if he had 65 cents, but he didn't because he had a metro pass. But then he said I could sneak in behind him, and then told me to buy a ticket at the train station. So I did that, which is sneaky and against the rules.

Then I got to the second station and hauled my suitcases up and down the stairs and then went to buy an RER ticket. So I went up to the ticket lady and told her what I wanted, and she said that the RER was on strike and were closed all day. Which was a problem, because my flight was in three hours. So I asked her what I should do, and she said there was a bus that went to the airport and told me which one and where to get on it (well she said "Right out there." and then I walked around a bit and found the actual stop). And it is a good thing I don't get stressed out anymore, or else I would have been very stressed out.

The bus actually worked out quite well, and the lines were quite long at the airport, but my timing was okay and I got to the gate as they were starting boarding. We left a half hour late, but I had an aisle seat, which was nice. And the plane had TV screens on the back of every seat, so I watched two French movies and some American TV shows, and failed to sleep. But the best part is, that the meals were delicious! Our first meal was smoked salmon with zucchini, yogurt, a delicious chicken with wild rice and vegetables main course, cheese with a fresh baguette, and apple tart. And then later we had a chilled vegetable quiche-thing and more baguette, and another kind of apple tart. And it was delicious!

After about 10 hours, we landed in Seattle! And I was very excited! But first I had to wait in line to go through customs, and then pick up my bags at the bag carousel and have my customs form approved, and then I was chosen to have my bags all rifled through and opened, and then I had to put them on a second carousel and go to another terminal, where I finally saw my mom and Kevin! And then I claimed my bags again and got to come home to my house! Phew!