Last day in Europe. Hard to believe that we're at the end of two months on the continent. It's been absolutely incredible and eye-opening for the both of us, and we return to Canada as more cultured and enlightened people. We'll be leaving our hostel for Charles de Gaulle airport at eleven or so, counting for it taking around an hour to get there. We have a flight to London's Heathrow airport at 1:50 pm, then a two hour layover before our direct flight to Edmon...

Last full day in Paris. Pierre and I took it very easy today, before meeting four of his friends from Sherwood Park on Pont Neuf at one. From there, we grabbed lunch before heading over to Notre Dame, which is just as beautiful the second time around. Then, we headed to the Jardin des Tuileries, relaxing in the fleeting sun. As an aside, the weather in Paris is very much the same as when we were here in May... Alternating between cloudy with periods of rain and s...

Back in Paris. The train from Brussels to here is probably the fastest we've been here, getting us here in just over an hour and a quarter. Gare du Nord is crazy busy, seeing that we're now into high tourist season. Neither of us are very ambitious today, so we're planning on checking in, grabbing a late lunch or snack, then chilling in a park the rest of the afternoon. Meeting Helene, a Parisian we met in Florence, for a late supper tonight. Two days left in Eur...

1545. Crossed the French-Italian border, moving into the next country of our grand tour. The country in the province of Savoie is beautiful, sort of like the foothills west of Calgary, but much more heavily treed. (As for the name being the same as my surname, I'm pretty sure there's a crown waiting for me somewhere...) The terrain gradually gets rockier, and you begin to see white topped peaks. The primary language on the train gives way to Italian and, in my mi...

930. On the train today, with 3 different layovers throughout France and Italy. Enjoyed our second evening in Marseilles, going out for dinner with an Aussie couple from our hostel. I ordered escargot for the first time ever, followed by fresh salmon in lemon sauce with vegetables, with a piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Fantastic meal, and it was great to experience Marseilles' seafood... And for relatively cheap, since the entire meal came to only 14€! Af...