Au Revoir A Paris

I am exhausted (and broke). Time to come home. 

We had several more lovely days in Alsace since our last post. 

We have gotten into a rhythm of starting each morning walking around an achingly pretty village (this is Riquewihr) for an hour while I take pictures and the kids keep an eye out for a boulangerie for pretzels and croissants. Something for everyone!

We visited an incredible battlefield from WW1 where you could literally walk through the German and French trenches and see how close together they were. 

Then, to lighten the mood, we went to a cheese factory and learned ALL about the process of making Muenster cheese in agonizing detail.

Then a day of making changes on the fly. We started with our standard pretty village and a boulangerie. This is Eguisheim.

Our plan was to visit an open air museum all day, but after 3 hours we decided that the whole Alsace area looks like a historic museum, and that it was time to pivot. So we went to the local theme park and rode Stork themed rides (one of their local icons) all afternoon!

And with that, we crossed another trip off my life list. The Alsace was absolutely picture perfect- definitely recommend.

So, with 48 hours to go, it was time to take a deep breath and sprint to the finish of this epic, ridiculous, never ending trip. We drove a scenic 6 hours across France to Paris, dropped off the rental car and then walked our butts off. 41,000 steps in a day and a half. Oh boy.

Friday night we explored Montmartre and then wandered down to the Seine through the Palais Royale before learning how to take the Metro home. Paris may be the City of Lights but unfortunately it doesn't get dark until after 10:30, so it was more the City of Dusk for us.

We kicked off our big day in Paris with a morning at the Eiffel Tower, then did a boat cruise along the Seine. We spent the afternoon at the Louvre, as one does. Then we wandered through St Germaine de Pres until we found a little Creperie to toast our final night in Europe. We capped off the evening by visiting Notre Dame Cathedral and took our weary legs to bed.

We were welcomed home by random Covid testing for both twins, just in case we thought we hadn't stood in lines enough over the last month.

It's been a glorious, full, memorable and exhausting month. I definitely need home for a rest. But it's good to be traveling again. May we all.