On our last day in Bern we got up and went to the train station.  It was a long and beautiful ride to Paris.  It went from mountains and snow to green grass and sunny skies.  We made our way by metro to the hostel that I stayed in 3 years ago.  We had our own room with a view of the Eiffel Tower.  We had lunch and rested in our room.  That night there was a group of kids in our hall.  They were rowdy and loud, but having a great time trying to ignore their chapperone.  In the morning we got on the metro and took it to Lisa and Rileys apartment.  They are Brians friends from college.  Lisa is studying to become a pastry chef and Riley was getting his MBA as an entrepreneur.  Can you think of anywhere better to study pastry and just imagine the fun things we got to try everyday we were there...mmmmm.  We went for a nice walk through the market, got a brownie and went to the gardens where we sat in the sun and talked.  We walked to the St. Sulpice and went inside.  Inside a choir was trying to sing...trying.  Brian and I were sitting there watching and people kept getting in our way.  I looked at Brian and said isnt this a church from the Da Vinci Code movie?  And then the reason why all the people kept standing in front of us was clear, there on the floor.  I looked at the line on the floor and said, isnt that the rose line?  At home Lisa made a wonderful dinner and then we had maccaroons.  We talked for hours over the meal about food, politics, culture and relationships.  On Monday we walked to the Eiffel Tower and went to the top.  The view is absolutely breathtaking, especially on a sunny, clear day as that was.  Then we got lost and found the giant winetasting event Lisa and Riley gave us tickets to.  It was huge, thousands of wineries represented and so much wine!  We got a case for Lisa and Riley and a bottle for ourselves and took the metro home.  Everyone else coming from the wine tasting had cases upon cases which should last at least a couple weeks...  More good food, wine and conversation.  Tuesday was another gorgeous sunny day.  we went to one of the best pastry shops in Paris and bought some goodies and walked to the Moulin Rouge, it wasnt what I imagined, but it was interesting.  Also visited the Montmartre cemetary where we saw the graves of Degas and Alexandre Dumas.  We wandered up Montmartre and in and out of galleries and stores.  We went to the Sacre Coeur, the dusky sun was coming through the rose windows and the nuns were sweetly singing, a magical moment as the dust fairies floated around us on the rays of color.  We sat outside and fed the pigeons (one took food right out of my hand) and ate lunch overlooking the city.  We had our last wonderful meal with Lisa and Riley, whom I have really come to like a lot.  The next day we booked a hostel and packed, did some chores and took a metro to our hostel.  Brian went to another osteopathe and I read Hotel de Dream.  Thursday we moved to another hostel and went to the Musee DOrsay.  It still is my favorite art museum.  Then B and I separated, he to the hostal and I walked to the Arc de Triumph and a nice park to read.  Metro home.  Friday we moved back to the other hostel for our own room at a better price and walked in the drizzle to the Notre Dame.  There were so many people pushing and shoving.  We walked to the Natural History museum which had lots of interesting dead animals.  B fell asleep on a bench and then we went to the metro.  We had pizza, fries and wine.  The next morning we took the metro to the train station.  The metro is a  world of its own and music, love and breaking up all happens there.  A woman talking to herself, a man playing a violin, lovers kissing and people reading, dreaming of being somewhere else.  So then we were off to Nantes.

On the train we sat by a group of very eccentric friends who gave us good chocolate to eat.  When we got there we waited a bit thinking Georges would pick us up.  Georges and Claudine, Audrey and Ann Laure are my French family.  When I did an exchange program in high school it was with Audrey.  We have kept in touch and visited ever since.  And they really are a part of my family.  So, Brian and I took a bus to their house (we had missed Georges at the train station, he was in the North side and we were at the South) and Georges ushered us into the car for a short drive to their beach house in  Le Pouliguen on the coast.  It was beautiful as always.  We sat and talked and had aperitifs and cheese.  I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday while drinking in the middle of the afternoon, but as they say 'when in Rome...'  So then we went to dinner at a place translated as The Drunk Boat and had gallettes and crepes.  Gallettes use a darker flour and are used for an actual meal, while crépes are for desert.  We read, I finished Broken Flower and went to bed.  The next day Claudine took us to the market and it was wonderful, she bought all sorts of happy food.  At home she prepared lunch and Audrey and Julien, her boyfriend, came over.  We had a long fantastic lunch starting with aperitifs, moving on to appetizers, then the main coarse with wine, then a salad,then  cheese and finally coffee or digestif with desert.  Then Audrey and Julien took us out on their boat where they laughed while we jumped through the choppy water and were soaked with sea salted waves.  It was exhillerating and we had a lot of fun.  At home we dried our clothes and rested then went out for pizza and wine.  On Monday Claudine took us to a very old village near by surrounded by walls, I dont remember it, but I have been there before when I came with my parents.  Then we went to the sea side and walked a long wall out to a light house and back.  We took the scenic route back home via the sea.  We had another long luxurious meal, rested and drove back to Nantes.  We met back up with Georges and had dinner and went to bed.  Tuesday Claudine took us into town to see the church and the newly rennovated chateau, just now opened.  We walked around town, ate lunch and had coffee and took a boat to a town just across the river.  The houses were picturesque and just lovely.  We had some hot chocolate and took the boat back.  She then took us on a tour of the old LU factory.  LU are really good cookies.  At home we rested and then Julien came and picked us up to have dinner with him and Audrey at their new house.  She made a fantastic dinner and we had a wonderful time catching up and laughing a lot.  Wednesday, Brian tried his last osteopathe and we said our good byes and hopped on a train back to  Paris and then on to Lille.  It was a nice long ride and I finished reading Left Bank and did lots of thinking about the future and what I really want.  This trip has been so good for that and I am so intensely learning things that I am really ready to come home and realize those things.

In Lille we found our next host, François and then went to the market to get food for a couple days.  We had dinner and then Brian went to the bar with all the college guys and I stayed home reading... C'est MA vie and I love it.  Started my current book Bourne Identity.  In the morning we went to town and did a lot of chores at the bus and train station and the internet.  We had a long and quite intense discussion about everything we have learned and then took the rest of the day to just be together.  Friday we went out and walked to a pastry shop and got fresh hot pain au chocolat.  We ate them at the park and then went to the zoo.  We read outside under the trees and walked around a lot and then went to the market for food.  On our way home we saw the results of an accident between a truck and a person and its a picture I can not get out of my head, one no one should have to see.  It made me really understand my mortality, your dreams, your plans, gone in a second, just gone forever.  It makes me appreciate life, and death, as well.  We went home and took a deep breath and continued living.  We ate and walked to the old part of town, through the maze of streets and into a park and then back.  Then next day François took us and about 6 of his friends on a road trip to Antwerp, Belgium.  François and his roommate Paul had been so good to us and it was so nice to be around fresh college minds and thoughts again.

In Antwerp we walked around to a church and then found a pub and everyone had a beer or something and we talked and laughed a lot.  Outside we saw a moving pub, a pub on wheels, if you will.  All the people sitting on the stools around the bar peddled and it toured around.  There happened to be a bachelor party on it and they were making the husband-to-be sell beer to all the people in the street for 50 cents.  It was really funny.  We walked along the water and watched the sun as François jumped in front of random people and took their picture.  We had a really great time.  Then they dropped us off in Gent and we took a short train ride to the other side of the city and found the pub our new host, Vanessa, told us to go to and we waited.  She came, in high energy, and picked us up on her bike and we walked to her apartment where we promptly went to bed.  This morning we went to the country to see her family for Easter.  Her grandparents are wonderful and full of energy, the whole family is.  Her father is a self made man and very proud of his big family.  They reminded me of what I think of as the typical Italian family: loud, energetic and fiercely loving each other and life.  They all live close by and take very good care of each other.  We had wonderful cake and they took us to lunch and then we went to a nature preserve.  Brian and I walked a little dog that belonged to one of the volunteers of the preserve and then we went to a pub where I had my first Belgian Beer.  It was a peach beer and it was really really good.  Then I got some Thai since all the markets are closed and we rest, read and soon to sleep.  Next week we will be home.

See you in my dreams, for thats where I will be very soon.

I would say good night in Flemish or Dutch but I dont know how, so, good night!