Paris and beyond

Yikes it's been over a week! I was doing so well keeping up with this thing. Since I last wrote I have been really busy and bouncing all over the place. While in Rome, I did some more awesome tours of the crypts and catacombs, the colosseum and Roman forum, and a day trip to Assisi. All of them were fabulous and incredible to experience. I think the bone crypt in the monastery and the town of Assisi, home of St. Francis and St. Clare, were my favorites. I absolutely loved my time in Rome, but it was time to move on.

I took the train to Milan, Italy to Nice, France, and then to Paris. Is was a looooong travel day/night but I'm happy to report it's the last travel day on my EURail pass and I am DONE. WITH. TRAINS. I have been staying with a friend I made on the Camino and her husband in Paris. They were so kind to take me in for almost a week and let me use their apartment as a base while I go out and explore Paris each day. I have seen everything I wanted to see- Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Moulin Rouge, Arch de Triumph, and all of that good stuff. I have mastered the Paris metro and bus system and really am enjoying my time here in France.

I think the highlight of my time in Paris hasn't really been Paris itself even though I have been having a good time. Spending time with someone who completed the Camino with me, reminiscing, discussing, and sharing stories and experiences has been incredible. It's one of the things I needed before heading back to the States in order to keep the Camino alive and take with me what I have learned and experienced. Since the Camino I have been running wild through Morocco, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France. I've done bike tours, bus tours, bout tours, walking tours, camel riding, hiking, site seeing, and experiencing new foods and meeting new people as much as possible. It's been a wild 5 weeks since I finished walking with a lot of memories made. Not to mention Dublin is just around the corner where I will be meeting up with high school and college friends as I cheer on the Irish in the Emerald Isle Classic.

With all of this, it might be easy to look past the way I spent my first month in Europe. But spending these last days with a fellow pilgrim has been just what I needed to keep the lessons I've learned fresh in my mind and ready to be part of daily life when I return to the States.

As the months turned into weeks and now the weeks are turning into days, I am feeling so fortunate and blessed to have experienced all of this. A new school year is under two weeks away which excites me so much, as well as seeing the familiar faces of friends and family. It's an exciting time to say the least- living up the end of my trip as well as preparing for my return. With that said, I'll post again one last time from Dublin.

Kick off is 10 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes, and 3 seconds away in case you were wondering.

HERE COME THE IRISH!

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