Paris: Le Final
Le Final
We made our way on foot to a park behind the Eiffel Tower. Dimitri had us gather in a circle and he refreshed our memories regarding how much we had traveled. My heart grew heavy as he rolled off the 20 days and highlighted the activties, places, and people we had met along the way. Without any cue cards he walked us through each day from Yodi in Haarlem, to Gabby in Reutte, Francesca in Roma, to saying goodbye to Dirk in Paris. We started as tourists in Haarlem but by the time we reached Rome we were “Travelers” and continued to grow and learn each day. Dimitri poured glasses of champagne and we celebrated our commencement.
It was a warm evening as the sun was setting. One of those days you wish would never end. This was a tour that I wished would never end. We started out as 26 strangers but by the end of the trip we had spent time with each of the travelers and would be sad to say goodbye to them. Many were going home tomorrow. Veronica and I had the luxury of making one more stop in London to visit family. You see if I had made it all over Europe without visiting them, I would be excomunicated.
With ear to ear grins we said our Aur Revoirs for the evening. Fred, Jane, Phil, Sharon, Veronica and I decided to cross the Seine and view the Eiffel Tower from Trocodero. We had such a great time wandering around the Eiffel Tower on a moonlit night in the summer heat. After the Trocodero we walked several more blocks along the Seine River to the Metro station where we took the Metro back to hotel. I took one last shot of the Eiffel Cafe from the Metro Station. We had truly graduated as confident travelers.
