Nostalgia

Getting psyched already to visit Europe in June, and I just booked the ticket yesterday! I'll be visiting Madrid (a first), Brussels (a first), Paris and Nice/Cote d'Azur. Having lived in Paris for a year, I have a ton of memories I can't wait to relive. Top 5 (no particular order):

1) le refuge des fondus - restaurant in Montmartre. Fondue, wine in a baby bottle... total tourist experience, so cheesy (pun intended), but I can't wait to do it again!

2) Vélib - Cheap bike rental system provided by the city. Coasting around the city, trying not to get killed by a taxi or bus. The best way to see Paris. Once biked by the Arc, down by the Seine, over to the Tour Eiffel, maybe through the Latin Quarter too... not the most direct path but very scenic!

3) PariRoller - 22h Friday night. Three-hour rollerblade trek around the city, about 25km. Insanity. First and last time I gave it a try, I ended with a head injury and a visit with the pompiers de Paris. Leaving the blades home this time.

4) Picnics on the bridges over the Seine - this may never be the same without the whole crew, but it is a very fond memory of mine!

5) Art! Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, not to mention all of the smaller ones... the monuments themselves are art!

Additionally, I can't wait to see any of my former Paris III classmates, and my babysitting trio! Sure, it was a lot of work bathing four people a day (including myself), getting everyone home from school, one leg of which on the metro with a toddler, and getting food in everyone's belly, but I can't wait to see the tots again, two years later!

On the right: something I hope has become a problem of the past - les crottes (dog droppings)!

I'm more than ready for this trip.