Today is my last day in Paris.  While I have loved every minute of being in France, I think I’m ready to get home to Dallas and the heat.  I crave 100 degree weather . . . . that’s a joke, everyone.

We fly home on Saturday, but first we go to London tomorrow on the Eurostar (the Chunnel, as some people know it).  I need–yes, need–a nice hotel, a shower that I can move around in, a toilet that I don’t have to sit on sideways because it’s too close to the shower door, and air conditioning.  I’m hoping I booked a hotel that has a hair dryer, a washcloth, and big bars of soap.  I’d like to pick up the phone and call room service, too.  I’m negotiating that with Mon Marie.

We had dinner at Tribeca tonight with our American friends, Jim and Marta, and their family.  The restaurant is on Rue Cler which is in the same neighborhood where Julia Child lived and shopped.   The street is lined with great food markets . . . . and lots of American tourists.  It’s also the neighborhood with the Eiffel Tower, so English abounds here.

Paris has been great.  And Provence was, also.  Being here in school has made me want to come back. There is so much that I missed from being in school and not being able to spend time exploring.  I don’t want to return as a student.  I want to come and enjoy every minute as a tourist, plus take advantage of being familiar with the area and the language.  It’s the best of both worlds.

It’s the City of Lights, only I’ve been too exhausted to stay up late and see the lights.  It’s known for great wines and champagne.  Nix that–I couldn’t go to school with a hangover.  I’m not in college, for pete’s sake.  There are passageways and historical buildings to explore.  I mainly explored the metro stops.  So, I plan to come back with an agenda beyond just learning the language.

Most of all, I’m glad I’ve spent time doing what I’ve always wanted to do which is learning French.  I have come to love the language even more.  It really is a beautiful, and complicated, language.  I’m still a novice, but give me time.  With a little more practice, I may start to dream in French.

More later on my likes and dislikes of France.  Yes, I actually have some things I didn’t like about France.   But, I’m going to bed now and dream about cab drivers who speak English.

A bientôt!