Kia ora! Hello!

Before COVID I was booked and ready to do a summer in Europe (before moving to Canada) with a couple of things on my list to do and I've managed to them all, to some degree:

*Drink wine in the south of France

*Finally visit Ireland (I'd been to that many Irish pubs when visiting Europe in 2019 that this was now a must)

*Spend a month+ in Italy enjoying the food, learning the language and volunteering at a school teaching English

With the end in sight there has been a lot of reflection and it is safe to say this has been an incredible experience and a successful three months of traveling which I am thoroughly grateful for getting the opportunity to do, along with recognising all the hard work it has taken to achieve this because it takes a lot of sacrificing and reprioritising to plan and achieve this type of experience.

Day 1 - Nice

*Brunch at the Garden Cafe, first time in months having eggs on toast and it was amazing!

*Climbed the Castel Hill and got amazing views of Nice.

*Walked through Old town and also admired the Vintage markets that are held every week day.

*Sat at a restaurant along the pebble beach and drank a glass of red wine and ate tiramisu.

Day 2 - Nice & Monaco

*Edmond Cafe for coffee and breakfast - no one seemed to understand when we asked for a double shot coffee so it was delightful to finally see this on a menu and get to drink.

*A 22min train ride and we were in a new country, the second smallest in the world - Monaco. Here we went and watched changing of the guard, went to the famous hairpin on the F1 track and gambled (and won) at the Monte Carlo Casino.

*Once we got back to Nice we went and watched the sunset again at the same bar with another glass of red wine.

Day 3 - Nice & Travel Day

*Packed our bags, went for one last stroll around Nice and enjoyed our last lunch in Nice before a 6hr train ride to Paris.

Day 4 - Paris

*Finally got to go to Disneyland Paris!! This is my 3rd Disneyland (LA and Shanghai) and was the best time ever. It was an overcast day and due to being in Winter it meant most lines were under 30mins aside from one which was 45mins. We got to go on all the rides we wanted (10, one we got to go twice) and enjoy some lunch and the parade.

*Later that night at 11pm we went and watched Moulin Rouge, it was my 2nd time but the show changes and it was just as incredible as the 1st time.

Day 5 - Paris & Travel Day

*We had a few hours to kill before our train back to the Netherlands so we squeezed in a visit to the Catacombs. This was eye opening, creepy but overall interesting experience and glad we checked it out.

Now off back to the Netherlands for 4 days, repack all our bags (as we have had a backpack as carry on the last 4wks and our big bags are still at a cousins), some family catch ups on both sides of Linda's family and one last trip to Amsterdam to squeeze in some last sight seeing and a whole lot of shopping.

See you in a week Aotearoa!!

Haere rā! Goodbye!