This Is It

Ok team, this will be the last post that I write "from the road" as tomorrow we fly back home to Canada! What a crazy whirlwind 2 months it's been, and so much fun I can't even believe it. As I've said though, I'm ready to come home and adjust to regular life again! But first I shall tell you what we got up to in the last few days of our trip!

Our second day in Paris, we took a day trip out to Dieppe, which was a beach that the Canadian forces raided in WW2. The battle was a cover for a secret mission to recover German information that would aid the Allies in winning the war, and it succeeded as a cover- the mission was successful. However, the battle was a bloody one, and 2000 out of 5000 men died in the one-day long battle. There was a really super nice beach there that we walked for actually 2 hours down one way on, beachcombing and looking for treasures. We also found a Canadian memorial area which was sweet. Plus, Dieppe is just really pretty. And the wind picked up like mad later on in the day, so we got some wicked waves as well! Pretty sweet!

Cool thing we found.

Mmmmm beach.

Not very warm, but TJ just *had* to walk on the beach/in the water barefoot. And these are the results.

Small bunker(?) that we found wayyyyyy the heck along the beach.

Canadian memorial.

Sweet old church in Dieppe.

WAAAAAVES.

And then on the way back from Dieppe, on a stopover in Rouen, we got evacuated from the train station and had to stand outside for about 2.5 hours because there was a possible bomb in the station. Kinda scary! But rest assured, parents and others, we and everyone involved was fine, and no bomb actually went off (???we think???). Phew.

The next day we took a last-minute planned trip to Strausbourg to meet our friend Raina, who is currently living in France! It was SUPER nice to see a friendly face and to catch up and wander the beautiful streets of Strausbourg- with the added benefit of being with one who is fluent in French! Thanks again Raina for meeting us! Twas quite a lovely day.

Raina, dear, on top of the cathedral! (It was super windy.)

Yeah Strausbourg is pretty pretty.

And then it was off (on a jet plane) to London for our last two days in Europe. The first day we planned to take a day trip out to Oxford to see some books that we thought were in the library there. TJ's grandfather spent time in Bolivia translating the Bible and writing other books as well, and he thought some are in the library there, so naturally he wanted to see them! However, we did not double check before we booked the train tickets, and it turns out that the books are actually in Cambridge university, not Oxford. So that was a bit of a bummer. Nevertheless, we went to Oxford, ate a delicious lunch at the Eagle and Child (the pub that CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien met every week) and wandered around the beautiful city of Oxford. We even found a history of science museum and a couple of antique stores to rummage through! Good fun indeed.

Inside the Eagle and Child!

Had some taaaaasty fish n' chips here.

Sweet mini secret camera we saw in the history of science museum.

The oldest lecture hall in Oxford. Also possibly recognizable for Harry Potter fans as the set of the Hogwarts infirmary!

Today, on our last day in Europe, we went to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers studio tour! Which I was absolutely DYING to go to because Harry Potter, and which thankfully TJ was willing to endure because of the film/special effects aspects of it. It was SO cool to see how some of the things worked and so many of the sets that are totally still in tact. They also had loads of props and costumes used by the actual actors! It was quite good fun. And then this evening we went out to see a musical- The Phantom of the Opera- something we couldn't have left London without doing, which was INCREDIBLE. We both love the music and play/movie anyways, so seeing it live was fantastic and totally worth it!

The Great Hall. *tries not to hyperventilate*

Forced perspective is the weirdest. this hallway is actually like 3 feet tall and only about 2 meters long. Cray.

The Knight bus! (duh?)

Ollivanders in DIAGON ALLEY WHAT WHAT.

"Miniature" model of Hogwarts castle for overhead shots etc. Lights dimmed and light actually came on in the castle! So cool!

Aaand in the "daylight."

And that concludes this, the last of the posts from the trip! I think I'll be posting at least one more once we make it home, but that's it! I'll probably keep this blog up if I happen to do any road trips or anything like that, but then again, maybe not. You never know. Hey maybe I'll even keep you guys updated on life in Penticton whilst I am up there. Who can say these things.

What I can say is that is has been an absolute pleasure to have been able to have the opportunity to do this trip, with one of the best people in the world. It's been SO much fun, and I thank everyone for reading along, everyone who met up with us in Europe, which was the craziest thing ever, and especially TJ, who put up with all of my crazy for 2 whole months on the road and kept me (relatively) sane. So now, after 65 days "riding the rails" we will be boarding our (inevitably uncomfortable) 9.5 hour plane ride back to freezing cold Canada, and returning to regular life. Thanks again for reading along, and I guess you will hear from me soon! (maybe.)