Dortmund: Travelling Like Hobbits

Dortmund was an unplanned stop on our eurotrip. It was more of a 12 hour layover, which was made much easier because I got to see a friend that I met at the beginning of my au pair year!

I am sure I would have enjoyed Dortmund much more if I wasn’t sleep deprived, it didn’t rain 50% of the time, and the bathrooms were free (even though I didn’t pay for them, but it was incredibly frustrating to be told I have to pay after eating at the restaurant).

If it wasn't for this park we visited in Dortmund and my friend coming by, I feel like Dennis and I would just have slept in a McDonalds. 

It was funny as most of these barrels had drifted to the little island across this pond. So it is virtually impossible to grab the barrels without swimming across. So we had to wait for the only barrel available that was [at this moment] occupied.

Let the hobbit adventure begin! 

Barreling is harder than it looks. It also feels like you might drown at any moment. Not suitable for small children, or people who cannot swim. 

Like I mentioned, this park was really cool. It had the barrel riding (pictured above), these swinging things, cinema, a nice walking path, and... 

Flamingos. 

Advice for future travellers do not take two over night buses back to back unless you are a smaller than average height, function when sleep deprived, or are a robot who can just shut off for a couple of hours.

La vie Parisienne

Staying only three days in Paris meant Dennis and I had to put on those running shoes to make sure we saw all the main points and my favourite non-touristic places. I am actually pretty impressed because we did almost everything that I wanted to do with him including going to a last minute theatre show! I mean there isn’t much I can say about Paris, I’ve literally lived here for a year. I love this city so much. I’ve said everything I can about it in all my previous blogposts.

I do plan on coming back to Paris, the city where I grew and changed as a person… oh and tried to learn some French.

The one last time we can get drunk by the Seine. The true Parisienne experience that Dennis just had to try.

The "eyebrow"

Trying to perfect the "eyebrow" but unfortunately not being up to par with the master (aka me... seriously did you even look at the perfection in the top photo?). 

Of course lots of french food was eaten. Including snails and lots of Bourgogne red wine. 

The build up to the "proposal"...

The unfortunate circumstances that occurred. 

Consolidation.

And then just more cheesy photos being taken by the Eiffel tower. Which are inevitable when you go to Paris with your significant other. 

Next stop: Dortmund.

Getting started: Fontainebleau

How the last day of school went, is exactly how my last week went.

The kids were excited to get out of school; I was excited to be finishing work, have my boyfriend come, and start our eurotrip. 

However the kids were saying goodbye to their friends who they might not see all summer; I had to say goodbye to the most wonderful family I could have chosen to aupair for.

In the car on the way back Connie says to her little sister “We’ll miss you Anastasia”. So many feels!

During the week I was also meeting with people for goodbye’s before either they or I would part ways.

But saying goodbye to some could be saying hello to others. My boyfriend was finally coming into Paris that night.

So my lovely Russian pal and I headed over to Paris to pick him up at the Gare du Nord train station. 

The next morning felt like any other morning just with an extra person to love. The girls were very excited to meet “mon amoureaux” and even more excited to receive maple syrup. 

We have some maple syrup fanatics.

Then it was time to head out and explore Fontainebleau.

Now on the way there something scary and embarrassing that happened that I don’t like to talk about (do not ask Dennis, his version is untruthful!). But lets just say suburban French people are the loveliest when it comes to a crisis!

The next day my host family invited us over to go canoeing.

Little did we know this trip would be a near death experience (exaggeration may apply).

After our first little “rafty” journey of going down some rocks we cracked our canoe. Inevitably we slowly started sinking as we continued our journey along the river. Little did I know (and was continued to be told the contrary to stop a panicky situation) was that our canoe wasn’t sinking that slowly. Turns out when we docked our canoe was so heavy with water that Dennis, who was in the back, was less than an inch away from the water.

After this courageous trip we all went to a restaurant situated in the forest. This was my most favourite restaurant I have been in. The food was really spectacular! We chatted a lot with the family of some fond memories, as well as, our future plans. This unfortunately was our last big meal before Dennis and I officially headed off to our next stop, Paris.

I miss the girls already, leaving the empty room was so depressing , saying goodbye to the girls was even worse. But I was promised letters and drawings in the mail, so there is always that to look forward to!