So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye

---

Tuesday 30th August, 2001
Paris, France

Well, this is the end. My last day in Europe and soon I will be boarding the long, long flight home.
Yesterday we did a lot of shopping and walking around Paris, today, we went to the Louvre, a cruise on the Seine, where we met a charming cardiologist from Vienna, wagging his convention. Along the cruise, we saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Champs Elysees, Musee d’Orsay, and Notre Dame, where we got off the boat and had lunch at one of the numerous restaurants along the River. Having got my head around the metro system, we walked to the st.Michel’s metro entrance, caught the number 4 metro, switched to the number 7 metro and arrived back at our hotel near rueTolbiac in the 13th Quarter, having only missed one stop, and hurriedly replan the route to get back. The metro system although looking complicated, is really easy to master ( I have trouble with alarm clocks so if I can get my head around the system it’s not that hard), reliable, frequent (we never waited more than 5 minutes for any train), and a cheap way to get around(just over 20 euro for a three day pass which also works on the aboveground trains).
It is now time to say goodbye. This trip has been an unbelievable experience. I have been privileged to meet lots of fantastic, kind and generous people, to see amazing artworks, and to walk among history and nature.
I have met with kindness from friends, relatives and total strangers. My lack of language ability, especially in France where my language skills are limited to ‘merci’, has been excused with generosity by people in every country where I have been.
The world is an amazing, wonderful, surprising place, where adventures of all kinds await the curious spirit. May your travels be as blessed as mine have been.
Thank you to all who have travelled with in through my writings, and in spirit.
And thank you to my husband and boys who managed without ‘mum’ for the six weeks that I have been away.
Yours truly,
Sarianna Sherwin
Aussie-in-(a little bit more than)Finland

---