Paris Part Three- Au' Revoir

I sprung out of bed on Sunday morning, ready to enjoy any last little bits of life in Paris before I head back to Edinburgh. On a calm restful Sunday morning, Julie and I walked to her local farmer's market. Fresh fruits and vegetables lay perfectly plump alongside blooming flours. Next door an antique market was underway and full of novelty explorers. After perusing through the market, we headed towards the macaroon shop Pierre Herme to pick up my last batch of these sweet delights. They were the perfect Parisian treat to bring back to my friends in Edinburgh and a special little goodbye delight for me! It was wonderful to spend a quite fall morning walking through the streets of Paris and enjoying those sweet sights and smells I had first soaked in on Friday afternoon. On our way back to Julie's we stopped at yet another farmer's market. White tents anchored the street's center way. The smells of garden fresh produce, baked breads and daily caught fish morphed together into the smells of a morning market. Alongside these smells, are artisans selling tablecloths, bags and books!  I seem to love farmer’s markets so much because of this ambiance of local flavors breathing through the community. In this market, I can experience what is native to the region and enjoy local delights!

Fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmers market!
They smelled as if they were freshly picked!

Blooms of flowers sprung along the shops. Their
colors and fragrances compliment the fresh produce.

Happily enjoy our fresh baguettes My
multigrain bread tasted of earthy toasted flavors!

As we wandered our way through Julies' neighborhood, we stopped at a boulangerie to purchase our morning baguette. I was once again greeted by the earthy smells of baked bread aligned along the shopkeepers' wooden walls. Seeds scattered the parchment paper and toasted the tops of my multigrain baguette. We collected our fresh breads and walked back to Julie's apartment to bid adieu to our bright weekend. I thanked Julie for a wonderful time exploring all the gems of Paris. From visiting sites that have been ever on my bucket list and savoring sweet Parisian delights, it will certainly be a trip I hold close to my heart. What made this trip that much more special was having those I enjoy spending time with experience these adventures with me. Every trip is enriched by my friends who bring plenty of laughs and joy. I am left with so many memories to think back on until the next time Julie and I reunite in Dublin. The coming trips, I know will bring just as much adventure as the last. On this Sunday morning, I swung my bag pack around my shoulders and placed my baguette in my purse and headed towards the airport.

The farmer's market grew into a rainbow of colors. I especially loved the plump blueberries!

Enjoying seasonal and exotic produce at the
farmer's market! I was curious about the range
of textures and colors.

My weekend in Paris is one for the storybooks. It truly was a fairly tale brought to my abroad life Paris harbored so many wonders of the world to which I was excited to experience, but the trip itself proved to be so much more valuable than I could have ever expected. I spent a weekend exploring a place I have only dreamt of visiting and sharing that experience with friends I had missed so much. In my Parisian fairytale, this fable too followed the course of magic and memories accompanied by some ending moral. This lesson, though, is one that extends beyond my trip in Paris and even beyond my time in Europe. All the new sites, smells and flavors awoke new curiosities within my own endeavors. I have studied about these historical places and baked my very own French croissants. To experience these wonders in their natural form is a lesson in adventure all onto its own. It is when these architectural marvel peer back at you or sweet smells invite you in that each experience is unfold onto new depths and aspirations. To realize ones dreams of walking through the Tuileries as I gaze at the Louvre, biting into the dark crust of French baguettes is a very special gift. In this raw experience all these sights and flavors somehow meld together. In that moment of gaze, I am suddenly struck by the complexities of these places, but somehow warmed by how pure and simply wonderful they really are. I expect to feel awestruck at Notre Dame and delight in a French Macaroon, but there is an entirely new level of amazement that reveals itself in that first site or in some cases bite. This surprise is one I certainly welcome. It is this anticipation to experience the sensations surprisingly new that I think drives my adventures abroad. I am allured, to be graced by creativity and a chance to bequeath these experience in my own passions.

Thank you to my amazing parents for the trip of a lifetime! On top of the Eiffel Tower but feeling on top of the world!

This constant effort to expand beyond my current toolbox, is one I could not have pursued without the generosity of my parents. It is to them I owe a huge thank you for all the fortunes that have brought me so much happiness in my life and time abroad. For without my parents, I would not have stood tall atop the Eiffel Tower. A trip to Paris is a gift I hoped to use to its fullest potential. I have learned the value of exploration and all the wonders harbored in this world. To read, learn and understand these sites and then to experience them adds so much importance to what I have come to know. I have learned the value in understanding the world and the power it had on my own life. In these trips, lies the exploration of so many curiosities and their transformation to inspire my own life.  Each endeavor tells its very own fable and that together represent the fairytale of my time abroad. The desire for exploration is the will for inspiration. I celebrate this chance and plan to expand it to its fullest potential both here and at home. I invite in the world, hoping that one day it may pebble my own path.