Bags are packed...we're ready to go! HOME

After a year of planning and saving our 6-week European vacation is now coming to a close. We have been to many countries (8 in total), travelled over 7,300km (by car alone!) and met so many interesting people. We've had so many "once in a lifetime" experiences, that's it's been hard to pick our favourites. At dinner tonight, Aidan asked us which was our favourite country...none of us could pick just one, so we decided on top two. That being said, it kept changing as the night wore on! It seems like Paris came out on top for all of us because of all the amazing sights we got to see (Eiffel Tower, Tour de France, the Louvre, D'Orsay, etc.) then came Amsterdam/Netherlands (Ralph) Switzerland (Aidan and me), but then I switched to Venice and Amsterdam...it's just too hard to say because each place was very different. We liked special things in each place. Vasa Museum in Stockholm was a huge highlight for Ralph. Canyoning and Parasailing in the Swiss Alps was top for Aidan, although he loved body surfing on the beach in Italy as well. There were just too many special moments. We all agreed that Kutna Hora in Czech Republic was the creepiest place we visited, although Ralph was really taken with the gothic church there. I can't believe we've actually done it and it's over now! To our family in Holland and Sweden, THANK-YOU so much for hosting us and taking such good care of us in the first part of our vacation. It was so great to meet all of you and finally be able to put faces to names for those of you we hadn't met yet! We would love to have you over to visit us in Canada ANYTIME! For those of you at home that have been following our journey through this blog or on facebook, I hope you've enjoyed hearing a bit about our adventures-- the good, the bad and the ugly! A special thank-you to Sue and Dave back in Victoria for handling everything at the office so that I could enjoy this special holiday with my family. Lots of love to everyone. Here's hoping we manage ok with all our luggage on the metro tomorrow morning and we find our way to the airport. I better get back online and research the metro/RER so I know where we need to go in the morning! Next stop CANADA :)