#two windmills

This was our final full day in Paris (noooo), so we were determined to make the most of it with as little plan as possible. We began, as we do every morning, with baguettes, and a brisk walk back to the Eiffel tower (we just can't seem to stay away from the place!). Although we didn't end up leaving as early as we liked, we still managed to beat the crowds and were heading up this famous monument before we knew it! The views half way up were in their own right spectacular, but it wasn't until we reached the top that you get the full scope of what a big, beautiful city that Paris is.

From here we headed over to Montmarte, an eclectic district of restaurants and counterfiet shops and sex shops and strip clubs and cheese shops and nestled in all of that is a lovely little cafe called Deux Moulin, or Two Windmills. This might sound familiar to those of you who have seen, in my opinon, the best movie ever, Amelie (It ties with the Lord of the Rings Triology as my all time favourite movie). Well that's because it's the cafe that she works at in the movie, and where a lot of the movies events take place. It gave me a real thrill to see it in real life, even if all of the decor had been painted a shade of pink different to the one I remembered. The cafe doesn't shy away from its humble origins of one of the most internationally famous French movies, which pictures, themed menu options, and even a little shirne in the toilet, but it's still a very charming cafe, and the creme brulee I ordered (because I too love the simple things) was delicious. It was a little strange to see people walking into the cafe, taking a photo and leaving without buying anything, though.

Well fed and another monument ticked off my bucket list, we decided to head up to Sacre Coeur (after a stop over at the local Fromagerie for a little more indulgence). Sitting a top a killer amount of stairs, Sacre Coeur is a very beautiful and architecturally interesting church to look at, but what struck me more was the atmosphere surrounding it; people selling counterfiet bags and woven bracelets, street performers, including a man who was pretty tricky with a soccer ball, musicians, dancers, people drinking beer on the steps; it was something that I had never seen, at least on the steps of one of the most famous churches in all of Paris! Very cool. 

Even after all this, we still a few hours to kill, so we decided to walk the streets of Paris. We walked all the way to the Paris Opera House, through the fancy pants diamond district, and on until we reached the Louvre park, without even realising! It was a lovely, if not cold afternoon, and one of the best ways to see Paris. Nothing beats reclining lakeside while watching the sun set against the sillhoutte of the Eiffel Tower. Bliss.

But we still had one more surprise in store! As we were walking back to the Metro, we came across what looked like a replica of Stonehenge! And it was Stonehenge, but what we didn't realise, until we got closer at least, was that it was inflateable. Yep! You can't lay a finger on the real one, but you can throw yourself over the jumping castle version! Only in Europe.

Exhausted, we spent our final night at the hostel, feasting on Ham and French Brie toasted Baguettes, a selection of french cheese (soooo good), French wine from the local supermarket and the rest of our designer macarons. Om NOM!