All the images from the Europe blog posts are a combination from Todd's camera and my camera.

                         



Last day!

After a bit of a lay in (nice) we hatched a plan. Breaky at home and then walked to Cotume one more time for a coffee. So glad we did ... sat up at the bar and enjoyed a filter coffee and delicious carrot cake. We spoke about how it was going to be strange not having coffee and spending the days together when we get back home.
We then made our way over to the Musee D'Orsay. Mum and Dad had really highly recommended this museum and I was very keen to see the Monet's.
It's quite an amazing building and so nice that it's not too big. You can wander around and not feel too overwhelmed by how much art there is to see. My favourites were the Segal and Monet paintings. After a few hours and some gift shopping for postcards we headed to a crepe place not too far away that we'd heard did gluten free crepes. They were really delicious ... mine had this amazing potato dauphinoise, chives, bacon and tomato. They were gluten free too .. which was a bonus. My previous diet of gluten and dairy free went out the window for this trip (for which I paid the price for later ...) but in that moment of enjoying food on the trip I'm going to say it was worth it ...
 It seemed everyone then moseyed home for a pit stop. Nerida and I decided to hike it over to Galleries la Fayette - an incredible department store. I still had a few presents left to buy and I was keen to see their Diptyque products. It was a pretty amazing department store and I'm so glad Nez and I got to enjoy it together. The roof was a large dome ... golden and intricate. We found the Diptyque counter and I was in heaven smelling the different candles and perfumes. I got a candle for Brodie and the kind man behind the counter gave us some samples ... One I loved was the geranium perfume (which I've since bought and put away for our wedding ... a nice memory of the trip!)
Nez and I found the food level and spent ages looking at all of the different sweets and teas and chocolates. I always love the food section when travelling.

On our way home we also walked past the opera building which was interesting to see. We were so parched and so I bought water from the man I swore I'd never buy water from .. on the corner always yelling ... "water one euro water one euro". They'd annoyed me so much all over Europe everywhere we went but in this moment I giggled with Nerida that they couldn't have been more perfectly placed!! One euro felt like a bargain!

We made it home for showers ... Brad had been out getting a trendy Paris haircut so we were eagerly awaiting his arrival home. Off we went for our last meal together. Brad and Nez and Ash and Jo were continuing on to England but for the six of us, this was the end of the trip.

We wound up at the same restaurant they'd eaten at the night before (when Todd and I were in La Marais). It was such a great place to end the trip at. A small menu, a very friendly waiter and a corner table tucked away. He poured us shots of a potent liquor ... we couldn't work out the translation but we think it was some sort of schnapps??

Home to pack up and we set Todd's camera up for a shot of the six of us! These three shots are the only shots of us together as a group for the whole trip but I love them!

We woke up with the alarm this morning and got ready to head out to Versailles.  Trying to find breakfast before 10am is so difficult in Europe! Not something I enjoyed about the trip and we more than often ate at home so we didn't venture out starving. This morning we finally found a place and shared an omlette and a sweet crepe. Brad and Nerida met us not that long after and we had a coffee before going to the train station.

The train took a little while but it was nice to sit and catch up on jotting down what we'd been doing the last few days. I knew the blogging thing would take me ages to catch up on so I wanted to make sure we had a bit of a list ready to go in the phone when it did come time to type this up.

Once we were out at Versaille we chose to focus on the gardens rather than the palace. Not sure we made the right decision ... but ultimately we knew we couldn't do both and the palace had massive lines already. We hopped in the line for a golf buggy and off we raced ... at the pace of a snail. 

The gardens are massive ... very geometrical and very green. There were not as many flowers as I was expecting and the white gravel was back ... the French love their white gravel!

We found a beautiful garden hiding in amongst the paths but you couldn't sit or walk on the grass .... very different to Australia and Britain where it's encouraged!

After the train ride home we came up to see some impressive break dancing buskers! We all went home for a nap which was really nice. Jo and Ash had been to visit Monet's garden which sounded and looked incredible. They were buzzing from their day and sat around with a cup of tea and filled us in.

Todd and I ventured off on our own for the evening, really keen to see Le Marais district.
We walked across the river and then past the Centre Pompidou which Mum and Dad had recommended we go see. Le Marais was buzzing and there were so many people out and enjoying the evening. We stopped at a library bar ... an old shop with wooden floorboards and books floor to ceiling. There was a small, curved bar at the front which had a few people perched up against it. We found and spot and ordered a drink. Hilariously the waitress said, ok!, and then walked out the door. She didn't come back for a little while and when she did she had our drinks! We worked out later than it was the little sister bar of a bigger restaurant up the road. My first gin fizz and it was delicious!

From there we walked to a falafel place that had been really well recommended. When we walked up we quickly worked out there was a huge line and a friendly man hustling us all into line and taking orders. As we got closer it just got better. The rate they were making these felafel was crazy! Todd took some video and we had a laugh with the man making them. Pitta pocked, purple cabbage, onion, cucumber, eggplant, spicy sauce and balls of delicious felafel. We sat on a stoop and shovelled it in surrounded by loads of other people doing the same. 

We walked to another bar afterwards and ordered a final drink ... 

A really flamboyant man was sitting next to us and obviously knew the owner of the bar well. He was dancing and singing along while reading the newspaper and drinking shots. 

A fun night!

 

We had a bit of a sleep in and a slow morning which was nice. Our bedroom in the France apartment was beautiful .... my favourite herribone wooden floors, big king size white bed and french windows looking out over a courtyard.
We made our way on foot over to Cotume, a highly recommended coffee house. We weren't disappointed. Able to get two different types of filter coffee and a nice chat to the barista. A little walk away was the metro and we hopped on to get to the Arc de Triomphe. We walked up theChamps d'Elysee and then saw the large arch. I couldn't believe how busy and chaotic that round about is!!
We caught the train to Montmarte to see the Sacre Couer seeing as the weather was so blue and beautiful. Once we'd hiked up the steep hill it was a fairly clear day so we could really look out over Paris. It's pretty flat like Perth!!
There were some food markets on just next to the church so we sat at a little pop up bar and enjoyed the crowds. I had my first crepe with lemon and sugar.

I really was quite taken with Montmarte ... it's artists in action and cobblestone paths. Todd got some fantastic footage of a man busking with an old music box that he had to wind and control with his arm. We found a restaurant called Buvette and enjoyed an afternoon drink (I had a cocktail called the Holiday - so delicious!) and we both got Croque Monsieur and Croque Madam, in our search for the best in Paris!
We declared it an almost 10/10 ... I think it was the gerkins that did it!
Back on the train and hopped off at the Louvre for a look.

Brad and Nez were keen to see the Eiffle Tower light show, so we popped up to the shops and got some picnic snacks and caught the train there.
It was pretty surreal and lovely sitting in front of the Eiffle Tower and watching the sun set, with some cheese and red wine!

We had a play with our cameras and the lights as the sun went down!