11/01 — ONE MONTH LEFT IN PARIS \ Monday

Oh my goodness, I could wax on about how quickly it’s gone blah blah but I just wrote a few letters to various people so have had my little written vent.

In any case, spent the day with Natalie after a lovely skype with Hutch. We went to the post office for her to buy a box to ship home before she leaves on her big travels, then not having enough time for Musée d’Orsay because it was already 20 to 14h, we decided to head over to Les Deux Moulins, the cafe in Montmartre made famous by the film ‘Amelie’. I predictably got a un lait chaud vanillé (addicted to it) which was properly frothed, how exciting. We planned out the next couple of weeks, planning to be touristing it up like crazy almost every day so we fit in as much as possible.

Amelie post in the background as I contemplate our to do list.

That night the ‘to dos’ began, meeting up to ascend to the top of Arc de Triomphe (I swear it has more stairs than the Notre Dame, or at least it feels like it!) and try a Pierre Hermé macaron.

Rather windy up there and I still haven’t found harmony between the Canon and nighttime.
Looking out to La Defense et le grande arche (the U shape grey thing in the middle. Yup that’s a building)

Natalie is something of a macaron officiando and hadn’t tried one his yet. Though I don’t actually like them (she says at a whisper so she doesn’t get kicked out of France), I hadn’t actually had one whilst I’ve been here so thought I should, just in case my tastebuds had been wrong, or that they’re somehow divine here in France.

I got a grapefruit and some other two flavours, I can’t remember what, and it was quite the attack on the tastebuds, apparently the crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside of the biscuit was spot on (Natalie being very professional here) but it was still too sweet and I’d prefer to use up my sugar intake for the day on a chocolate eclair or something.

Oh also, we got it at this shop at the top of the Champs-Elysées as it was closest to the AdT, but it also was a bookstore/fancy food place as well because look what I found. I laughed myself silly over this. Try the novel American “cheese in a can” — for only 11 euro 20!!

We then were peckish for some food so ended up near Finja’s somehow, on the hunt for this really suprisingly elusive restaurant. Which turned out to be right next door to a metro, on our line, so happily it was a short ride home.