Paris City Break – Day Two

For anyone who doesn’t know, Cafe du Chat is a cafe where people go to stroke cats while drink coffee (to put it in simple terms). Both Hayley and I do love cats, although I tend to favour more cats I know, where Hayley just love cats. We each got a cold drink having practically ran from the metro and chilled out for a while. It was a really nice relaxed area and gave us time to figure out our next move. Which would be to head off to Monmatre to see Sacre Coeur and then into the Red Light District to see the Moulin Rouge all lit up in the evening. Sadly we wouldn’t be seeing a show due to the incredibly high prices.

We caught the metro as far as Anvers then we walked up through a very tourist street, calling in and out of the shops to avoid showers of rain. We both spent some of our money buying your standard tourist stuff, the prices were a lot lower than I expected and everyone was ready to haggle. By the time we reached the top before climbing the Sacre Coeur steps the heavens opened for the heaviest shower since we arrived and we popped into a little cafe for a spot of late lunch. Again I won’t go into details as I will have a post up dedicated to where we ate and drank. It was as nice as ever although the waiter was a little strange. By the time we’d finished and paid, it was fair again so we headed up to the church. Sadly on the steps we were accosted by some incredibly rude men. We’d clearly been targeted as we were two young girls but after plenty of “no no no” we managed to get away and make our way up. At the top there were some wonderful street entertainers, a couple of men doing football tricks and a band. It was such a good atmosphere and again the view was wonderful. We didn’t go into the church but perhaps we should of since on the way down we got caught in another heavy shower! We ducked into some more shops and spent some more money before making our way into the Red Light District.

Well, how can I describe the Red Light District? I’m not sure if it was horrifying or hilarious! It’s so strange how some things can be totally illegal in one country and the norm elsewhere. It was an experience to say the least. We did find an amazing bar for happy hour cocktails though! We finally made it to the Moulin Rouge and it was definitely worth it. All lit up, it looked wonderful. Perhaps one day I’ll make it back for a show but at least now I can say I’ve stood outside.

For dinner that night we chose to venture to La Favourite, a restaurant we’d been recommended over twitter. We knew it was on Rue de Rivoli.. unfortunately we got off at the metro stop on the wrong end of the incredibly long road and spent a good 30 minutes walking to the restaurant. THANKFULLY we made it in time for happy hour and the place had wifi so we could contact home. The food and drinks were good, the place was wonderfully decorated and a bit more modern rather than authentically French but it was a brilliant end to a great day. We headed back to the hostel for a shower and then bed as we wanted to be up early the next day to make the most of our last day in Paris.