Casual day in Paris - walking and cruising.

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As I said, no one wanted the night to end so yesterdays story actually finishes today haha! We came home via taxi in the wee hours and so this morning we all managed to sleep in. I awoke early but convinced myself to go back to sleep and the next thing you know, it was 10:30 lol. Gradually everyone woke up so we prepared our breakfast spread and Con went to get our croissants. The conversation this morning was all about our fabulous day yesterday with Jess rating the day a 10 out of 10 and we all agreed!

After a slow start to the day, we all agreed it would be nice to do a river cruise this evening so Janine organsied that for 6:00. Jess & Con wanted to visit a flea market and Janine, Ferris and I thought we would walk to Sacrè Cœur today and then meet the others at the pier. I also wanted to check the walking distance to the train station I needed to get my train from the next day, just so I could plan appropriately.

It was probably after 1pm before we set off on our walk and I took Ferris and Janine up the Arabic building to show them the view. We set off again but didn't go far before spotting a nougat shop that required a visit. Then we started walking again but decided we needed to stop for a coffee. For some reason it took ages for our coffees to come out but eventually we were on our way again. I then found what I thought was the train station so i went down to find out exacty where I needed to go and I also bought a ticket. By this time I think it was almost an hour since we had left the apartment - and google maps advised it was a 10 min walk from our apartment to this train station lol!

We knew from there it was an hour walk to Sacré Cœur but we were in no rush and there were so many fabulous buildings to see along the way. We came across a beautiful cobbled street that went for a long way and was lined with cafes, restaurants and bars. Ferris and Janine made the call to stop along here for a bit to eat and a drink. We found a little Italian cafe and decided this would be the spot. After a nice lunch we headed off again and started to make our way to the Montemartre area in search of Sacré Cœur. I really enjoyed this walk as the building started to make you feel like you were in the Baz Lurhman movie Moulin Rouge. And then I spored the basilica! Wow, it was huge and high on a hill ........ with lots of steps up to it! And suddenly we were amongst hundreds of people which was weird as most of the way there didn't seem to many people around.

We made our way up the steps, taking in the view at each stage. As with holidays where time doesn't matter, it was somehow about 5:15 by the time we got to this area, so we knew we didn't have a lot of time to look around as we needed to get to the pier, located near the Eiffel Tower by 6:00. This still gave us enough time for a few photos before organizing for an Uber to collect us and take us to the pier. We arrived just before 6 and Peri and Phil were in the queue to buy tickets. Janine already had tickets for us and Jess & Con so we could go through the fast track. We didn't make the 6pm boat which was fine as we knew the next one left at 6:30. We were up towards the front of the queue so knew we could pick good seats on the boat.

It was the perfect time of day for a cruise on the Seine. Even though it was still hot, there was a nice breeze once we were out inn the water. Such a great way to see the sights of Paris, sitting back and relaxing with your friends. There were so many people along the banks and the best part was when we came across all these small ampitheaters with people dancing - there was 1920's type dancing, their was Latino dancing, there was all sorts of dancing! Magical.

The cruise went for an hour and before we knew it we were back at the dock. We decided we would get the Metro back to our accommodation and this turned out to be a bit of fun, with the 3 boys all trying to work out directions and which Metro station was closer. We walked over a bridge to the other side and there was this amazing building (no idea what it is called) with water fountains and then lots of levels so you could get great photo opportunities of the Eiffel Tower and beyond. We eventually found a Metro station and bought our tickets. Lucky we did as we came across ticket inspectors twice on our journey home - and they were busting people!

On our way home we messaged Sue & Lou so we could catch up with them as tonight was our last night where the whole gang is together. They were sitting at a little bar having a glass of wine not far from our apartment. Sue didn't want to have a late night as she was leaving early the next morning so we decided to head straight to dinner, rather than have pre dinner drinks in our apartment as originally planned. I found a restaurant further down the Boulevard that looked good and could fit in our party of 9 so we all agreed to head there. We all ordered something to eat and drink and then...........Phil says "I have an announcement to make"

He told us that he had proposed to Peri when they were in the U.K. and she had said Yes. We all burst out cheering and all jumped up and were hugging them - the rest of the restaurant goers were wandering what the heck was going on! How wonderful! And none of us could believe that either of them could keep this secret for so long. Turns out they had decided they didn't want to overshadow Janine's birthday so they kept it secret until the day after her celebrations ?. What lovely, thoughtful people - it must have been killing them especially as we had been stirring up Phil the night before and teasing him to propose to Peri on the Eiffel Tower! All us girls couldnt believe that with all the champagne drinking Peri had done with us, not once did she let it slip! And Phil had been with Ferris for days and not a word.

Now our night became another celebration and after dinner everyone can back to our apartment. Lucky we had two bottles of champagne in the fridge, as well as the white wine Janine and I bought in Tuscany. Ferris also had about 3/4 of a bottle of red wine and Phil picked up some beers. We bought out the left over food from a picnic the previous day and the party was on!

So much for Sue's early night! This was another night that ended the next day ?

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