French Footy

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Saturday 14 October

French Footy

We went to find the Metro station to go to Montmartre. It was very scary. Luckily the lady helped us. We made our station change and felt a lot more confident about using the Metro.
We walked up the steps of the Sacre Coeur. It was lovely. We lucked out. They were having a special fete this weekend. It was stressful at first as we couldn’t find a toilet. After walking around and around we stopped to get a cappuccino (€11) I used their loos. There were artists and musicians everywhere. A fun band left the vineyard and paraded through the streets. I bought most of our souvenirs here.
For lunch, I had the best potato bake. They were making it in massive vats and throwing in whole wheels of cheese. Delicious! Rob had a nutella and banana crepe which I wish I’d had! I finally found the free toilets and all was good! I could relax. We strolled for awhile and took in the atmosphere. We caught the metro home. I walked up to the little shop to get a juice and coke. They started talking to me in rapid French. I deflated and said “Australian” after that all was good. The man rubbed my arm and the woman smiled and laughed. The man made football gestures and we “communicated”. After that I nearly skipped back to the hotel. I felt a lot more confident and settled now.
I spent the afternoon drinking the wine they gave us in Italy and writing this.

After a rest we decided to join the throng and go to the Eiffel to watch the England vs France semi final of the world cup. It was AMAZING there were so many people pouring in. Over 8000 of them. They had set up a big screen tv at the Champs de Mars. They had a tribute to Pavarotti playing. People were all carting in cartons of beer, bottles of wine, bread sticks etc. The atmosphere was great. Groups of people were setting off red smoke bombs everywhere. By the time we left, the Champs de Mars was full and people still streaming in.
We had a hot dog and fries snack and headed back, cold and wet.

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