After three jam-packed days, Monday was relatively chilled. We attempted to sleep in, did some laundry and grocery shopping, had a massive cook-up for breakkie (potatoes, gravy, sausages and onion...why not) then sat in Maccas on facebook, emails and banking for a little while. Ben and Gem are getting perfect wireless in our apartment most of the time, but for some unknown reason Mark and I get absolutely nothing on our iPad or netbook. Actually, I do know the reason. Have you ever seen those shows about magnetic people who can stick spoons to their body? Well, I'm like that but instead of fancy spoon tricks I just break any technology that I touch. Seriously, legit.

Anyway, I digress. I felt a little guilty sitting in Maccas on Facebook, while there is still so much to see and do. That said, Monday seems to be a bit of a bludge day here in Paris - everyone sleeps in, many museums are closed, and some shops didn't open until about 11am. Even Maccas was a 9:30am open. Found this so strange for such a huge city but a brilliant idea...who doesn't love a Monday sleep-in?

By about lunchtime we were finally ready to get stuck back in and head to Montmatre. Montmatre is the town with a view as it is the only hill in Paris, and the beautiful Sacre Couer sits right on top. It's also known for its history as a hotspot for creative types like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Satie (love!) and Victor Hugo, and houses the Moulin Rouge and surrounding red light district.

After disembarking at Anvers, we were immediately bombarded by touts and souvenir shops - tourist central. It did take away a little from the beautiful, narrow cobblestone streets but I suppose it's to be expected. There were also some little gems amongst the tourist trash, such as the chocolatiers showcasing a massive replica of the Eiffel tower and a pirate ship, both made entirely from chocolate. Heaven.

We walked up the hill in light rain (another cold day) and the Sacre Coeur came into sight. Very pretty! Churches will soon lose their appeal I'm sure, but the Sacre Coeur certainly wins points for its dramatic setting high on the hill, with beautiful white domes set against lush green lawns. And more stairs, yippee! Calves of steel.

Touts were everywhere - the first two balconies were filled with men dangling Eiffel tower key rings and trying to tie bracelets to our wrists (eek, you touch you buy - so there was a good deal of side stepping involved here). At the first balcony however, there was a massive standoff between two competing groups of touts - in total about 30 large men growling at each other. The area was cleared and they were eyeing each other off looking pretty seriously scary, while two or three were having words and bumping chests in the middle. Next thing you know, our little Gem is pottering straight through the middle, snapping away. "Gem you just waltzed through the middle of the 2012 battle of Sacre Couer...couldn't you see them all standing there looking tough?" "Oh, I thought they were posing for a photo! You know, tough poses." Oh this girl brings the LOLs ;-)

After a long climb up and a quick look around (I thought the outside was more impressive than the inside, especially compared to the inside of Notre Dame), we caught the cable car down (Metro Mobilis pass win) and just wandered the streets for a while, occasionally jumping on the metro and picking random stations to hop off at.

We eventually reached the Moulin Rouge, which is in a much less romantic setting than you would expect - surrounded by sex shops and crammed between nightclubs on a busy street. It looked much prettier though when we returned at night and it was all lit up.

After reserving seats for the 11pm show, we went back to Bastille and found a patisserie, stocked up on treats, grabbed some groceries for dinner and went back to the apartment for a little feast/high tea followed by another of these epic afternoon naps that are really starting to be a problem for our body clocks.

I woke the others up at about 9pm, we got prettied up and had a couple of Kroenenbourg's (7 euro for a case of 26!), then made our way back to the Moulin Rouge. We got there early but the line was already halfway down the street, which made us a little nervous about our booking which had involved no payment or tickets. One of the ushers assured us though that the theatre holds 905 audience members, which we worked out is a minimum taking of about 86,000 Euro per show (2 shows per night) provided that seats are always full (and it would surprise me if they weren't).

Before joining the line we stepped across the road to take a couple of happy snaps, and suddenly Gemma was sliding along the footpath. Wait for it...She slipped on a banana peel. A banana peel! No kidding. Her list is growing by the day, with the boys starting to get a little flexible and creative with the criteria, but this one definitely takes the cake. Oh Gemma. Classic.

We jumped in the line and chatted to a couple of Aussies (while I've been insistent that the whole point of travel is to get away from Aussies and experience new people and cultures, it was actually pretty nice to have a fluent conversation!), until the doors finally opened at 11pm and we made our way inside surprisingly quickly. The inside of the theatre is definitely more impressive - lush red carpets and lighting, vintage circus tent curtains, waiters in penguin suits etc. We were shown to our seats by the maitre de and given a couple of bottles of wine/champagne.

After spending 105 euro per ticket the show opener had me a little worried - clunky choreography filled with Eurovision style cheese...but from there on in it was wonderful. The costumes were absolutely magnificent, mostly topless but very tastefully done. There was comedy, including hilariously awkward audience participation with one poor petrified girl shaking her head and refusing any sort of prop or action given to her. Just say no. Also the unintended comedy of a particularly enthusiastic male dancer who looked exactly like that blonde puppet in Thunderbirds. Thunderbirds are go! There were jaw-dropping acts e.g. girl jumps in to pool full of massive pythons and thrashes about, man turbo juggles to rave music. And of course the can-can...just brilliant!

It was a bit of a splash out budget-wise but well worth it, we had a really great night. The show finished a little after 1am and being a weekday the metro was closed. So, we caught our first taxi and managed to use our bomb French skills to successfully navigate our non-English speaking driver home for only 12 euro. Not too bad!

We have just one day left in Paris before heading to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland so I had better get up out of bed and make the most of it. I think I'm setting a ridiculous precedent here with daily blogging and there is no way I'll be able to maintain this for 4 months (and no way that I can keep your interest for that long)...I might look at writing just one or two per city here on in! For now though, I seem to be waking up before everyone else and it's a nice way to start my morning. So there's my disclaimer! No promises ;-)

Au Revoir for now

Liss xox