Wandering around the Marais district gave us the feeling of Paris that we were expecting. Not sure if Mal mentioned it above but many of the shops and cafes along the street have been closed. I have come to realise that we actually picked the worst week to come to Paris, as the first week of August is the height of their summer, when many Parisians leave town. While some may say this is a very good thing, unfortunately it also means they shut up shop. So the atmosphere has not been as good as we expected. Until we discovered this district, for some reason this area is buzzing despite the time of year and we really felt we could absorb the French culture. Quaint streets with little boutiques and many very pretty gardens and parks hidden behind beautiful stone walls or buildings.

The next day Malcolm and I spent the day apart, and while it was a nice change we found we missed each other!!! How quickly we have fallen into the habit of spending every minute together - it is quite a luxury really so we are trying to make the most of it and appreciate one anothers company. I spent the day exploring the fashion, textile and decorative arts museums, seeing some incredible works of art, craft and design. Unfortunatley (being August) the fashion and textile exhibitons were limited but I still managed to fill the day quite easily!!

We took a tour of Paris by night, on an open deck bus and this really gave us the chance to appreciate the beauty of this city. The way they light the buildings really shows them to the best advantage. The highlight was when we stopped to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkling, which it does on the hour every night for ten minutes.

Our last day in Paris we spent at the St Owen flea markets, which was worth the trip out there ( they are about 15min by bus from the centre of the city) for the experienc as they were huge, but many stalls were closed and those that were open were quite pricey (compared to Portabelo Rd markets in London). Anyhow, from there we caught the bus to Monmatre and visited the Sacre Cur, or Basillica of the Sacred Heart. I felt like i was in the movie Amalie!! It was a beautiful church in quite an interesting area. We walked from the Sacre Cur to one of the last 2 remaining original windmills, the Moulin de la Galette (yes, from the famous Renoir). Opposite here was a little outdoor bar where we had a drink and enjoyed grat views over this part of Paris. We then headed down the hill to see the show at the Moulin Rouge. The show was great and the atmosphere really fun - the Japanese audience really get into it! The singing was interesting though - we couldnt help but liken it to Eurovision (no offense JK!). So we had a great last day in Paris, and I cant wait to come back (at a different time of year!).