A trip to Montmartre...

On Saturday I woke up to hear thunder rumbling in the distance and then we had the most MAGNIFICENT storm with thunder and lightning and EVERYTHING!

I fell asleep again after a while though and got up again late morning and went on a fruitless search for a bank to join, however I did manage to get myself an oyster-type card for the metro for next week, and I also did a bit of household shopping. Oh and I also went to the pharmacy because the air conditioning at work has utterly destroyed my throat and nose, so the lady there gave me some pretty serious pills and then some strepsil-type things too. When I came home I made a great sandwich with bread from the boulangerie, camembert, saucisson and lettuce. I then met another girl from the foyer and chatted for ages with her in the kitchen. She was, again, lovely.

Then today I got up and had breakfast at the church and went to the service. It was not, of course, a patch on home but I met some really friendly people and at one point the pastor asked newcomers to introduce themselves. At this point Regine, who I was sat with, pushed me to my feet saying "tell them your name!" I then found myself stood with the entire congregation staring at me whilst I mumbled in pathetic french that I was Sophie, from England and I was here for a year. I then turned to Regine and said "Was that ok?" she said yes, the pastor then said something else and smiled at me, I nodded and looked at Regine and said "can I sit down now?" She nodded and I did and it all carried on...

Then I spent the afternoon with Dino, a colleague from work, and we visited Montmartre. This was our first glimpse of the Sacre Coeur:

and then we saw it close up:

We went inside but you aren't allowed to take pictures. It was beautiful though!

Then this was the view looking down:

The man in the red t-shirt playing the guitar was telling the crowd how he had had "overdose of football and now every time I see it, I make sneeze"! I loved him. Then we wandered down and round and this was the view looking back up:

Then we went to find the Moulin Rouge which is situated in a red-light district and we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by sex shops, museums and even a sex supermarket (sale now on!)

There was also a club called "Pussy's", which made me giggle.

Then this was the Moulin Rouge:

If you want to go inside, the cheapest is to get the French Can-Can dinner, which will set you back 150€ - more than I had on me at the time, unfortunately.

I also saw these glasses, which I want:

Then, when I came home I went to make dinner but remembered that I had yet to buy a proper kitchen knife (eurostar doesn't like it if you try to take knives with you) so I popped next-door and borrowed Kathryn's. I then spent a good couple of minutes fiddling with the hob being hissed at by gas trying to find the spark-y button before concluding that there wasn't one. This was confirmed by Kathryn, who generously presented me with the gift of a box of matches! Thus, I made my dinner and then chatted on skype with Mikey, who is now home :D