On our second to last day in Paris, we decided to get out and walk in the gorgeous sunshine.  We started at the Madeleine church, which looks like a Roman temple on the outside but is a Catholic church on the inside.

 

 

We then walked through the Place de la Concorde, down the river and over to see Les Invalides and the church where Napoleon is buried.  We didn’t go in to see the tomb, as there didn’t seem to be a way to do this without paying to see the whole military museum, which we were not so interested in!

 

 

 

We walked back across the river and down the Champs Elysees (pictured above) to see the Arc de Triomphe (the real one this time!)  We decided not to go up it as we had planned to go up the Eiffel tower the next day, but we crossed underground to stand under it and see the crazy traffic going around it.

 

 

Our last day in Paris was also my 32nd birthday.  We started the day with a champagne and croissant breakfast that Reuben surprised me with, before going out to the movies to see Les Miserables (I had been dying to see it and it seemed appropriate in Paris!)

 

 

 

We then headed over to the Eiffel Tower, where we climbed up more than 600 stairs to the second floor and had a coffee while watching the sun go down over Paris.  We took the lift ride up to the very top and enjoyed Paris by night before going back to Montmarte and finding a little restaurant for dinner.  When I managed to say in French that it was my birthday, we got some free champagne!  We also tried escargots here (snails).  There is a bit of a knack to twisting them out of their shells – I quite liked them but Reubs was not as impressed by the texture.  It was a fabulous birthday – definitely one to remember!