Day 36: exploding snails

  Big day of site seeing. Arc di triumph- the monument erected in memory off all the soldiers who had fought in each of the wars the French had encountered. A delicious market where delicious choc flan was purchased and demolished by none other than myself. The Eiffel tower soon to be nicknamed the eifs. Many many photos including romantic shots for those missing their loves ones ie Jess. Then to napoleons tomb which was gold but not that impressive- in leah's words "my pastry was better than this". Then the catacombs. What an interesting place. There was an overcrowded cemetery where masses of graves were piled on top of one another so it was decided that the graves would be dug up and moved. The workers arranged the millions of bones in arrays underground. There were so so so so so many bones it is too hard to comprehend how many people were actually there. It was spooky and dank and odd. The bones dated back from the 1700s through to the 1900s and with some you could tell. They were rotting. Tunnel after tunnel after tunnel all filled with piles and rows and rows of bones.  Having had enough of that we walked on in search of herme's famous macaroons. Along the way we turned a corner and boom Paris by night in your face. The arc, the eifs, the ferris wheel, the whole city all lit up for us to wow at and wow we did. Every hour the tower sparkles it's lights and we were just in time to witness it. I could have stood there for ages but macaroons were calling... We didn't find herme but we found another just as famous apaz- they were good my fav flavour is salted caramel. We then hiked to the moulin rouge to dance and sing diamonds are a girls best friend out the front. It's pretty minute really.  Tonight was also the last night as a quintet so we went put for a French fiesta to an authentic French restaurant. We were the only English speaking customers and the life of the party really. We all had different types of duck. Mine had cheese and ham and mushrooms and scallop potatoes in a big cheesy stew and was absolutely delicious. We also had escargot. However one was evidently still alive as when the sizzling plate was put on the table it exploded and popped right out of it's dish splattering snail juice all over Liz! What an experience. We stayed in the restaurant chatting to the waiters until midnight and finally decided it was domire time.