We visited a few more stops before we left: Sacre-Coeur & Montmartre and Moulin Rouge. We only got to see the outside of Moulin Rouge. It looked like a fun way to spend an evening.
The walk to Sacre-Coeur was charming. The streets were full of shops and bakeries and cafés. We walked up the tourist street, where we bought some matching scarves and some other small souvenir items.
The Sunday afternoon welcomed locals and tourists as they relaxed and enjoyed the sights from Sacre-Coeur.
Because it is on a hill, the view was incredible. You could see all of Paris. On the way, we were accosted by Africans who forced their friendship bracelets on us. We listened humouredly as they wove the bracelets within minutes and wished us "well-wishes."
"You have boyfriend? Is he black or white? Ooooooh. Very good." We laughed until he wished, "When you're married to him, may you have FIVE BABIES!" Aaaaah. No no no. No child birth. This is now an accursed African friendship bracelet!
The cathedral was also beautiful: the candles were lit and people prayed as the gloriously painted icons looked down. It was so very peaceful.
We walked the streets of Montmartre and picked up some food for our bus trip. Finding the bus was stressful for a moment because there weren't any signs to show the way, but we found it with plenty of time to spare.
The view from the bus (France-->Belgium-->The Netherlands) was beautiful. Unfortunately, the sun set and most of the trip was in darkness, but what we did see was nice: horses grazing in a misty field, castles casually situated in the countryside, white brick houses with smoke streaming from the chimneys, soft hills with autumn colors, rivers with the white bark of birch trees reflecting in the water...mmmm. Savory sights.
It was amazing that only an hour out of Paris we were seeing farms, castles, and chapels, which were always the tallest building, overlooking the towns.
We arrived safely in Amsterdam, but all the public transportation was closed, so we took a taxi to our hostel. Our driver was hilarious and super nice. He offered the trip for 15€, but at the end he said 10€ because he liked us. That's a pretty good deal. :) He spoke great English and joked around with us, saying I must be a Russian spy since I speak Russian and that we must be from Seattle or San Francisco because I look like a hippie. But we're at our hostel now, and we're comfy and ready to rest.
I can't wait to see what Amsterdam has to offer us!
