After getting in so late last night (well technically this morning) I sleep till 10am. When I wake up dad isn’t in the room so I message him to find out he’s having a coffee downstairs so we meet up and decide to have some breakfast at a nearby patisserie. Crossaints of course and coffee.

We are planning to check out a local shopping centre and then on to the Arc de Triomphe. Best laid plans always but as we shooing dad gets an email about doing a pre recording interview back home in Australia so we have to adjust our time and he opts to head back to the hotel while I blog and chill out in a cafe.
I sit and watch groups of people come in and out. It’s always amazing that even though we all speak different languages people are the same the world round.
Teenage girls chatter, squeal and laugh as they tell each other stories. A well dressed woman with her sister and mother snaps a selfie with the ever important duck lips. Guys come in their suits, earphones in, on their way to work. It’s so interesting that thousands of kilometres apart we have so many similarities.

I return to the hotel towards the tail end of the interview and we can finally head out and continue our day. To save time we jump in an Uber.

These sights are always magnificent. There are people everywhere of course but we manage to find a gap to take a quick picture. It’s then we go on the hunt for food and I get my first glimpse at Champs Elysse. Beautiful trees line the streets and the lanes of traffic are many. We check out a couple of restaurant’s menus and aren’t very keen on what’s on offer (or the price tag). We decide to check out a back street to see if we can find somewhere with a bit of character to eat.

It doesn’t take us long before we find a cute restaurant and even better they have steak and vegetables on the menu. We are greeted warmly and seated facing outside. I’ve been missing just clean eating. I think that’s the thing I’ll do first is to cook myself a nice eye fillet steak with steamed veges.
We finish up lunch and head for a wander down the street. It’s then I spot…………the Disney store!!
Dad follows me around as I oooohhhh and aaahhh at everything. I spot a couple of things I’d love to take home, but my suitcase won’t fit. I told dad that it’s such a shame they don’t stop princess outfits in my size.
We chat with a worker who helps me with some final questions I have about my day at Disneyland Paris tomorrow, and dad buys me my birthday present, which is a gorgeous backpack with Disney princesses on it. I just love it!

As we head out of the shop it starts to storm so I order us an Uber home and realize it’s only a few hours till I will need to start thinking about tonight’s visit to the Moulin Rouge.
Before we go back into the hotel a coffee stop is needed so we pop into the one we’d been to before and sat for a little bit. I leave dad to finish up what he’s doing and pop upstairs to do some research on the next leg of my journey. I need to get to the airport and also back from the airport when I land in Venice. Although I didn’t quite get it sorted I enjoy the down time lazing on the bed.
When it comes time to get ready I’d asked dad if he would like to come on the Metro (train) with me and have a drink before I head into the show.

I have packed an outfit that had to be both appropriate and could travel well. No high heels this time though. I’m dressed and ready and dad decided he’d join me for the journey. Using the rail app I discovered there was a direct train if we were to talk about 500m to a different station so we do that.
The train trip was easy. The hardest part was dealing with my dad attempting French lessons for me. I roll my eyes as he branches out into a variety of words, both serious and funny. I do wonder what the people around us are thinking.

We arrive and exit the Metro to be right in the middle of the red light district. As I look down the street I see lots of flashing lights saying things like ‘sex shop’, ‘live show’ & ‘toy store’, which for the record is nowhere to send your children for their birthday present. But beyond that is the famous windmill atop the Moulin Rouge. I pose for some pictures out the front. I know once I’m inside there aren’t any cameras allowed.

We decide to stop in a restaurant not too far away cause the show will start soon and I need to check in about half an hour or so. I order an avocado and shrimp salad and a glass of rose.
Before long I bid dad farewell and head off. I’m so excited and that’s when the smile started, and it didn’t stop for 2 hours.
I am shown to my seat and I keep going closer and closer to the stage. We teach the table I’ll be at -it’s right at the very front!!!!! I can’t believe it. I’m asked ‘is champagne ok for you’? If only he knew me, hey?
I began saying hi to the people on my table. Seems I am sitting with Paula & Ted from Texas. They’re traveling with her mother and her mother’s best friend. They tell me this trip is a gift from her mother’s best friend because recently they had taken care of her when she became very ill.

My champagne arrives and the lights go down. The crowd cheer and then the most spectacular production I’ve ever seen began. It was this incredible combination of modern and traditional dance moves to modern and traditional music. Costumes varied from sequin full body suits to pretty much nothing at all. The format of the show covered various cultures such as cosack dancing and Thai, then moved on to a circus theme where the cutest live Shetland ponies came out. The entire crowd went aaawwwwwwww!
Then the first cabaret act. A small circular platform was placed at the centre of the stage. As the lights came up there was a man a woman standing behind the platform. It’s not long before I notice they’re in roller skates. They mesmerize the audience spinning and doing the most incredible formations and dancing with each other. There was one point they were spinning so fast I thought they were going to fly out into the table we were sitting at.
After a few more dancing numbers with more gobsmacking costumes, the most visually impressive act started. A water tank rose out of the stage. Inside swum 3 massive pythons and a lady appears on the stage and just jumps right in. She swims and twists and turns the pythons around her.
The dancing was flawless, all the women and men are gorgeous and perform is such a classy way. You almost forget they’re topless.
The final cabaret act is a comedian drummer who’s special skill is to juggle ping pong balls with his mouth. He has us all laughing and clapping.
And then the grand finale. The can-can. The stage is covered with red white and blue costumes and shrills from the dancers. I am still getting goosebumps writing about it now.
I farewell my table and head to the station. The train system here is pretty easy to use. While sitting in the train I heard from behind me a lady who was obviously addressing the carriage. It turns out she was a beggar, as she moved through the carriage people hand her a drink and money. Not sure what her story was but this happened with others a couple more times before my stop, which I nearly missed. I was paying attention but seemed this train didn’t stop at all the stations. I quickly left my seat just in time.
I am buzzing still, and I really needed to pee, so I head up to the hotel room and wake dad. I’m planning on heading back downstairs for a celebratory drink and dad decides to get out of bed and join me.
We head to a restaurant he went to earlier in the night while I was out. The staff are super friendly and we sit up at the bar. I always find it more entertaining to do that. You get to interact with the staff and there always something happening. A high traffic area. I enjoy a couple of glasses of Mumm and a night snack of tomatoes and mozzarella.
We met Chi Chi a Sri Lankan who loves his cricket. I was able to dazzle him with my cricket knowledge. The rest of the staff swung over to say hello at some point.
It’s time for bed so dad heads back just before me. I’m conscious tomorrow is Disneyland day so I need a good amount of sleep. It doesn’t open until 10am so it’s not too early start. But don’t stay too long and then head up to bed to set my first alarm for the whole trip.
Wow what a day!!