Notre-Dame and Shakespeare & Company | Paris, France

When you visit Paris, it's almost guaranteed that you'll make a stop at Notre-Dame.  I know if I didn't my parents would've been quite sad and disappointed. We only intended to stop by and take a look outside, but the line was quite short, we couldn't say no. Once inside, we realized why the line was moving so fast. They were packing everyone inside. It was quite impossible to get a good look at anything, but we still walked around for a bit and then headed out. Notre-Dame is a beautiful French gothic cathedral that is unlike any I've seen before. 

Afterward, we crossed the bridge to Shakespeare and Company. I've always wanted to visit the independent bookstore because many famous authors used to gather there. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others would gather and spend heaps of time there. Since it's such a popular and well-known spot, it was just as crowded at Notre-Dame. It was impossible to look at books and soak in the atmosphere. Still, I'm glad we stopped by because it's been on my bucket list since I was in high school! 

Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, & Champs-Élysées | Paris, France

On our first official day in Paris, we did way too much. In the morning, Markus and I trekked all the way to Montmartre and visited Sacré-Cœur and the Cafe des Deux Moulins from Amélie. Then we decided to try head over to the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower since they were sort of close together. In all of my research on France, I was led to believe that the entire month of August was the dead season and that the streets would be empty. Whoever said that was a liar, the entire city was swarming with tourists and made it sort of impossible to linger anywhere for long. We wanted to go into the park outside the Eiffel Tower, but the lines were impossibly long. I think if we had more than three days in Paris, I probably would've pushed for it more.  Unfortunately I didn't get my touristy photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. C'est la vie, maybe we'll make it back to Paris one day! 

Cafe des Deux Moulins | Montmartre, Paris

Let me take you back to 2001. I just graduated from high school and was in my first year of college. I spent four years bumbling through high school, hating everything and everyone, most of all myself. I really didn't know who I was. No one liked the same things I did and deep down I knew I was different than my parents, my family and my friends. So I spent a lot of that first year feeling alone and misunderstood. That all changed in November when I watched the French film Amélie. I know it's weird to say that a film changed your life, but in a way it did. I've always loved movies and stories, but no other movie affected me in such a way.  

Everything about the movie resonated and helped me realize that it was okay to be different. She was so quirky and interesting and there was a quality to the movie that a lot of films lack. One of my favorite lines from the film is, "Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs," or "Times are hard for dreamers." It's crazy how this is still so relevant. I could go on and on about it, but I think that would have to be a story for another time. If you've never seen the movie, I highly recommend it. So that brings me to our recent trip to France and how Amélie ties in...

Amélie is set in Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. When we knew we were going to be in Paris for two days, I purposefully planned to spend a day exploring the same streets and haunts as Amélie. The first place that we stopped at was the very same place she worked, Cafe des Deux Moulins. I will admit the place is a bit of a tourist trap and overrun with tourists gaping and gawking outside. It took me forever to get a chance to get a photo in front and there were still heaps of people hanging around. Nevertheless, Cafe des Deux Moulins still retains it's charm. There are locals that frequent the place and can be seen having a cafe and reading the newspaper. Markus and I decided to have breakfast instead of stopping in and taking photos. We ordered the, Petit déjeuner (12€) that came with coffee, orange juice, viennoiserie, butter bread with jam and three eggs. It wasn't a fancy outstanding meal, but it definitely was a small price to pay to spend an hour or so in such an iconic place.