The greatest products of architecture are less the works of individuals than of society; rather the

So this is a quote from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, yes guys the Disney film isn't an original idea! I chose it because I cannot put across into words how beautiful the architecture is in Paris, especially that of the Notre Dame.

Before I go on about my second experience in the Notre Dame I have to tell you how hungover we were on Friday. We woke up at half eight and literally slithered onto the floor and dragged our asses down to breakfast. We didn't eat a thing. We were so dehydrated from the lack of water that we downed about 5 galleons of apple juice and water. We both knew there was no way we were ready to face the sunlight so we crawled back to bed for another 3 hours of sleep.

At this point it was midday and we felt considerably better, well I did, Billie was still nursing a slight hangover so I introduced her to my favourite cafe right around the corner from where we're staying to have a proper breakfast and a coffee. Well, I say a proper breakfast, Billie had tuna pate and toast (quite sensible) and I had the Tiramisu. Again, sorry my Italian friends but it was the best tiramisu I've ever had! It was so yummy and didn't compare to the one I had in Venice. Overall I have to say the cuisine I had in Italy was the worst out of all of all the countries I've been to in my month long trip. Fully satisfied and now feeling like the sun wouldn't melt away our soul, we headed for the streets of Paris.

Now I know I went on and on about how amazing it was about a month ago but when I went this time around it was noticeably busier and from Billie's point of view this tainted the experience slightly of the Notre Dame and I have to say I kind of agree with her. When you walk into the Notre Dame and glance up you cannot help but catch your breath. The beauty of the stained glass windows, the chandeliers and the high ceilings honestly overwhelm you however, as Billie puts it, if you look at eye level the feeling disappears. The flood of people in front of you makes it hard to fully grasp the spectacle around you. Billie and I both think there should be a quota of the amount of people they let in at any one time so you can simply take everything in without having to manoeuvre around idiots with selfie sticks and tourists barging into you so they can see everything. Most of them completely ignore you or are ignorant to the fact they may be ruining the experience for you. However, as I said, a month ago the feeling was different because it was less crowded. So if you're thinking of a city break to Paris I would highly recommend going out of peak season i.e Summer even if that means the weather is poor.

OHH! I almost forgot to tell you. There was another reason why my experience in Notre Dame on Friday was no where near as good as the first and that's because of another creepy man! Only this time he wasn't an old French guy it was another tourist. I was snapping away at the back of the cathedral with Billie standing beside me, I turn around to continue round the other side and there's this guy in an 'I Love Paris' t-shirt and nerdy glasses literally grinning like a Cheshire Cat at me. I smiled and tried to move on but he said 'Oh can I have a picture?' I said sure and went to take the camera away from him, assuming that he wanted me to take a picture of him in the church. Oh no no no. He wanted a picture of me! I was like what? Now I know for a fact I was not looking my best that day and I'm not God's gift even on the best of days, but today I hadn't showered, or brushed my hair and I think I still had last night's make up on. So I definitely think he needs to sort his prescription out because he went on to say 'Oh you're very beautiful I want a picture of you.' I was so gobsmacked and hungover I said 'Okayy' without a second thought and stood there arms folded and kind of grimaced. If he was hoping to have the next glossy picture for his wank bank then unfortunately I think he's managed to capture a photo for his worst nightmares!

After that traumatic thought we walked on over to the Eiffel Tower. After the night of heavy drinking we weren't feeling the 1000 or so steps up to the top of the tower so we chilled on the grass in the lovely park that surrounds the Iron Lady and laughed at all the tourists (we're lovely really people I swear

haha) and then acted like tourists ourselves by posing in front of the tower. Billie thought the Eiffel Tower was beautiful but she thought that because you see so many pictures of it, when you actually see it in the flesh you kind of comment on it saying 'Oh yeah, it's pretty' but that's about it because you know what to expect when you see it.

Around then it was 8 o'clock in the evening and thanks to my trusty pedometer we found out that we had already walked 16,000 steps and thought it was about time to head home to collapse into bed without touching a drop of alcohol. We saved that for the next night....