Whimscal Moments In Paris

Have you seen the French movie  Amélie ?  One of the cutest, charming whimsical shows I've seen. When researching things to do and places to see while in Paris, I found a web site called The Worldwide Guide to Movies. For this particular movie it gave nine different locations in which the movie had been filmed around Paris.
 So while we were there we especially wanted to visit a couple of the locations.

Café des 2 Moulins, Montmartre, Paris

 The place that made me smile and feel giddy was the café where Amélie worked. It is Café des 2 Moulins. We sat in the exact place they filmed! Ordered drinks and took lots of pictures. The poor staff  must get so tired of all the visitors taking pictures of them and every thing there, including  the bathroom where  one scene took place. To my surprise and delight as you entered the bathroom they had a little glassed-in area where they had props and paraphernalia from the  movie. What a place to put this right?! This just tickled me.


This was the enclosed museum stuff in the bathroom.



The garden gnome was one of the cutest parts of the movie.

A view from where we sat.

 



One of my favorite parts of the movie was Amélie secretly kidnapping her fathers garden gnome out of his garden, then giving it to her neighbor who was a flight attendant. The flight attendant  would then take pictures of the gnome in different locations around the world. In the movie the dad knew his gnome was missing, but adding to his confusion he started getting letters with  pictures of his gnome in front of the Statue of Liberty, and different places. This was Amélie's way of encouraging her father to travel.

 

 Katie and I had  gone to the Latin Quarter one day, and was walking back along the West bank of the Seine when a woman approached us holding a 'Flat Stanley', and asked if we could help her get a picture. For those of you who don't know about Flat Stanley, he travels the world in envelopes, then has pictures taken of him at different locations, and then writes a little bit of a journal about his adventures. Turns out that this woman was a flight attendant herself and  was doing this for her seven year old niece. It made me think of what  Amelie did with the gnome! How funny. When she asked if I wouldn't mind holding up the little 'Flat Stanley' in front of the signs by the Notre Damn I had to giggle and say yes. I felt a little like Amélie at that moment,  it was a whimsical moment, and one   that  made my trip extra fun.



Can you see the little gnome in different parts of the world?

Look hard and you can see the little Flat Stanley dressed in blue under the signs.