Paris at last!

IWednesday 11 September Paris – at last! We have already learned a valuable travel lesson – choosing a flight to Europe with multiple stopovers to break the journey (and to give Andrew’s long legs a rest from “cattle class” inertia) only increases the odds for flights to be delayed.
Our first two legs, from Melbourne to KL and from KL to Muscat, were bang on time. Alas the final 7 hour stretch, from Muscat to Paris, was delayed twice, culminating in a transfer for all passengers to a hotel for six hours for a meal, a shower and a quick sleep! It was very frustrating and it took one of the multi-lingual passengers – an expat Frenchman working in Oman - to tell us all what was happening. Oman Air was quite generous with the arrangements but very short on explanations!
At least the brief interlude in Muscat gave us a taste of Oman for our four-day stopover on the way home! One of the Oman Air cabin staff was bewildered that we had chosen to have a brief holiday in her country. She is trying to find a European husband to take her away from it! She says there are only 2 colours (presumably sand and sky or sand and rock) and she is well over it. She asked about opportunities in Australia and fluttered her long lashes at Andrew rather beseechingly……. An ambassador for her country she was not but I guess one would tire of a desert landscape and, like her, become restless when your job (ie flying throughout Europe and Asia) tempts you with endless possibilities to experience life elsewhere. She was drop-dead gorgeous if any of you blokes out there want to be introduced!

We eventually touched down in Paris after spending an extra night on a plane rather than tucked up in our “Cosy Little Apartment in Montmartre”. We endured peak hour on the Paris Metro to get to our destination and were greeted by a smiling, but non-English speaking, Miss Duport at the apartment building. We had booked the “Cosy Little Apartment in Montmartre” on the website AirBnB as an alternative to a hotel.

The location is fabulous but the neighbourhood is a trifle seedy. 

We are over the alley from a massage parlour and just up from the bright pink nightclub. A primary school is housed in one of the grand buildings next door. It is great to see the “flesh market” and education happily coexisting in this wonderful and tolerant city.
Montmartre is pretty much shabby chic and if you liked the movie, Amelie, all the landmarks are within an easy walk. We trudged up the hill to the Basilique du Sacre Coeur with its gorgeous view of the city and had coffee and crepes nearby at a charming little café in the Place du Terte. 

This village square is jammed with cafes, endless tourists and a cluster of caricaturists and painters. People watching is great here and we did just that until it started to rain.
In the evening we ventured in the other direction and enjoyed a vino in the very cosmopolitan Pigalle area. Almost every patron of our sidewalk bar was smoking as were the many passersby. 

A trendy boucherie over the road was doing a roaring trade around 7pm with locals calling in to purchase their calves liver, delicious looking poullets, bifsteks and quail. The greengrocers were also busy dispensing beautiful, fresh-looking veggies from artistic displays of in-season produce. If the residents around here live in apartments as small as ours, it’s no wonder they buy just enough ingredients for a meal at a time. There is nowhere to store food and the preparation and cooking surfaces are minute! We had a sensation dinner in a nearby restaurant. Andrew had scallops on eggplant followed by rack of lamb with basil and I was tempted by an entrée of snails in parsley and butter and duck breast with cream-enriched potatoes and beans. 

 Alas we could not do justice to dessert so the crème brulee and half-cooked chocolate pudding will have to wait.

After a wonderful sleep, occasionally interrupted by the “nightlife” in our alley we spent today in the open-top to renew our acquaintance with Paris. 

What a beautiful place – even in temperatures that sent us below deck on the last leg to warm up! Apart from the magnificent architecture and glorious streetscapes, one interesting thing I did note was the number of black women with fair-skinned children. It took a while for the penny to drop that they were nannies! Moulin Rouge show tonight and then off to Montenegro via Solvenia tomorrow.