9^th October, 2013 – London and Paris, mostly in airports, and a walk around Montmartre.

On our way early for a morning flight to Paris! We allowed heaps of time to get to Heathrow and it’s just as well – the 15km or so from Windsor to Heathrow took us 45 minutes by the time we missed a turn-off where the sign was hidden by trees, then dealt with a car park layout seemingly deliberately designed to break the human soul. Once we returned our hire car, everything else went smoothly as we made our way through the airport and on our flight to Paris.

The flight was a little bumpy early on (storms rolling in from Scotland apparently) but we arrived on time and were able to work out the train system to find our hotel pretty easily. We checked in and had a cup of tea, then headed out to see the sights. We’re staying a little out of the centre of Paris, in Montmartre, and there’s a lot to see in the area. We have a little set of 2 bedrooms with a bathroom in between. It’s very small but comfortable and they provide lollies and some novelty items for kids and good free coffee (not instant) for grown-ups. The windows look out at other buildings but even these look distinctly French! And our floor has a handy map of Montmartre.

We wandered up to the top of Montmartre – it is quite a landmark on the Paris skyline but we’re staying most of the way up so it’s just a matter of walking up a few flights of stairs here and there.

 This part of Paris is a funny mix of old buildings in amongst big modern apartment blocks, all tumbled into narrow hilly streets.

There are any number of very enticing-looking restaurants, a surprising number of which are pink.

There is a small vineyard, which apparently still produces a small amount of wine every year. There is a harvest festival starting in a few days but we’ll be on our way home by then.

There are a lot of small shops and market stalls – mostly aimed at tourists. Lots of street artists who want to paint your portrait.

There are some pretty parks and squares, and a cool art nouveau railway station.

Right at the top is Basilica of the Sacre Coeur This is a magnificent building. We went inside and can report that it is as dramatic inside as you’d expect but you’re not allowed to take photos.

The views from outside the church are amazing.

There is another church almost next door, St Pierre-de-Montmartre. This is much older (consecrated 1147, making it one of the oldest buildings in Paris) and quite beautiful and peaceful, although a bit quirky in some ways! The stained glass is 20^th-Century.

It started to rain a little at one point, so (as you do) we popped into a Salvador Dali museum gift shop and had a good look around until the weather cleared a bit. After that, we bought some food for a quick dinner and headed back to the hotel.