Paris!

The plane was fine, long, but fine. Luckily the toddler sitting across the aisle from me only vomited up milk and yoghurt an hour before we landed in Hong Kong so I didn't have to endure the smell for too long... His poor mother was covered in it though. Over the course of both flights I watched so many movies! Mostly ones I've wanted to watch for ages but haven't gotten round to it - a kind of solo classic movie Sunday on a plane: Buena Vista Social Club, Driving Miss Daisy, The Company Men, Rain Man, and The Darjeeling Limited.

This was the plane I took to Paris. Having things in French made getting on another 11 hour flight slightly more bearable. The cabin crew were quite different to the Air NZ cabin crew, much more relaxed and chattier (and flirtier) with each other.

A traditional Hong Kong beverage...the girl at the counter asked me to spell out my name and then wrote it as 'Cheria'. Such is my international name of mystery (i.e. no one seems to be able to say or spell it).

First glimpse of France...it looked very patchwork-y.

Navigating the RER and the Metro was a bit stressful but I found the hostel pretty easily, had a long awaited shower (our room is great, basic bunk beds and a desk but so good to have our own bathroom), and then Ed showed me around a bit of Montmarte as he'd arrived in the morning and had had the day there already. It's so charming it's surreal! It's like a movie set. I have been very restrained with my photo taking because I could honestly stop and take photos every 2 minutes, it's all so quaint. And then, up a few lots of steps, around a corner and...

We are five minutes walk from the Sacre Coeur. It is beautiful. And at 8.30pm was still swarming with people. Such a great view from the front steps and apparently even better from inside the dome.

We then had dinner in an outdoor restaurant in Montmarte (it's light for so long, and so warm! Summer - I had forgotten what you were like!) and went back to the Sacre Coeur to look at the lights of Paris in the dark.

And finally we found what we'd looked for earlier but hadn't been able to see due to some trees. Luckily it's hard to miss in the dark because it is SO bright:

 
Today I am going to try to be less reticent about speaking French. For some reason I have been reluctant but as Ed has pointed out, attempting to speak it is one of the best things about being here.