
I’m back in Paris. Peter has persuaded me to return after a thirty-three-year absence. Gulp! Has it really been that long? Back in my teens, I spent several months living here, which was just amazing. But, as happens after you spend any length of time in one place, you start to notice the cracks. Now I’m excited to be back even if the weather hasn’t thrown out a welcome mat. It’s pouring with rain and the taxi queue at the Gard du Nord is about 200 metres long. Yet, despite the twenty-four-hour journey from Australia, I’m eager for the adventure to begin.

We’re staying in an amazing apartment in Montmartre. The apartment is old and elegant, with creaky, sloping floors, huge French windows and, most exciting, a view of the Eiffel Tower from one of the bedrooms!

Montmartre has to be one of our favourite parts of Paris, with its village-like atmosphere, narrow cobbled streets, and surprises around every corner. There’s even an old windmill across the road!

Images from Montmartre
Glimpses of Sacré Coeur can be seen from most streets in Montmartre. The basilica looks as if it’s been sitting there on the Butte-Montmartre forever, but I was surprised to discover that after a forty-year construction period, it was completed as recently as 1914 and consecrated in 1919.



