Later in Montmarte

Sunday 30 May 1999. Montmarte will remain for me one of the highlights of our weekend, though there were really so many things to enjoy.

As the coach took us towards the restaurant for our evening meal I snapped this out of the window, to remind me of the many apartments of Paris, where people live in the heart of the city. One of the things that also intrigued us a little was the habit of having external window blinds instead of them being inside.

There was a short walk to the restaurant where we had another superb meal, commencing with that great French favourite, onion soup! It came with huge croutons - in fact as I remarked at the time, it seemed ready dunked with chunks of bread and was delicious. Beef Bourgignon followed and then an apple tart, glazed and then with some spirit over it which was set on fire here. It flamed with a dull blue flame and the camera has not been able to pick it up - but take my word for it folks!

My friend with the clarinet and saxophone was playing again and had a friend playing that seemingly most French of instruments, the accordian. Not the piano variant but a true "buttons both sides" job. And very good he was as well!

Now you may remember me mentioning Edna a couple of pages ago when we were climbing to Sacré-Coeur. Edna was an absolute wonder during the holiday, always cheerful, always mischievous and just bursting with joy and fun. It was her 86th birthday and in came a cake with a firework on top and the musicians played Happy Birthday to her whilst we all sang and raised our glasses and cheered. "Well, I don't know!" she said, "I'm only eighty six!"

The coach made one stop before heading back towards Bougival, and that was back in Montmartre at the famous windmill of le Moulin Rouge. The dancers are mainly British and American these days. It was here that Toulouse-Lautrec fell in love, only to have his heart broken - yes... there's no time, Toulouse... The first fully nude striptease was performed here in 1896. The dancer was arrested leading to riots in which two students died. And no, I don't have a photograph of her...

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