Paris

I am in Paris staying at (what is to me) an expensive hotel with rooms that would leave the proverbial door-mouse feeling cramped. Taking a break from blogging.

 I am attending an OECD meeting being held in the part of the city close to the Eiffel Tour. It was sunny but cold the first day I arrived – minus one C this morning was a brisk change from the 37 degrees  C heatwave that prevailed when I left Melbourne. Today freezing cold.

Very jet-lagged after a 35 hour journey that  Qantas (through force of circumstance – weather, mechanical breakdowns) turned into a monstrosity – in short a 3-hour delay in Melbourne, missed connections in Singapore and an unplanned-for London visit with a boomerang-like hop back to Paris.  I met a charming lass from Normandy on the plane who told me that I shouldn’t judge the French by the Parisians who she saw as rude and arrogant.  I told her that I have never struck any problems in the past – beautiful city and superb food and wine were the  major concerns of mine.  She looked at me quite strangely when I characterised the quality of a nation’s capital in terms of its ability to feed tourists but I think it is important. The quality of the average plate of food that people eat and the average quality of wine is important.  Peak experiences are of course nice but it is what you eat day-in and day-out that really matters.  And the French (like the Thai) set average standards that are well-beyond peak culinary experiences of most other other countries.  Enjoying myself.