Paris to Dubai

Final morning in Paris, we packed ready for flying then went out for a wander to pass the time. We went to a part of the Marais area with lots of food shops - breads, meats, cheeses, sweets etc. Then we wandered down to the quite odd Forum des Halles shopping centre, which as well being largely underground is currently a labyrinth of rebuilding. Apparently there is a large number of shops in there somewhere. Then it was back to the apartment to face the combination of logic puzzle and strain test that would be getting our luggage back down a very small spiral staircase. We managed it, but I badly strained a tendon in one hand. Then the boring bits of travel: taxi to airport, long flight to Dubai. How to pass a six hour flight: step 1, listen to a four hour opera (Cecilia Bartoli in Norma by Bellini) while eye-grazing four other passengers screens showing movies I'll never watch myself; step 2, watch a 2 hour Japanese action rom-com movie (Library Wars, which yes, is about militant librarians defending their books, and every library should have a copy). Take one's own noise isolation/cancellation earpieces with plane socket adapter. On arrival in Dubai we took a taxi to the apartment where our gracious host had waited up for us (2am local time). By then jetlagged and glad to have no set times for the morrow, we crashed into bed.