Quelle Surprise!

Starr celebrated her 40th birthday this year in grand style – and when I say grand, I mean grand! Mike (with the help of Emma) planned the best birthday surprise ever. We were all standing in the Stockholm airport to catch a plane to Helsinki for a week-end of Orienteering when Mike and Emma announced that we were instead flying to Paris, France. Starr was shocked – Paris! Starr was also shocked because it seems that everyone else seemed to be in on the secret and she didn’t have a clue! Yes, she did cry.


We arrived in Paris mid-afternoon and, after an adventure trying to find our hotel, checked in to a wonderful place on the Rue de Rivoli right across from the Louvre. We had three nights and three days and we made the most of them. We walked through the Jardins de Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde, walked along the river Seine, went up the Tour Eiffel, and road the Batobus along the river Seine.

We saw Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House and the Grand Palais and walked along the Champs Elysees. We ate fresh, warm crossants for breakfast and crepes for lunch and dinner. Our only disappointment was the Louvre. We had saved it for our last day before heading to the airport. Turns out it is closed on Tuesdays! Really! We, and many, many others were very disappointed. Instead we went and visited the much smaller Musee d’Orsay – which, it turns out, had a fabulous collection of Impressionist paintings and sculptures including “La Petite Danseuse” by Degas – a favourite of Emma and Starr.

It was a wonderful birthday and a fabulous trip.