Joy - eux - An - ni - ver - saire !

Unintentional birthday meet ups are pretty neat. Especially when you're in Paris.

I began the day earlier than expected, mostly because my friends and family back home were 9 hours ahead and consequently started bombarding me with warm wishes whilst I was trying to fall asleep. I mean, I won't complain... I was grateful, honestly !

When I did wake up, however, I enjoyed a lazy morning in bed and then made my way to Quai de la Gare in the 13th to meet up with Kristiana. We were going to take a look at the street art exhibition of Tour Paris 13 - basically it is a commission housing block that is, at the end of the month, going to be torn down for a redevelopment of the area and so street artists are using the opportunity to exhibit their work by completely turning the building (inside and out) into a work of art. When we arrived, however, we learned that it was closed (devon sanga !! - that's "devestated" for y'all non-australian devon sandwich appreciators out there).

So, we listened to our hearts and the growling of our stomachs and headed back west to Pigalle where we stopped for lunch at Kooka Boora and spent most of the time there talking only in French to each other (mostly we discussed how difficult it is to speak french and about dreaming and swearing and getting drunk all in french). But it was nice to know that others cared about really giving the whole culture thing a go here, using our time wisely in this beautiful city and not saying no to a single worthy opportunity. I missed having that type of company around me and so it is good to be finally connected with people who share the interests and ideas of adventure that I do!

After I showed the girls around a bit of Pigalle we said à bientôt to Emma and continued walking around Rue Lepic up to my favourite little store Tombées Du Camion where we spent a good amount of time rummaging through old collectors items to the tunes of Ella Fitzgerald. After parting I continued wandering up the hill and took in the city from the top of Montmartre and decided to myself that today was indeed a good day.