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| Best Siblings Ever! |
This weekend is probably up there with one of the best
weekends of my life so far, but it definitely wins the award for the most
tiring three and a half days ever. Being a tourist in Paris was exhausting and I
had to drag myself to school today. I’ve not long finished my 11 hour day of work
and I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m forcing myself to battle through the
tiredness because I have no other time this week to write this post. I
apologise in advance if it takes on the air of a sleep talker’s ramblings: it
might just be that.
Everyone (Mum, Dad, Nanny, Gramps, Molly, Jack and Poppy)
arrived Thursday night, which was my Dad’s 50th Birthday. It was so
amazing to see everyone again as it was the longest I’ve ever been without
seeing them (we don’t even skype!). After an hour and a half trek from the
airport to my flat the birthday celebrations commenced, and what a birthday it
was. I’d decorated the flat with banners and fifty balloons so that was Dad’s
first surprise of many. He got some awesome presents including a sky dive from
Mum for the both of them!
The best part however, wasn’t the presents. We have a
peculiar mission in our family which is that every birthday we try to make the
special person cry as much as possible. This means we all write incredibly
heartfelt, emotional cards and within seconds of starting, not just Dad, but
everyone was in floods of tears.
Mum and I upped our game this year as it was a big
birthday; I made Dad a card that was 50 thank yous but Mum
completely upstaged that by writing Dad a poem - let’s just say there wasn’t a
dry eye in the house by the end. Molly then told Dad about the presentation she’d put together for him. We pressed play and the crying started again. There were photos I’d never
seen before, of us all, of Dad as a little boy and as a young man. A song Poppy
had written and performed specifically for the presentation was the backing
track and it was incredible. It was finished off with messages from all of us including one from Dad's brother Darren who hadn't been able to make it to Paris. The whole thing was just perfect.
The night was
finished with champagne on the roof with a view of the Eiffel Tower. I went to
sleep feeling incredibly blessed to have such a close knit family and Dad said
he felt like George Bailey (if you don’t know who that is stop reading this
blog and watch It’s A Wonderful Life right now!).
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| Me and the Birthday Boy! |
To cut a very action packed weekend down a bit, I’ll just tell
you we did pretty much everything, sans museums; the Eiffel Tower, Arc de
Triomphe, Champs Elysées, Notre Dame and Montmartre. It was very tiring being a
tourist and I’ve definitely enjoyed going back to being a resident today, instead of resident tour guide! Two things I would like to recommend to any
fellow Parisians are Le Basilic in Montmartre which was by far the best
restaurant I have eaten in since being in Paris and is very reasonable - two courses for €11,90.
The other thing was the English speaking comedy night hosted by Sebastian Marx
which costs 10 euros and includes a drink. Both of these were my personal
highlights of the weekend and you guys really should give them a go.
Despite my above recommendations and my meticulous planning
of how I wanted the weekend to go, looking back, my favourite bits were
completely spontaneous and free. We played games on the long metro rides,
scrabble at our apartment (not an easy feat with the French version), chatted
non-stop about everything and got the giggles countless times. This is what I
love about families. You can have the most remarkable time doing something
seemingly unremarkable.
I have realised these past few months that I can survive on my own and I don't need my family with me all the time but I definitely need them close by. They are crazy and annoying and frustrating but they are mine and that's why they're perfect. I love you all guys.
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| The Gang |
I apologise for both the tardiness and the length/content of this week's post but I'm slowly starting to resemble a zombie so having to go to sleep now. Thank you for
reading, I really appreciate it.
Bisous à tous xxx
