Bon Anniversaire

Today was Alistair’s birthday, so we picked up the most amazing cake from a Patisserie near our hotel and met him at a really pretty park.

There was a little tower in the center of the park, which had an amazing view over the city. It was all covered in graffiti – Paris is actually quite a dirty city for somewhere so fancy.

There was a street market behind the park and we managed to pick up an old record player that runs on valves as Alistair’s second birthday present. I got myself a Russian doll keychain and some pretty red beads.

Alistair then took us back to La Defence where he lives and works. It’s the new business and financial district.

We went to Alistair's apartment (which smelt strongly of the camembert which had went off in his fridge), listened to the new record player and had a slice of the birthday cake.

It was delicious!

The view from the apartment more than made up for the smell.

You can see all the way to the Eiffel Tower and when it got dark you could see the light show, which all the Parisians hate but I thought looked quite pretty.