Surprise /syrpriz/

I'm not much for surprises. At least not the kind where everyone is watching. I've always been a bit uncomfortable at surprise parties. Knowing how I feel about this Taylor opted for an amazing birthday surprise without an audience. A big taxi picked us up at 9:30 am and drove us one hour into Paris. We dropped our baggage off at the hotel and then drove to the Pompidou Center. It houses the world's largest collection of modern art and the building exterior is innovating to say the least. We ate at the restaurant at the top of the museum. Our view was spectacular as was the food.

Walking the streets of Paris we window shopped and talked away the afternoon. Making a stop at Galleries Layfayette was overwhelming. It's the most enormous shopping center I've ever seen. If it weren't for the mounds of inventory you would think you were in a cathedrial or something. The building architecture was breathtaking.
Shopping isn't really something I love, but I may be addicted to window shopping in Paris. There are hundreds of little shops and things to explore. It was a blast! Taylor arranged for me to go to the spa after shopping. I started wondering at this point if I was in a dream. This just wasn't even a day I could comprehend let alone live in real life! Anyway the spa was as you can imagine relaxing and wonderful.
Dinner was an 8 course meal at a very refined restaurant. They put us in a room with four French men. They seemed to be well known and who knows maybe some French philosophers? We had no idea what was coming as our menu was the "Gregorian Surprise" (basically the chef's choice). It was superb. Everything was delicious and practically melted in your mouth. Actually I didn't like the seafood aspic, it kind of reminded me of fish jell-o! It was almost 11pm by the time we finished dinner, but we were just a few blocks away from the Seine so we went for a walk and enjoyed the view of the lighted boats.

Somehow my birthday celebrating didn't end in Paris. Friday night we had several families over for pizza and cake. The kids ran wild and the adults tried to talk above the noise. It was truly the most fun memorable birthday ever. Thanks to all my family and friends who sent birthday greetings and left phone messages. I feel really lucky to have you all in my life!