Tuesday 27 May 2014

21 (finally)

21

April 5, 6

Saturday:
My birthday!!! :) 16
Aline and I went shopping in the morning to all the other things on my list for presents to bring back home. I hope they'll fit in my suitcase...
I found a huge French flag. I'm going to have everyone here write something on it so that I remember them, then hang it on my wall somewhere at home. Meanwhile Nadia has adopted it as her dress/fort/parachute. 
I got a lot of birthday wishes from back home. Thanks all :)
Dinner was tartiflette; cheese, garlic, ham, potatoes, other things. And salad. 
Then everyone surprised me after dinner: I was just sitting at the table talking with Olivier, and thinking everyone had gone off to get ready for bed, when suddenly all the lights went out and in marched Aline and co. Carrying a cake! With 16 candles! And a sparkler! And they were singing!! :)
I was pretty happy because I wasn't really expecting anything. We had talked briefly ages ago about doing something for my birthday, but not a lot since...
So you can imagine my amazing happiness when after the beautiful cake with strawberries in a Canadian flag-ish shape came presents! :) :)
Nadia and Clem gave me two beautiful boxes that they had covered themselves in patterned tissue paper and glitter and glue. Mathilde gave me a nice hand made pottery mug from Spain (she had just returned that day from a week long trip to Spain). 
Aline gave me a book: La Formule de Dieu. 
We talked about it earlier. I love it. It's a novel that incorporates scientific ideas, religious ideas, and a good plot. I'm really looking forward to reading it. I think it was originally written in Portuguese.... 
All of the presents were either nice and small or able to hold socks, which is good because otherwise I might not be able to bring them home with me. 
A beautiful end to a beautiful day. 

P. S.
I just realized that the bus I take home every Monday says "le vieux église". That's what it has instead of a number. 

Sunday:
Lyon. The whole day. We got day transit passes. 
Left at about 7:30am. Drove for 1 1/2 hours. Met up with Mathilde's great uncle Paul who lives there, he's too nice :)
Walked to the metro, took a train, walked some more. We went up a télépherique (a sloped cabin thing pulled by wires up a steep hill. It's a bit like riding a metro up a hill without any noise) and arrived at the top of a huge hill (almost mountain) with a beautiful cathedral. We were allowed to go inside, but there was still Sunday mass happening at the same time. Clem lit a candle. Also the view outside was amazing. The outside of the cathedral was covered in statues and carvings. 

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