Happy Birthday Abbissima!

Today is Abbey's birthday. She is awesome, and this post is all about her.

That's her in the middle (Baden, with Wendy and me):

We all met up in Switzerland last year when Wendy was studying there (conveniently enough, I was in Sweden and Abbey in Paris), and took a lovely day-trip to Baden where we visited the baths. It took us a while to figure out what the little ringing bell was all about, but we had a delightful time of it. Finding the baths was also a bit tricky; this picture is from when we paused for lunch, which we had purchased at a little grocery store at the train station. Amazingly enough, there was only one pigeon nearby; that's how we REALLY knew we weren't in Paris.


Again in Paris (post-14ème-period...):

This is when I went to visit Ab last Spring in Paris... it was a wonderful time, and we got to visit our old haunts together. Of course, with Ab living there she'd already been back, but it was nice to go together. We also got to go out dancing, and do some dancing in the streets. ;) We found a more "girly" pair of shoes (Mary Jane's) for Ab, as her white sketchers weren't feminine enough for Parisian style...


At the beach (throwing rocks is not nice):

We met up in Nice over the "Thanksgiving Break" that none of us actually had. :) We stayed at a little villa that my aunt rented out from the Swedish Doctor's Association (which she is part of). The best part of this beach trip was the rock game, but it had gotten a little out of hand by this point... it was better when the person getting rocks tossed on them was just lying still. The videos of this are priceless.


In Nice (Haut de Cagnes, technically):

Up above the beach area, high in the hills, was a tiny little walled-in village. Very sweet. This is us getting our picture taken on the way up, sitting on some steps... slightly posed, but not too much; picture is compliments of John the Phototaker.


And quite regal with Alain in Stockholm:
(she IS a principessa, you know... and if I recall correctly, also Queen of the Universe ;) )

Also last Spring, Abbey and Alain came to visit me in Stockholm... we had a delightful time together. They flew RyanAir, and arrived very exhausted, but they seemed to recover pretty quickly and it was much fun to have them there. This is from the day we took a little train (Lidingöbanan) out to the end of the line, and then went for a walk. We found cool benches to sit on and look out at, and we explored docks and a large cement block area which looked like some naval leftover. The cement area was the cause of much merriment as we discovered the little moss-covered dirt chunks made excellent projectiles out into the water, and our fierce competition to who could throw things the furthest lasted for some time. We also tried sinking some plant matter floating in the water, with various success. On the way back along the dock, we ran and danced and generally had much merriment.

No matter where in the world you meet up with her, she is great fun, and one of my dearest friends. Happy Birthday, Principessa! I hope it is as wonderful as you are!

p.s. this bee is for you, blastedbumblebrit!