Myriam's 30th birthday party

After a few days spent adjusting back to normal life after our grand road trip, it was once more time to hit the road. This time, the occasion was the 30th birthday party of a good friend of Mathilde’s, Myriam. Her boyfriend, Fabien, had decided to organise a surprise party in her honour. The venue was Myriam’s sister’s villa, near Brignoles in the Var department.

So off we set, Saturday afternoon, driving down the A8 motorway once more. Due to the large number of party participants, camping was on the cards again, so we packed our trusty Decathlon tent into our trunk. After some messing about with the GPS, we eventually found the place, just in time to welcome Myriam (who, thinking Fabian was out and about with his mates, was expecting to spend her birthday with her sister). Myriam seemed very much touched by the warm welcome, and the festivities could then start....

The venue; a typical Provencal villa, was certainly suited for the occasion, with its big garden, large terrace and big lounge. Things kicked off with great food, interesting conversation, and plenty of wine & beer. The partygoers was a nice mix of people from various walks of life; with a fair few teachers (Myriam is a former colleague of Mathilde’s from CIV) and engineers (Fabian is an engineer working in Sophia-Antipolis) – in fact the conversation nearly steered into work territory in my case a couple of times…

All in all, we had a great time – it was actually quite a long time ago since we’ve been to a proper party like this. We must be getting old or something? Many glasses of wine and beer (and in my case, vodka) later, in the early hours of the morning, we stumbled back to our tent (well, Mathilde walked and I stumbled), for a good night’s sleep…

After a nice, hangovery, and rather later breakfast, we drove back on the next day, after a great party. Thanks to Myriam & Fabien, and of course Myriam’s sis; for a great party!