Paris was just okay. I think the paranoia of keeping an eye on my purse and avoiding annoying scam artists who seemed quite aggressive and very rude when told "non" didn't help matters.

It was dreary the first day we arrived, then rainy then it brightened up on the last day which is when I took the majority of my pictures. Went to the Effiel Tower (but not up it), Montemartre Cemetery, Champs Elysee, Arc di Triomphe (at night), catacombs, Albert Kahn Museum, the mini Statue of Liberty, the cafe where Amelie was filmed (tasty chicken club sandwich there and my first tiny french coffee), Sacre Coure, Moulin Rougue, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the outsides of all of those. Frankly wasn't horribly impressed. The good was good though.

Didn't feel very "birthday-y" either. Didn't get a cheesy Paris snow globe either! Not bought anything for myself for Christmas or birthday with the theoretical money from my mom and dad... We have the rather relaxed "Sopranos"-type family of handing over equal checks so to speak. It is the thought that counts rather than the money or the gifting.

This annoying bit of being a properly self employed photographer means that although I've made barely anything off of my work this past year, I still have to file lots of paperwork and get my head around crazy US/UK taxes (yes, both; the US hates its citizens).