Happy 30th Birthday Pete!

Last night we celebrated Pete's birthday. Well, more accurately, the celebration began for Pete at breakfast when he had a beer to accompany his cereal, then continued through the afternoon as the boys watched two rugby games. It was his birthday! We were joined by one of Pete's friends who came in from London, and two other girls that Pete had met at the conference he's attending.

The evening celebration took on a bit of an 'international' flavour, with us starting at the good old Canadian bar. After drinks and appetizers we set off in search of a suitable dinner location, and one of the girls suggested an Italian restaurant. What a find this place was! A cute little (non-smoking!) place, with a big pizza oven right in the middle of everything. The two girls spoke Italian, so we were treated to some rapid dialogue of questionable content from the very friendly and entertaining waiter (a nice change from the typically cold service we get otherwise). We all had fantastic pizzas, and Erik and I will definetly have to go back (as long as we can find it...). The boys also tried Italian beer. We had never heard of it, and there is a reason why. Stick to wine next time you're eating Italian.

Next stop was an Australian bar, a smoky little hole in the wall with only one Australian beer (Fosters) and the bar staff wearing All Blacks jerseys. And they spoke French. Not a problem, but we didn't stay too long, quickly heading to Pete and Erik's new favorite place, the Pantalon. Drinks are cheap at the Pantalon, and they have a resident dog that Erik thinks is great. They also have the scariest toilet I have ever used (a room painted black, lit by a red light, toilet paper suspended on a cord...). Last night had shots, 5 for 10 euros, and being a birthday, we may have indulged Pete in a few to many...we'll find out today how he held up.

Erik and I left Pete and Terry at this point, who were planning on heading back to the Canadian bar to watch the New Jersey/Toronto hockey game that started at 1:00am. I'll be surprised if they made it!

Unfortunately the subway was no longer running when we left, so we hopped on a night bus, that I thought was going in the right direction. It wasn't. Luckily we were able to find a cab, who quickly whisked us back across the city.