Michael's Birthday in Metz, France

We just got back from a 5 day "Educational Field Trip" tour of Strasbourg, Brussels, & Metz (23 daytime hours spent on the bus - a learning experience in itself). Plenty to report, mostly of European Union impressions, since that was our daily drill, but I'll gladly leave that to FIRST share a video of Michael's fifth birthday, which was held in Metz, France.

The actual date (10/10/2002) was to be spent on an 8 hour bus ride home, so I scrambled to find a bakery - upon arriving at Metz at 4PM on the 19th - that would bake a cake in time for dinner that night. SCORED! It was a beautiful double layer chocolate mousse on a thin chocolate cake base with a lighter white almost cheesecake with apricot chocolate top layer adorned with fresh berries, ribbons of chocolate, 5 candles, sparklers - all wrapped with a wide band of shiny gold ribbon.

Watch Michael's impression, as he was caught off guard and didn't assume it was HIS birthday we were celebrating. We're planning a party in a couple of weeks, but 40+ students singing in English and French - and the social kid's sudden bout of shyness - was memorable indeed.