Friday 8 June

Maria & I are looking forward to today as our families arrive today from Australia and Canada.  We  planned to have lunch on the Saturday together before the Wedding.  So today we will be picking up Ian & Susan from Gien train station and the cousins will arrive by car from Paris.

Clinton and Sharon (Clinton is Christopher's best man in the wedding) were also arriving today sometime in the afternoon, Christopher has arranged to pick them up from Gien train station.  They were booked into a B&B across the road from Ludivine's parents home in Blandy.

Saint Fargeau has a market every Friday so we decided to go there early to buy our produce.  We arrived around 9.00 am as we had a lot to do today, so we hoped the market may supply us with our needs, whilst it had produce from the local area it did not have the food we needed for lunch.  With no French language, we went to the local supermarket and purchased sliced ham, pate, cheese, plastic plates and cutlery, plus a few other items, then back to the market for the fresh fruit.  Managed to return the food we purchased to the Hotel before leaving for Gien to pick up Ian & Susan at 10.30 am. It was very exciting to met Ian & Susan and it was a wonderful drive back to Saint Fargeau showing them all things that we had discovered.

Driving along the Quai Maréchal Joffre as we enter Gien

 The trip from Saint Fargeau to Gien is about 45 minutes and 48 Kms.

Susan and Ian have arrived, can't believe we are all in France together sitting on the balcony of our hotel room

Pictures of Saint Fargeau, the market in Rue des Lions and in the area of Rue Jacques Coeur.

Susan and Maria looking for somewhere to have lunch

The Battistone's and Luisa arrived earlier than expected, they had a really good trip from Paris in their hire car.  It is a Peugeot 6008 7 seater, it turned out to be ideal for moving everyone around over the weekend.

Maria wanted to help Ludivine set up the venue for the wedding reception so I dropped her off at the Salle Polyvalente in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye.
 

Maria and Sharon preparing table decorations

Christopher actually helping to set up, you can believe it!!

The Battistone's, Roney's and I drove to see Guédelon Castle (Wiki) not far from our Hotel.  John and I had heard about it and had seen it on the internet and we were very keen to try and fit it in.  We arrived at around 4.30 pm and it closed at 6.30 pm.  It was a bit drizzly but stayed dry most of the time.

What a fascinating build.  The pictures do not give it justice.  Look at the web site for more details.  It is planned for completion in 2024, so we discussed tentative plans to return in 2024/25 to see the completed castle.

Inside the entrance hall, love the fireplace

Briefing hut for guided tours, model of the castle is in the centre

Left tower

Right tower

Great Hall and storage room

Great Tower under construction

Part of the left tower under construction

Inside the ground floor - this is the storage hall

Fireplace in the Kitchen, notice the bread oven on the left

Entrance to the kitchen

Workers in the bed chamber

Part of the wall for the tower on the right side of the gate

Workers repositioning scaffolding, OH&S rules still apply, they are wearing safety harnesses

Rear of the castle, stonemasons workshop is on the right of the picture

Part of the village to demonstrate where the workers live and the other trades necessary for construction

Left Guédelon Castle and Peter drove us to the venue in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye to see how they were progressing, they had nearly finished and Maria was ready to leave, unfortunately she could not fit into the van so I had to return later.

Later that evening we all went to dinner at La Mare aux Fées.  We were joined by Clinton and Sharon, and Christopher as he was staying in the hotel with us on his last night before his wedding, Christopher was not impressed with this move and could not see the purpose, however Ludivine's parents were pleased that we feft the same way.

We all had a great night, talking, discussing, laughing, telling tales and reminiscing, and the food was great.  At least we got back to the hotel before mid-night!!

La Mare aux Fées

Christopher joined us for his last meal with us before getting married