Sunday 10 June
The day after the wedding
An important part of French wedding tradition is the day after the
wedding, it appears that the Bride and groom return to the venue and join their
families to continue the party but in a more subdued way.
A bleak day welcomed us with rain pending and it was cool
overnight. Breakfast at the hotel saw us
all bleary eyed from the night before.
We talked about the day and what time we left the party. Ludivine and Christopher were still in bed,
we assumed recovering!!
Today Sue & an as well as Clinton and Sharon had to catch a train
from Gien train station to Paris, their train left at 11.28 am, so we could not
be late.
The Battistone’s and Luisa were also leaving, they wanted to be on the
road by 12.00 pm. I thought I might get
back in time before they left, but it would be close.
Sue & Ian packed and were ready to leave when Ludivine &
Christopher emerged from their cottage, so congratulations and farewells were
combined. We now had no spare time in
case anything went wrong.
We left to pick up Clinton and Sharon.
Being a small car with 5 people plus luggage was going to be a
challenge. We loaded up Clinton and
Sharon’s luggage in the boot (what we could fit in) and what didn’t fit was
nursed by Ian, Sharon and Clinton.
It soon became apparent that our arrival time
at Gien was not 10-15 minutes as planned but was more like 5 to 10 minutes and
Clinton still needed to purchase tickets.
Nothing worried Sharon, she just made everything work and did it with a
great deal of enthusiasm.
We soon realised that Clinton was not well and
he was sitting in the middle of the back seat between Sharon and Susan. Clinton’s ‘unwellness’ being self-inflicted
didn’t get any sympathy from Sharon except for the offer of a plastic bag! With Clinton looking decidedly worse, we
stopped – the minutes ticked by as Clinton bought up the previous night’s
indulgence.
We were on our way again, now time was really
against us. Glad the French radar was
not around and the roads were quiet. I
haven’t had the need to push a car so hard, even when responding to fire calls.
We arrived at Gien train station with minutes
to spare. Clinton raced off to buy
tickets, fortunately Sue and Ian already had their’s. Sue, Ian and Sharon headed for the platform, Clinton and I followed,
just in time for the train as it pulled in, next thing they were gone – so
little time for farewells that Sue did not get a chance to cry.
 |
| Ian keeping an eye on Clinton |
 |
| Wrong end of the train, and it was such a long train |
I raced back to the hotel, but the Battistones
and Luisa had decided to leave as soon as they were packed – a good thing. Whilst disappointed it just means we have to
catch up again to say farewell properly.
Maria and I then left for the after wedding
lunch. Not long after we arrived the
temperature dropped and it poured with rain.
Everyone was commenting about how fortunate we were that the previous
day was fine.
Lunch was light but just as plentiful, and we
were able to meet and talk to Ludivine’s aunts and uncles and other family
members. It was another great day.
 |
| Melanie, Marc and Quentin preparing the table |
 |
 |
| Desert is ready |
But my driving duties were not over. Ludivine and Christopher’s friends from
London needed to catch a train from Migennes train station to return to the UK, the train trip takes about
4.5 hours. We needed two cars as there
were 5 people plus a small amount of luggage.
Round trip for Ludivine and Christopher in one
car and myself in the other was 2.25 hours and 58 kms each way.
When we got back the hall was nearly clean with just some minor work to
be completed.
 |
| Following Ludivine & Christopher |
 |
| French farm land, so picturesque |
We all said our goodnights, Maria and I
returned to the hotel for an early night for a change.
No comments:
Post a Comment