Thursday 14 June

We needed to visit the photographer before we left Saint Fargeau, but he had been busy and we were running out of time to see him, so he called Ludivine and said he was free this morning.

Maria and Jacqueline had been looking at the photos to pick which ones they wanted for their albums, Ludivine and Christopher had already selected theirs.  The photographer was a really nice guy, making it easy to not only select the pictures for the albums but also suggesting layouts.  His price was more than reasonable and he included sending our completed albums to our home in Australia.

 We returned to the Bernard’s for lunch as we planned to drive to Nevers to visit the chocolate shop called Au Negus we had been told about by Meg from Paris by Mouth.  Maria wanted to look at the toffees and other delicacies they had to offer.

After lunch Christopher rang the British Consulate to check if his application and the associated paperwork was suitable.  He had to call London so Marc let him use his home phone, which was fortunate for Chris as the consulate kept him on the phone for over an hour, and after all the calls and people he spoke to he knew no more than when he started.  It was all very frustrating and put bit of a dampener on the afternoon.

On the way to Nevers, Ludivine took us past the venue they originally approached for the weding.  It would have been ideal as it included accommodation for all of those who needed it, included Ludivine’s family.  However the owners proved difficult to negotiate with and were making unreasonable demands, but it looked like a fabulous place.

A very impressive chateau

We found the shop Maria wanted to visit Au Negus, even for a relatively small shop they had a large range available.  Naturally we could not leave without buying toffees and chocolates, as well as glazed fruits,

Inside the shop

Maria with her purchases, now to get them home!!

 We walked around Nevers, Jacqueline pointing out some of the features of the city.

Having a break naturally in a bar

We returned to the Bernard’s for our last meal with them before we left the next day.  We sat down with Marc and some maps to work out the route from Saint Fargeau to Innsbruck.  Marc has traveled around France and advised on some of the better places to stay.  So we planned our first stop to the south east of France near Beaune, based on the time we leave the winery, then make our way over to Lake Como in Italy, then head for Innsbruck via the Stelvio Pass (made famous because of Top Gear).