Angers, a Norman wedding, and home sweet home...

After our short but sweet stay in Luxemburg, it was time to carry on, as we had a wedding to attend on the Saturday, in Alençon (the plan was to arrive there on Friday, since we had a hotel booked for the night). After considering various options, we decided to make a detour to Angers, to say hi to Joel and Francoise; even if Angers isn’t exactly on the way.

After speeding down the efficient French highway network, we arrived in Angers late afternoon. Great to see Joel and Francoise again; Francoise’s grandchildren Titouan and Colin were there to brighten up the mood as well. We spent a very nice day or so there, taking it easy (and, erm, taking my suit to the drycleaners – it was starting to look a bit worse for wear after two weddings already this summer)…

Friday afternoon, after a nice family lunch, we set the course for Alençon, and arrived without incident an hour and a half later. After checking in at the hotel, we headed out to explore the town. Alençon is a city which made its fortune on lace – so it has quite a dignified air, for a town of its size. The most famous daughter of Angers is one Sainte Thérèse (a nun who died at the young age of 24, who was famous for her autobiography, “Story of a soul”). This is where Mathilde was born, and grew up, before she moved to Angers. So for her, walking around town was an experience which seemed to bring back nice memories (apparently the place has changed quite little over the past 15 years, which is unusual in these fast-paces times…).

After a bit of walking and restaurant-hunting, we ended up having a nice meal in a nice brasserie near the old town. We wanted to have a dink after the meal, but really struggled to find any nice bars with people in them – and this was a Friday night?? So we ended up having a drink in the Hotel Ibis bar, where we were staying… And we had the place all to our selves – well, at least we had privacy ;-).

Saturday was Sarah & Bruno’s great day! After a pleasant day, basking in glorious Norman sunshine, we headed out to Sarah’s house. Sarah is a close childhood friend of Mathilde; indeed Mathilde had the honour of being the bridesmaid on this grand occasion. The proceeding started at the town hall (which is where people are officially married in France – the ceremony in the church actually has no “legal authority”), and from there we carried on to the church. I had the honour (and grave responsibility) of taking pictures at the church with Bruno’s camera; boy did I shoot away…

From the church, we carried on to the party venue, located in a nearby village Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon. Thankfully we were spending the night at the venue itself, so no need for a designated driver ;-). The party was great, as always in France; with great food, great wine, and a great atmosphere. There were a lot of funny rituals going on during the festivities, most of which I understood nothing. Both Sarah and Bruno are pharmacists, for whom these odd rituals (like hitting the table with your spoon for 10 minutes) are part of the daily routine, apparently… Well, it was all good fun. I also liked the songs which mocked Alençon (where Sarah comes from) and Besançon (where Bruno comes from). What a great night!

After a good night’s sleep, we hit the road rather early (for a day after a wedding, anyway!), since we had a lot of driving to do. Our original plan was to stop on the way, maybe somewhere a bit after Lyons. But since we made quite good progress during the day, and didn’t hit any much bad traffic, we decided to drive all the way home. We arrived around midnight, happy to finally sleep in our beds.

So, that brought and end to our road trip. All in all, we spent 30 days on the road, drove about 9000 kilometres, travelled across six countries, took three ferries, attended two weddings, had four parking tickets (counting on them not finding their way to France), got flashed by one speed camera (REALLY hoping the fine for that one doesn’t find its way here), got stopped by the Police once. And most importantly, we saw loads of beautiful places, and met a lot of good friends.

Thanks to everybody we met on the way for their hospitality, even if our stays were often too short!