Wedding in the West of France

My odyssey continued from Helsinki-Vantaa airport to Paris. From Charles de Gaulle airport, I jumped on the RER and made my way down to Montparnasse, where I was happily reunited with Mathilde. The plan was to then catch the TGV to Angers, where we were attending a wedding on Saturday. We had a couple of hours to kill in Paris, which we spent mainly on a bit of last minute shopping and just walking around, enjoying Paris.

We arrived Angers early evening after a swift TGV journey. We were planning to stay at our dear friend CoCo's parents place near Lac de Maine (just next doors to where Mathilde's parents used to live before they moved to La Rochelle). CoCo was there to pick us up at the station. We had a lovely evening, catching up and enjoying the summer weather (certainly warmer than what I'd experienced in Finland!).

The next day, the girls headed into town to get their hair done, while I opted for a bit of sport (it was a close call between shopping and sport, I must say... ;) ). When we used to visit Mathilde's dad here in Angers, me and Mathilde used to run around the Lac de Maine, so naturally that's what I decided to do now as well. I went for the extended version, which involved running along the Maine river all the way into the town centre of Angers, and then back to the Lac de Maine. A beautiful run!

And then for the wedding. Delphine and Christophe, old friends of Mathilde whom we used to meet regularly when we visited Angers, where the lucky ones today. The proceedings kicked off at the town hall - as they often do in France (in France, it's actually quite common to skip the church bit, which was just fine by me...).

After a short stop at CoCo's parents flat, we headed off to the main celebration venue, a lovely little spot of countryside just a couple of kilometre's outside Angers. Delphine's parents own a spot of land their, which is just the right size for a proper wedding celebration! In the midst of nature, so to speak. Which didn't in any way diminish the quality of the food & drinks provided (always top notch quality in France, as is to be expected).

Things kicked off with a rather extended aperitif (where I had a few glasses of Coteaux de Layon - a locally made sweet white wine which is very good for "socializing"). A lot of Mathilde's old friends had made it - including Aude & Magaye (and little cute Olympe, of course), Stephane & Cervanne (and their kids) and of course CoCo and Dorinne. So it was great catching up - quite a while since I've seen some of them.

After the aperitif there was some "structured activity" involving singing, poetry & literature reading, speeches aches and that sort of stuff. And then of course for the most important bit - dinner! The food was, as always in French weddings, excellent. What was cool about the dinner also was that we were seated next to a German couple, which gave me the opportunity to practice my German! (I've been doing German lessons for a couple of months now). Magaye also connected well with our German friends - he like me is an Octoberfest veteran so we had plenty of things to discuss (in admittedly rather limited German).

Things finished with mad dancing, of course. Even I participated - a rare (and probably awful) sight! We got back rather early in the morning, and I must admit to feeling a bit tipsy. So, that would mean the wedding was a blast, then!

The next day, after lunching with CoCo's parents (who are, by the way, lovely people - which is not really surprising considering they are CoCo's parents!), it was time for us to catch a train again - this time destined for Nantes.

The plan was to meet up with our dear friends Aude and Magaye, and (of course less importantly) watch the EURO2016 final between France and Portugal. But before meeting our friends, we had a couple of hours to kill in Nantes. So, as we usually do, we decided to have a walk around. We started off with the beautiful Botanical garden, which is located just next to the train station, which really is a great place. They've really managed to make the place a joy to visit, with quirky works of art that mix well in with the vegetation, temporary exhibitions/theme activities and so forth.

Then, after consulting Tripadvisor, we decided to visit the Japanese garden - we didn't even know there was one. It's a very nice and peaceful little place to spend some time at, just relaxing. And it was quite nice to get a touch of Japan here in Nantes - to prepare us for our upcoming trip (yes, we are planning to go, again...). Not quite what a Japanese garden is in Japan, but certainly one of the best efforts I've seen outside of Japan!

And then, 'twas time for us to make our way back to the station to pick up our luggage, and head over to Reze, where Aude and Magaye live. We spent a nice afternoon catching up with them and preparing for the Big Game (well, at least me and Magaye where, not so sure about Aude and Mathilde). We picked up the pizzas in Magaye's electric Twizy car (even I got to try it - my first time behind the wheel of an electric car!).

The game itself went rather badly, unfortunately. France were rather dominant during most of the game, with Portugal defending doggedly. Ronaldo had to come off the pitch during the first half, which even I have to admit was a bit of a pity. Plenty of good opportunities for France, but unfortunately they weren't able to capitalize. And then, in overtime, the inevitable happened - Portugal scored after a brilliant strike from Eder.

The next day, it was time to carry on, direction La Rochelle. We did have time to have lunch with Sandra before shooting off - good to see her again.