A 'Vitry' Parade

This weekend is a bank holiday. So this Saturday there is a brocante (jumble sale) and parade.

Since the parade goes right past our window, we were banned from parking near our house for a day!

Still it gave June an excellent viewpoint, whilst I elected to get some photos from a closer angle.

"La Mécanikabulle", a bubble making machine.

The Serenade!

As the parade passed, it often stopped. Here the "Magic Skatolog All Stars" serenade June, taking full advantage of an impromptu stop, and her!

"Most embarrassing" she said afterwards.

A Chinese Dragon embarrasses 2 girls by snuggling up

Some more embarrassing moments for some.

Traditional band

Some more photos from the day:

You can get too close!
These are the "Chromoaptères"

The local catholic church dancers

"Karib'k" - very energetic!

"Cie Magic Land" - very tall and frightening!

Touching the dragon!

Majorettes. <Click> if they are not dancing for you!

"Char ACP"- A tough lot, the lady carries the tuba.

Bobble blowing! <click> to see it in motion!

Chromoaptère in motion <click> to see it move.

A Wedding in France

We have been invited to a wedding in France. We have seen these as passers by but this is our first experience of one first hand. June was looking forward to driving through the village in convoy all sounding our horns. But this was the only thing lacking from a lovely afternoon and early evening.

Inside the Marie's office

Outside the Marie's office

Cameras at the ready!

The event starts at the Marie. Here the couple are legally married. The room is upstairs and far too small for us all so we wait outside the open doors taking it in turns to step forwards and snap a photo. Then down the narrow stairs where the bride and groom kiss everyone as they exit.

Just after the legal ceremony

The kiss (one of 3 in fact)

Once outside, and the photographers are waiting for the couple to appear and give the obligatory kiss to each other.

The next venue is a house down the road (hence the lack of car horns, we just needed to walk). The house and garden have been turned into an open-air location for the Christian ceremony.

The old house and grounds

Although it rained during the day, it kindly made sure we were all inside the Marie or under cover when it did so. After that it came out warm and sunny. So we were able to have the everyone-together big photo.

The group photo

We had a full Christian ceremony because this is a 'church do'. Then champagne and snacks as everyone socialised and took more photos,

Everyone has their own photos

and listened to the accordion player who went round everyone making sure he serenaded us all. He even played a couple of English songs when he discovered our secret!

The French love their hair dressers and several ladies had special creations. Fortunately the bride outdid them all, as you can see here. Flowers are interwoven in the design.

Hair creation

The Accordion Player finds June and Mary

You can be sure that I was not the only one to snap the hair creation.

As the evening wore on, the bride and groom found time for a moment together and we enjoyed more accordion playing.

A moment together

Music

And we finally left just before the sun was setting on the garden party and close family retired indoors for a late night…

Back to England

So we worked it out that going back to England would take a similar time to going down to the cottage here in France. Time to the boat is about 3½ hours. The boat is 1½ hours, and the travelling in England another 2 hours depending on our exact destination. About 7 hours in all compared to 6¾ to get to the cottage (includes 2 ✕ 20 minute stops).
Of course the boat was late and the M2 on the English side was closed, so too the junction from the M25 onto the M11; both of which we wanted. But we still arrived at mother's roughly when we expected to.
Some photos:

A walk round poppy fields

And it was great to see my side of the family. Apologies to all Martins and Gassons who we could not get to see this trip. Next time; promise!

Clare has to improve my photos if she can

Dog interest

Jon and Hina (and me if you look carefully)

And back through the playing fields

The trip home, in the wet!

Fête des Societies à Vitry

The square as viewed from our window

Fête des societies at Vitry began with tents being erected in the square. Then we were banned from parking outside our own flat whilst they repainted the road markings. The weekend came and we heard loud music over the speakers as people set us their stalls. Noisy tonight we agreed.
But in the event there was a little music through the day, and at 8pm they all went home for tea. Still only Saturday and most of the tents are down now. Not much happens on Sunday pm the remaining tents are still quiet. Perhaps it is all over already?

Royal

So THE wedding is just over, but the party is still going. We popped back to Narcay to see the British version of the coverage. We got in at 2am having left the food June had prepared behind until we remembered just after joining the motorway. Why is it always so very far to the next turning?
There was a strong smell of old cat food to greet us from the back room, and a month's growth of grass and weeds. All cleaned and mowed now, but it feels quite daft to have 3 homes to run. What would we find at Domazan?
Well, we found the grass cut, the potager weeded, and the front door locked- it is new and we have not picked up the keys yet! Jacqueline helped me off with the new shutters and we put them in the garage and came back home.

Champagne

A Friday afternoon off, and time to visit some tourist locations.
The Trois Puits Abbey (3 wells Abbey) is a very peaceful and ancient garden area. You can't visit the house or the old ruins, but the garden is large, with very old statues, and a lovely place to relax. It is a sun-trap and we started to overheat!
Close by is the town of Bar de Duc. We turned in at the "high town" and discovered this part was built on a cliff. The houses are ancient. There are loads of them designated as "heritage sites", and loads of views over the valley and the rest of the town, as long as you have no fear of heights!
Saturday was a visit to Champagne country. To see the old towns and the abundant "Champagne Houses" which you can visit and discover the brewing process. We contented ourselves with a glass of champagne outside a bar in the shade. And as the tourist office informed us that Don Perignon lived further up the hill, off we went to find him.
The Abbey at Hautvillers is not open to the public, nor visible over the high walls. But then is was mostly destroyed in the revolution, as was a lot of France's heritage. What we did find was a lovely old hillside village with superb views and a very pretty church; in which was laid the man himself.
The sun shone. The pace was slow. The champagne was cold. A perfect day.

About Time

It is about time I wrote something here. But it has all be a bit fraught what with moving up to Vitry just 5 weeks ago...
The biggest alteration in out life has been joining the small local fellowship here in Vitry le François. Impressively we appear to be the response to prayer- the pastor had prayed for someone from Colin Urquhart's church in England to join them. That was our church for 10 years just before we left for France. But this one is all in French, so we could not have coped until now, now that our French language abilities are just capable of keeping up. The pastor is very kind, and does check from time to time if we understand. Not the French jokes I'm afraid. I have not yet worked out the French sense of humour.

Lac du Der - the causeway across the lake

Then there is the opportunity for more tourism on our part. The Lac de Dur is the largest in Europe we are told. It was blisteringly hot yesterday (Sat 9th April 2011) as we explored just 1 corner of it. On the way home I bought a hat. A bit late for this visit but essential for next time.
Later on we will revisit the lake and explore some of the camping available (for visitors, not us) and the sailing, and possibly the swimming too.

Pirates were spotted early afternoon

Our grandson will be interested in the flags. These pirates were spotted near our place. We managed to avoid them and eat all our picnic ourselves but next time?
Then, of course, there are the champagne houses. We are determined to explore these so that we can take our visitors to the best of them. However, we have not visited them yet.
We have visited Reims cathedral. Very impressive, and rather cold- dress warm, there is a lot of stone and huge ceilings. When we tried to tell our French friends they could not understand where we had been. "R-ee-m-s" we said. In the end they worked out we meant "wR-a-m". Silly us!