put the kettle on for this one......... (Part 1 of a few)

Hello everyone

I’m sorry these blogs have been inconsistent and laboured but it’s been quite a busy time, especially the more i think about it. People have got married, i’ve been ill, the world cup has taken centre stages, festivals season is upon us and we decided to do a mini tour of Europe which is where this blog begins.

The bases behind our journey was a wedding. Myself & Lisa, Neil and Keil were invited to the wedding of Elodie and Pierre, Elodie being an old friend of ours from our Netherlands days. (Me, neil and Keil studied there you see). Anyway she decided that extra entertainment was required for her wedding day so sent out some invites to us 3. The wedding was in Troyes (locations and detailed maps will follow) which we’d been to 5 or 6 years ago and is a lovely medieval town, for me a little like Chester but it’s VERY close to the wine regions which made us think..................we’re in france for a wedding so why not make a tour out of this.....

So the planning began.... Planning something like a mini European tour sounds very easy and the words come out of your mouth as easy as carbon dioxide, try it yourself! “Let’s plan a European mini tour” easy isn’t it. So where do you start????

GOOGLE EARTH that’s where you start people and it’s essential to active the road and train options as this makes life even easier. Google earth amazes me and they’ve even got a star and sea one now but i haven’t found a use for those yet. The need to navigate by stars wasn’t essential on this trip but i’m sure i’ll use that later in life. The plan began to unfold and a route appeared but some major hurdles had to be discussed, firstly how do we get to France? Ferry, plane or train..... For those who know me very well you’ll already know my preferred option and to my surprise everyone opted for my first option without hesitation, This option is of course the train, eurostar is something new to me and everyone else involved so from day 1 i was excited. Two reason 1, i like trains, 2 i find train stations fascinating and at risk of sounding cultured or “sad” (no I’ve already mentioned i like trains so sad has already been established) there amazing architectural structures (Paddington, St Pancras) so I was pumped.

Right so we’ve decided on a train to paris then we needed to get to troyes SO train again for that one and then myself lisa and keil would hire a car and drive down France towards Spain. The plan was coming together. 

Thus far the plan is

Cardiff to London (train) Thursday Night

London to Paris (Train) Friday Morning

Paris to Troyes (Train) Saturday Mid Morning

Troyes to South of France (Car) Monday Afternoon

Who has been on the eurostar? It’s very fast, easy, comfortable and not a bad price and for me put’s you in a different mindset. Unlike every trip outside of the Uk i’ve been on i’ve always flown so to go by train changed everything. When I fly, not sure about the rest of you, but you associate it with holiday time, sun tan lotion, problems at airports, being search by a very grumpy person at the airport, stupid questions like “did you pack this case yourself” and “are there any sharp or dangerous items in your bag” who would say, Yes I’ve got 4 knives, 2 guns and some pepper spray for the in-flight meal. Pointless question, even my mother attempted to take 6 or 7 cooking knives onto a plane on one of our family self catering holidays. She’s not a danger to anyone she just decided to take the cooler bag as hand lounge and forgot she’d laid knives on the top of the bag wrapped in a tea towel, BUT the security guys face at Cardiff “we wish we where an international” AIRPORT was priceless. He’d waited his whole life to see a bag containing deadly items appear on his little screen. Image if that had happened in America, saying that My mother got her bag searched there because she had a large can of hair mouse!!! The Americans didn’t like that especially so close to 9/11 and the security guard there provided us with the best line ever. After seeing her bag on a table for about 40 mins untouched we asked the security guy what was going on, politely we said “sir we’ve been told we can’t go until our bag is cleared so what’s taking so long” He replied in all seriousness. “You can’t blame us for the delay, Blame the terrorists!!!” YES people American airport security believe terrorists style their hair before every mission. There dicks..........

Anyway i was saying going on a train rather than flying puts you in a different mindset which is very relaxed, chilled and less hassle so you never think you’ve left the country. 

First destination PARIS. Hands up if you’ve been before!!!! “Meeee i have” and my first time was ok and just ok. This time however it was amazing, we arrived very early, i think around 9ish after our super ride on the eurostar. It’s immence, fast, quiet, comfortable (i’ve said this before) but no bloody CROISANTT’S which upset a French man at in the food carriage. He was great though, he told us he travels on eurostar 2 or 3 times a week and no croissants, EVER. He picked up the plastic display version but they wouldn’t even let him have that.

Seeing new cities is always interesting but i would recommend jumping on one of those red tourist buses that covers everything a “tourist” wants to see, you can hop on and off and they run pretty late plus you can get a 2 day pass. So our red bus route was Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars, Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame, Musee D’Orsay, Opera, Champs Elysees, Grang Palais and Trocadero and it takes about 2 hours if you stay on the bus but you really need to get off any wonder around. We didn’t go into any museums because of time restraints but saw everything and under the Eiffel tower we came across a MASSIVE skate ramp. At the time we had no idea what was going on but watch this.............. he just jumped off the Eiffel tower wearing inline skates onto a massive ramp they’ve knocked up.

So from here we went to Troyes, the medieval place i was on about. Now, i’ve been to a few weddings in my time and thought i knew what was coming, but how wrong was i! In the UK weddings are very formal and have a strict structure which, to my naivety, i thought happened everywhere but  i was wrong. In France it’s alllll different, well not that different, one to many L’s there but it’s just a different line up i suppose..... So the format goes something like this Immediate friends and family (us included as we’d travelled from the UK) attend the town hall with mayor and sign the documentation with his approval.

Then – Photo’s and to the Church for the GOD part (Remember there already married on paper by now)

Then – more photos, and to the evening venue. Here you have 3 hours where EVERYONE who know’s the couple turn up for canapés and champers darling. After the 3 hours the uninvited meal guests leave and....

Then – We all sit down for food. So from 8 pm to 1 AM in the morning you eat. 6 courses of food and its a salad, pate, fish dish, meat dish, dessert, cheeses THEN coffee and then DRINK DRINK DRINK. At this wedding there was 89 guest and to the disappointment of the brides father we only drank 8- bottles of champagne(Very good champagne too as we’re in the champagne district at this stage) The champagne was joined by massive buckets of beer, spirits and i can’t really remember.

Now, whilst we ate there was an array of random skits (little performances by brides maids, best man and best mates, random dancing etc etc) but it was ALL amazing and so relaxed. Overall it was the best wedding i’ve been too and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Elodie and Pierre.

Here’s some picture of the night!!!