P

ort La Nouvelle

 

June 2007








French flag




"Sortie de Paris" and TGV-trip Number 2 was something even more unpredictable. Bertrand and Pascale decided to get married, we were invited, and to the probable astonishment of all, we went. And who then are Bertrand and Pascale? Bertrand is the son of one of Jan's French Bates cousins; the cousins being the children of her father's youngest brother, who lived the last thirty years of his life in Frontignan, on the Languedoc coast of France. We'd visited the family together in 1974 and 1994 and had gotten to know Bertrand who visited us in the USA in 1995 and in Paris in 1999. Now, just when he was getting married we happened to be in Paris. When we accepted he told us to keep it secret — he wanted to surprise everybody.

The day of the surprise we left Paris around 8:00 a.m and were amazed to find ourselves 700 km away in Narbonne by about noon. Bertrand and his mother, Bernadette, picked us up and we had lots of hugs. Then it was off to Port La Nouvelle, home to both, and the site of the wedding the next day. That afternoon and evening we were feasted at Bertrand's restaurant, Le Lampion, and there met the bride-to-be, the groom's father and sister.

The day of the wedding opened with the arrival of the rest of Bertrand's extended family and the surprise appearance of their long-lost cousing with hugs and kisses all around. The rest of the day consisted of a very long series of festivities, ending in a wedding banquet that was great, but went on well past the early hours of the morning; we, along with all the other old fogies left at 3:00 a.m. and left the youngsters to dance until dawn, which they did.

The next day, rather than taking off on their honeymoon, the newly-weds hosted a "day-after-the-wedding" party, consisting of a wonderful al fresco lunch with oysters and a huge paella as the main courses. Everyone was casually dressed, the sun was shining, the food was good, the wine was chillled, and a great time was had by all. The end of the day was even more suprising. The bride and groom got to clean up the banquet room before returning it to its rightful owners. Only much later would they head off to Spain for their long-awaited honeymoon.

Before returning to Paris we made a day trip to Frontignan, which Jan had first visited at the tender age of 16 and which had inspired her to learn and then major in French. There we had a long afternoon visit with her uncle's sister-in-law and got a much clearer idea of how it was to have to suddenly leave Algeria in 1962 and how her uncle had selected his Italian bride.

France
France




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