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Published: August 31st 2010
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Charles De Galles was not anything like I'd imagined. Not anywhere close to what I'd call luxurious and fashionable as what Paris's portrayed. Old, somewhat dull, and incredibly smokey are adjectives that came to mind when I stepped foot out into the main public area of the airport. As we were waiting in line to get some information on transportation to Montparnasse station, I looked up and saw three armed soldiers talking and monitoring the area. A flashback of Bangkok a few months ago sprang up from my memory. This's not what I expected to see on my first arrival to France. As we were walking to look for our exit, which the French call "gate", to catch the transfer bus, we walked pass a few more armed soldiers.
We finally got to gate 2, waited for a few minutes, hopped on Air France bus, paid 16 or so Euro, then kicked back and relaxed our tired feet and bodies. We'd not been eating and sleeping well since we left home. Doug barely had his eyes open as we approached the destination. I pictured Paris to be different, didn't really know what to expect but something different from the US
and home. I still couldn't put a word to my first impression of Paris, to be accurate the airport's actually located outside of Paris, however I couldn't help but felt that I was already in Paris. I don't know which route we took to get from CDG to Montparnasse. We certainly didn't seem to be on routes of anything famous or touristy. I remembered feeling like home in a way that it was a concrete jungle. Some details on rod iron works on the fences appeared resemble to what we also have. Smaller vehicles and roads were another similarity. I always look forward to seeing different things I've never seen or experienced before, so when this happened I was bewildered.
Finally we got to Montparnasse and got on the TGV train to Rennes. The train took us through farm houses and fields, corn mostly. Later I asked Seb, who's now Charlotte's husband, about the corn and he said that some of them was for domestic consumption and some was exported or used to make corn syrup. Two hours after the train ride, we eventually arrived in Rennes.
The next day, we picked up a rental car and drove
Photo 4
Charlotte's friend in blue translated the official's message from French to English. to Mauron, where the wedding ceremony and the reception were held. The town was certainly small and very quiet. It made me think of the British movie "Hot Fuzz". On one scene, it showed how calm and quiet the town was before violence erupted; bullets shot in all directions by grannies and a rifle fired away by a disabled senior. Fun movie, though. Well, Mauron was completely opposite of that, at least at the time I was there. It was just a really really small town with a population, I was told, of a bit over 1,000 people.
Charotte came over to pick us up at the hotel Brambily, the only hotel in town, helped us get some lunch before putting us to work on setting up the place that would be used for a reception tomorrow. We met her other friends at lunch whom we later that afternoon worked together in getting the place ready. A few other friends and families of Seb were already there and we just followed their directions. The tables were already there, so we just covered them with paper and table runners, put plates, silver wares, and other stuff and finally it turned
into something that looked quite nice and more elegant.
We went back to the hotel after that, got ourselves a dinner at the hotel restaurant, then got ready for bed. I was so tired that I dozed off for an hour or so before waking up just before midnight. I had exhausting dreams which made me even more tired after the nap. Next morning, I bailed out on having breakfast with everyone at Seb's because I didn't get enough sleep. The bed was extremely soft and didn't provide good support for my back.
Later that day which was Charlotte's wedding day, I was able to get myself out of the bed just before Alina, Charlotte's sister, came over to the hotel. Doug chat with them for quite sometime while they were having lunch. We met up with everyone at Seb's at around 3 pm, then drove to the town hall together. Many guests were already present at the parking lot. The ceremony was bilingual, French and English. Many guests including me got teared up with joy and happiness for the bride and the groom at the end of the ceremony. After the official made an announcement of the
marriage, we all got back in the car and followed each other to the reception. The dark clouds that'd been threatening to pour a heavy rain for celebration actually decided to do so once we got to the place. Everyone scrambled into a reception tent the size of a 2-car garage. We waited for an hour or so before we were seated in the hall. Since it was a buffet, we all had to get in line and our row was not one of the first few so we waited some more. After dinner, there were a few games for guests to play, then newly wed game, followed with everyone pitching in putting away dishes and tables. All the guests grabbed whatever was near and brought to the kitchen, stacked up the chairs, folded the tables and put them away. Then a few people including me grabbed a broom and swept the floor that soon to be our dance floor. The lights off indicating a start of the dance. Charlotte danced with Seb's father, then together, then the dance floor was open to everyone. We did mostly synchronizing dance. There were 2 middle aged male guests leading the dance and
everyone followed them. Half way through the dance, I finally broke off and danced my own way. Doug had been observing from the side and consistently refusing to join me, so we eventually retired from the reception. Congratulated Charotte and Seb for the last time before saying good bye.
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