French-Irish wedding Extraveganza (part un)

This past weekend we drove from here to close to Bordeaux, which is basically a 650km road trip from one side of France to the other.  We had friends take care of our kids for the weekend (yes, yes – those are good friends) so we could make the trek just the two of us.

Quick Background:  last time we lived in France we had two really good friends – an Irish and a Scottish girl who lived in an apartment just across the river from us.  We hung out a lot with them – saw them once in Edinburgh a year after they moved- and haven’t seen either of them for about 9 years now!  Well we were fortunate enough to have moved back here a few weeks before our lovely Irish friend Dervla had her wedding at a chateau outside of Bordeaux.

We dropped off the kids at school on Friday – and headed west. From here to Bordeaux the drive is mostly through this massive mountain range right in central France – which was ever-so-creatively named: Massif Central.  From there we started to descend towards the wine country of South West France. It was nice weather for the drive- but started getting hot by the time we arrived mid-afternoon.

On Friday night there was a dinner at Chateaux Pitray (but not the Chateau Pitray that we drove to first…) It was a great supper out in the courtyard with a small pond, candlelight, next to the river etc.

The next morning we looked around the countryside a bit and visited a vineyard with some Irish relatives just about 800m down the road from where we were staying. There were loads of Irish friends and family there- as well as lots of English and Scots (so in case you thought I was writing with an accent – that’s why)

Once I saw the temperature hit 30 in the early afternoon- I knew it was time to get on my black suit -and get ready (read: deodorant) for an incredible outdoor wedding.