We arrived in to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport at approximately 7am. It was very easy to get our luggage and find the car rental offices- signs are better than I expected at this airport. We rented a car from Europecar which was relatively easy to do and I was sure to get a GPS, as it was only an extra 15 Euros. We were upgraded to a mid-size car that ran on diesel which was nice- diesel is cheaper and gets better gas mileage. We had some challenges getting out of the airport area- very confusing! I felt like we just kept going in circles and we didn't have an accurate address to plug in to our GPS to help navigate us out of there. We finally found the highway we needed, A1 and followed that to A86- this was a challenge in itself as traffic was very bad, there was an accident, and I was driving standard which was taking me a little while to get used to using (it's been a while). Finally we made it to A14- the highway that would take us in to the country. We drove through a lot the countryside including the towns of Vernon and Giverny (where Monet's home and gardens are located). We saw the most amazing rainbow- it had been raining that day but the sun would peak out every once and a while. It was a full rainbow- the pictures don't do it justice. We had stopped to gas up and use the bathroom and it took us like 10 minutes for me to figure out how to put the car in reverse- it wasn't what I was used to :-) (We were driving a Merivo). We at last made it to our exit for Louvier, France- it is such a sweet little town- so quaint and charming. After getting an accurate address for Bethel from Tanesha, we finally were able to find the Bethel Branch in Louvier. What a relief! Driving in the French countryside isn't too different than driving in our country, it's the city that is so scary!
After changing at Bethel we met up with the group of friends in for the wedding who were in a tour group. We went and had lunch with the Bethel family- what a privilege! I was able to see friends that I know from NC, meet friends of Tanesha that were in from NYC, and become acquainted with the friends from Bethel. Everyone was incredibly nice and accomodating! After having spaghetti, bread and cheese, carrot salad, and red wine, we went to see Tanesha and Julien's room. They have the best view outside their window. We then followed the caravan of cars that were heading out to the cottage in a little town called Sebecourt (accents should be above the e's). It was about a 45min-1hour drive. It felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere! But it was beautiful- farm lands as far as the eye could see and tiny little villages of stone houses. We finally arrived at the cottage- it contained 8-10 bedrooms, all with 3-4 twin-sized beds. Several of us were staying there and I got to room with Nikki and her mom, Diane. Philip roomed with some French guys from Lyon- never got their names :-(
After getting settled in, we spent the rest of the evening helping decorate for the wedding reception. I helped hang the lanterns and Philip helped with all kinds of tasks, such as setting up tables, covering chairs, unloading supplies.
Tanesha's dad barbecued some sausages for dinner. At this point Philip and I were awake for about 36 hours, so we crashed and went to bed early. But it felt good to be in France!
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