June 5, 2023

We write this final chapter in November of 2024 almost eighteen months after the end of our year wandering around France — two vagabonds trying to improve their French. Our failure to wrap up the loose ends weighs on us and drives us to do our best to reconstruct the last few weeks of May and the first week in June.

The wedding of our beloved nephew, Matthew, a son of Diane’s younger-by-three-years brother Richard and sister-in-law Brigitte, to Tina, a delightful Californian who had been Matthew’s classmate at Haverford College, lured us back to Paris for our final week in France.

On the way we spent pleasant days exploring picturesque Alsace from our gîte located on a working farm near the formerly quaint and charming, now overly cute and touristy, villages Requier and Ribouville. We enjoyed sausages, choucroute, and tartiflette washed down with glasses of Reisling and mugs of Alsatian beer in very old restaurants preserving German-French traditions evolved from the passing back and forth of the territory numerous times since the death of Charlemagne.

Next came a few days in verdant Beaujolais discovering excellent variations of the medium-bodied red wine made from the gamay grape. Moulin-a-Vent, Morgan, Fleury, and others help us forget the young Beaujolais Nouveau that was over-marketed and oversold in the US in the 1980’s.

Two very kind social invitations were issued by fellow travelers on our trip to the Holy Land in May. Marie-Claude invited us to dine at home with her husband and cousin, and Jean-Eric and Ann hosted the entire group for a reunion in Paris thoughtfully scheduled for Sunday afternoon on our final day in France.

Marie-Claude and her physicist husband Philippe live just outside Versailles in a stately 17th century home replete with family treasures.

Their cousin, Isabelle, also a fellow pilgrim, fetched us in Paris and entertained us pre-dinner with a delightful stroll through the Queen’s Hamlet — the model village and functioning farm created by Marie-Antoinette and completed in 1786 on the Trianon Estate at Château de Versailles.

Marie-Claude prepared a wonderful meal that included a terrine made according to a prized family recipe and we were delighted to be able to dine on their lovely garden terrace — just a stone’s throw from the remains of the ancient wall that guarded the property for centuries.

Philippe, a knowledgeable collector and connoisseur of wine, wowed Renie with a tour and explanation of the extensive collection housed in his ancient cellar and gifted him with a special bottle of Bordeaux. After dinner, dear Isabelle insisted on making the 45 minute drive back into Paris to deliver us to our hotel — a true act of kindness.

Marriages in France must be performed by a French civil authority and since Matthew’s parents live in the 6th Arrondisement, the wedding took place in the city hall of that district. Mayor Jean-Pierre Lecoq, who is serving his fifth term, took the podium and spoke meaningfully of the union of Tina who is American and Matthew who is French (with dual American citizenship) and paid tribute to the centuries old friendship between France and the United States and specifically between citizens of the Sixth Arrondisement and the US. The extension of these ties to Tina and her family, whose heritage is Chinese, broadens the relationship.

Following the ceremony, Brigitte and Richard entertained friends and family members with a stylish luncheon in their spacious apartment. And in the evening we gathered to witness a second ceremony and celebrate with the adorable couple.

We could never have imagined a better finish to the year chasing our goal to speak better French than this wonderful family wedding. Along the twelve-month journey, chance encounters with French residents and planned reunions with old friends and close family enriched our experience in so many ways.

We love France and we love the French people. What more can we say except that we are so grateful.

Thank you for coming along.

Renie and Diane