Wedding in the Alps Part 1

It was almost the end of August when we attended another wedding of our parent's friend. In fact, the groom was a student of my Papa when they we're young. Papa was an "animateur" (moderator) of the kids in Les Iris. It is an organization but an extra curricular activity and not obligatory. To give you an overview of the association and understand their objective here are they :

Objectives of movement:
- The work welcomes young people during their spare time to accompany them and help them become men and Christians fully committed and responsible in today's society.
- It forms a community of dynamic and generous church where everyone agrees to be active throughout the year.
- He accompanies kids & adolescents and allow games and prayer, build and unify all dimensions of person: physical, spiritual, intellectual and fraternal.

Proposed activities:
Games and Prayer:
- Games: great outdoor games and sports (football, basketball, volleyball, ping-pong, football, table shuffleboard, billiards.
Library, video games, shop manual and artistic expression, cinema, swimming pool.
- Prayer: Prayer, prayer group, Mass, coaching staff, time for reflection, knowledge of witnesses.
Each holiday camps are organized camps fixed games or skiing (winter), camps traveling on foot or by bike, humanitarian camps.

Now, going back to the wedding celebration.....To avoid cramming we left Thursday late afternoon and it took us 2 hours and a half only to reach the Hotel and this time it was really a beautiful 3 stars hotel. Papa wanted us to feel better after we had a not so good experience the last time. Well this one is quite expensive but at least the service is also perfect. We had a make up room everyday, change towels everyday, shampoos and soap including hair dryer. The room is very clean, a bathroom with bathtub and toilet separated. A king size bed for our parents and a double deck bed for us. Breakfast buffet every morning (eat all you can) ! We arrived at 9PM but we had already our MC Donald's Dinner.

Nice presentation


Our double deck bed near the entrance another door that separates the master's bedroom.

Our parents' bed with Cable television, tables and chairs, mini-bar and wardrobe.

Friday morning we strolled around the villages, went to a river and had lunch in one of the restaurants of St. Véran. Get back to Astragale Hotel to relax a little bit after that long walk to get ready for the mass celebration at 4:30PM. The mass was facilitated by Father Olivier Paslac (another moderator of Iris) who was the priest who baptized me (Mayumi) last year. Like the last wedding attended we had a great weather although the Alps has around 2000 meters altitude it was warmer but thanks to the sun we were not with jackets or vests at all. We've already been to their Chalet in the Queyras Alps when he celebrated his 30th birthday but we did not had the chance to explore the villages.

Okay to give you a little bit idea of the lieu here they are. We will continue sharing our adventures on our next post about the wedding.





To be continued.......

Corsica Part 2

Now this will be the continuation of our vacation as promised. If we speak beaches we usually go to Calvi because Papa grew up spending his summer with his parents and grandparents when he was a kid. He has a lot of souvenirs and he likes the place. And since he would like us to know the place we go once or twice there at the same place and same beach. This time our parents changed their mind especially Maman. She told us that we already know Calvi and she thinks that it's time to really explore other beaches of Corsica since we are grown ups. They have been to beaches of Porto Vecchio when I (Basti) was still a baby. We didn't want to travel too much by car so we went to the famous St. Florent. It took us 1 1/2 hr. travel to reach the center. We had lunch and there and visited the city. Maman took pictures as usual.

We went to Belvédère to see the whole city of Qt. Florent.

This is the dike near the Port of St. Florent. People used to sit, relax and do some picnicking.

A typical Corsican store which serves typical Corsican products.

This is us with Papa with Papa waiting patiently to get on board in the ferry to cross the sea going to that famous white sand beach. La Plage de Lotu/Lodu . 20 minutes travel and we're there !


Arriving there we were just surprised. It is indeed white sand, clean and crystal clear water. Before going to the beach you need to inquire what time for the departure and return to St. Florent because there schedules to be followed strictly. You need to check information with Le Popeye, the ferryboat who will serve the tourists. Please take note of this important advise do not forget to bring something with you (drinks, snacks) as there are no bars and restaurants that will cater for you. Don't forget to bring parasol and sunblock protection cream as it could be very hot during the day. Enjoy and see you again next time :D !