The Girls Travel Abroad

Here we are!! What a wonderful opportunity -- to be together with my three daughters. The opportunity came and we took it. We were invited to our former exchange student's (Sonia Eizaguirre) wedding in Southern France. The girls got permission from their husbands and told me, "We're all going." We flew to Madrid (because we had not been to Madrid; Sonia currently works in Madrid.) rented a car and immediately drove 5 hours north to Hendaye on the Basque coast where Sonia had arranged for a hotel. Hendaye is a coastal resort town with wonderful beaches and inviting blue water as you will note in the next 3 pictures below.


Walking back from the beach one day we walked past this house and were quite fascinated by it. At the right bottom is a garage door. We don't know if it's a single family home or a beach 'hotel' or something else. It is surrounded by water on the sides you cannot see.

Our first night out to dinner Sonia and Gonzague came and took us around the Bay to Hondarribia, Spain for dinner -- tapas (or hors d' oeuvres) , Basque style. We had baguettes, shrimp and very delicious octupus. The next night when we went to dinner in Hendaye, again Kelli and Cami ordered shrimp -- and you can see they really got their money's worth -- as they got the whole and complete crustacean -- nothing removed.
You get an idea here just how much Ali likes seafood. However, I didn't ge a picture of the HUGE plate of mussells Cami ordered (and thought she was ordering scallops), or when our waitress and chef sat down next to us (while we were waiting) to have their smoke break, or when the chef changed (all) his clothes in Kelli's sightline.

Sonia and Gonzague were married 'civily' first in the small village of Bidart, France. This is as they came out of the Town Hall and stood with Gonzague's two children, Matthew (in light blue) and Noemie (blue sweater). The other couple is Gonzague's sister with their son.

Gonzague and Sonia Laconte.

Below are Sonia's parents - Jose and Carmen Eizaguirre -- and her sister Marta on the steps of the Bidart Town Hall. They are a lovely, gracious and generous family. They treated us as honored guests.

Another picture of the family.

Later that afternoon there was a BBQ at Gonzaque and Sonia's home in Bayonne, France. We stood around the tall tables to eat the yummy tapas -- pork chops, ham (famous for the Basque Region), pasta salad, olive dip, popcorn, melons, beef kabobs, chorizo, baquettes, and Gateaux Basque (Basque cake) -- all very delicious. This picture is Sonia's father, her sister and Kelli.

Another picture at the same table with Sonia's mother and sister-in-law.

I thought I got other pictures, but you'll have to check out the girls' pictures to see the lush green surroundings of their home. This is just one picture of the outside.

Just one inside pictures of their home -- with Noemie coloring a picture.

The next day Sonia and Gonzague were married in a small Catholic church on the beach in Bayone. When it was time, the bell atop the building rang. After the actual ceremony they sat during the Mass. Both Spanish and French were spoken by the priest so that all could understand -- all but us, that is. However, to include us, one part of the Mass was in English and I was asked to read that part. So, now I have participated in Mass. Below (on the right) are Matthew and Noemie, who carried the flowers, Carmen Eizaguirre and Gonzague's father.


The tradition is that Sonia's father walk her in and Gonzague's mother walks in with him -- so they sat together for the remainder of the service.

After the ceremony, the photographer is making sure he has enough pictures.

This is the small church building where the ceremony took place. It was a lovely setting on the beach, but was too small for all the guests to be inside. Many stood on the open side to watch.

After the wedding we then went to the reception hall -- Chateau Suau-- for the cocktail hour and the dinner and dance. Outside the hall they were roasting pigs for the dinner.

I took this picture because it was a clever, fascinating idea. A large vase which was filled with clear crumpled up cellophane with some flower buds interspersed throughout. Flowers were on the top. Very nice. In Spanish tradition we were seated for dinner at 9:30 p.m. Our menu:

Gazpacho de tomates aux concombres,
beignet de calamar,
reduction de balsamique

Zikiro
Haricots verts, courgettes,
germes de sojas sautes au wok
et galette de pomme de terre

Quelques Fromages affines.

Soupe de fraises sorbet sangria
Verrine de banofee, sauce toffee
Vacherin glace a la meringue francaise
et peches roties
Fondant au chocolate, sauce pistache

(Excuse the fact that my American keyboard doesn't have the right accent marks for the French words.) Our dessert was served at 1:45 a.m. (It took longer than even they planned on.) However, it was lovely, relaxing and fun. We were seated at the table witht the bride and groom and their parents. We were treated as special guests the whole time -- always calling us her American family and me her American mother. Sonia gave all the wedding guests a pair of Havaianas flip flops from the company she works for -- with a caricature of she and Gonzague on them. Gonzague and Sonia danced the first dance. Gonzague danced with me (I think Ali got a picture). We were about the first ones (except some with children) to leave and arrived at our hotel at 3:00 a.m. Sonia told us the next day that they were there until 7:00 a.m.

A couple of pictures of the families outside the reception hall.

The next day we took a drive up the coastline and this is a picture looking to St. Jean de Luz.

Looking the other way towards the beach at the same stopping point along the Basque coast.

This is along the same road. Not the beach for swimming, but the jet skis and sail boats in the clear, blue water certainly looked inviting.


The next two pictures are of the beach at San Sebastian, Spain. It was vacation time in France and Spain -- the beaches were full of people of all ages. The elderly were enjoying the beach as much as the children.



Motorcyles (or a version of Vespas) were everywhere! And they seemed to have their own rules on the highway. The roads were two-lane coastal roads, but it was common to have a bike rider pass on the right or on the left -- squeezed right between us and the oncoming vehicle!


In San Sebastian on our last day with Sonia. San Sebastian is where she grew up. It is a beautiful city. Later that evening she and her family took us to the old section of town (my pictures are too dark) where there was a festival - commemorating an invasion of the French - with a parade and bands and the entire population of the town out. Again, they treated us to delicious Basque tapas at a couple of places before we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel -- hoping that they will come and see us.
The next day on our way to Madrid, we stopped in Bilbao to see the famous, very contemporary Guggenheim Museum.

Ali in front of the Madrid, Spain Temple.

An archway in Madrid we were about to drive through.

A couple of views of Sonia's apartment where she let us stay the last night in Madrid. Typical of large cities, this is in a very old building and the apartments were remodeled to be very nice and new. I wish I had taken a picture of the very old-style elevator, however. It hasn't been updated.

The end came all too soon. The next morning we had a fairly hurried trip through the city, to get gas, get to the airport, return the car and get us there for our flights. I have to commend Kelli and Cami. They were an excellent duo of driver and navigator (if you discount the issues with the stick shift). With Kelli's bit of Spanish and Cami's bit of French, we did great. I was amazed that we arrived at every place we were going! Thanks to Sonia and Gonzague and their families and my delightful daughters, it was a memorable trip.