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Weekend in France

On May 4th, a number of JCI Dublin members went for a weekend to Chateau-Gontier in France (departement # 53) to visit the home town of there fellow JCI Dublin member, Kevin Guerin.

The weekend gave every one the opportunity to experience the true way of life in France away from the big cities. The weekend was thorough enjoyed by all.

"We all learned to appreciate the good things in life such as food, wine, and family from our experience. We would like to thank Kevin for the trip and it was Great Craic" - A. Moran

Friday 4th May 2007

Three members of JCI Dublin, Anthony, Kevin and Axel met up at Dublin airport and checked in baggage at 10am flight at 11am.
Went to duty free and bought some gifts for Jeune Chambre Economique Sud-Mayenne. Bought a square glass hologram of a guinness horse and cart and Irish hat “top of the morning to you” for president Christophe of Jeune Chambre Economique Sud-Mayenne.

The flight was half an hour delayed and eventually arrived in Nantes at 2pm French time.

Maïte, Kevin’s sister collected them at Nantes airport, they were driven back to Château-Gontier by Kevin and had a tour of Nantes. Stopped off in Ancenis and bought a ham and cheese baguette in a boulangerie which was very tasty.
Anthony bought a plant in a florist for Kevin’s mother and then they went to a wine shop to buy two bottles of wine for Kevins father as a present from Axel and Anthony.

Next stop was Château-Gontier, overall trip was 2 hours on the road.
Arrived at Kevin’s village Ampoigné and then drove to Kevin’s home “Bel-air” - beautiful air.

Met Kevin’s family and Kevin gave a Lir Easter egg as a present to Kevins youngest member in the house, Styw who decorated the egg and ate it.
Kevins father gave them wine and beer, Kevin gave them a tour of the house and showed them to their rooms.

The craic was starting to get good as they then went to the local wine and beer bar "VnB" and met up with the local Jeune Chambre Economique Sud-Mayenne.

They were given some lovely wine, Jean-Pierre and Anthony bought a bottle of some of the wine Loupiac. Three couples from JCE (Jeune Chambre Economique) Sud-Mayenne met up with Axel and Anthony and brought them to the local restaurant "Aquarelle" to have a meal. The food was beautiful and the French company good fun as they laughed and drank wine. Jeane-Pierre, nicknamed “Gooffy” gave them some of his frog legs and they tasted beautiful. They were taught how to eat the French way and the food was out of this world. The French people talked about what they did in the area. They are producing a comic of the history of Château-Gontier. A previous comic raised €10,000 profit which helps to keep JCE going and pays their bills. They help people with doctors health appointments in poor areas of locality, they are active in the area, have 25 members.
After the meal they went to “Point Bar” and met more JCE Sud-Mayenne members, stayed until 1am, said au revoir to their new French friends.

Saturday 5th May 2007

Axel and Anthony had a nice breakfast which Kevin had left for them: croissants au chocolat, cornflakes and coco pops and French baguette.

Kevin went off to Laval train station to pick up his friends Jeff and Kiran from the group "meet up" in Dublin, and also Radya and Frank from Paris. When Kevin arrived back with friends he showed them to their rooms and the family greeted them.

Then, at 10:30am Kevin, Axel, Anthony, Jeff, Kiran, Radya and Frank went off to have a tour of how cider is made at a cider factory in Craon. The visit was in French but Kevin was their translator. They were given samples of the cider and it was tasty. The different processes of the apples growing and harvesting was documented and pictures on the walls visually showed the processes. Various apples are grown which are used to make jams, apple juice and apperitifs. Kevin bought 12 bottles of cider for the big party that night at his house. The others bought some apples and jams.

They went back to Kevin's house and had lunch which was made by Kevin’s mother Ginette. They ate salad, fish cake, French bread and cheese. It was beautiful.

After this they went back to the wine and beer bar and met Christophe, president of JCE (Jeune Chambre Economique) Sud-Mayenne. Jean-Luc drank some rose wine and talked for a while. Jean-Luc wants to twin with us, I think he likes the rugby Ireland and France play.
Radya decided to be a start and went up on a timber display and broke it! Oops, she had no wine in her at this time. The toilet was unisex and Kevin said that it is mostly men who drink there.

Next, the visitors went to a zoo called “le refuge de l’Arche”, saw some peacocks, monkeys, lions, gibbons, pumas, bears etc. It was good fun. The zoo is a safe haven for animals rescued by Greenpeace from around France, animals which people can no longer keep and need to surrend up.

The Roland Réauté chocolate factory was the next stop and the skills of making pictures of the Mona Lisa in chocolate and wolfs, dogs etc. was a vision to be seen. Audio visual presentations were shown demonstrating the making of mould hens, with an excited "Et voila!" at the end. All bought chocolate and enjoyed its flavour.

Back to Kevin’s house they prepared for a big party to celebrate one year of Kevin in Ireland! Forty people were in attendance, lots of relatives and friends congregated. The party started with a cider apperitif at 11pm and went on until 6am. The craic was good and people talked, ate, drank and were very merry. Axel, Anthony, Jeff and Kiran mingled with Kevin’s friends and spoke the best French they could and the French people did their best in English. At 3 or 4am “eau de vie” (water of life) or “crazy water”, made from apples in France was appearing on the scene and the party was in full swing then! Axel and Anthony suddenly became fluent French speakers and understood everything or they think they did. Kevin enjoyed the craic. One of Kevin’s friends was being toasted with water as he was worse for wear. "You will thank me in the morning”, he was told by Anthony.

In a traditional French way the party was brought to a gentle end at 5am with onion soup and bread in the house to the hardy souls to make it that long. All went to bed at 6am and in good spirits laughed and joked all night.

Sunday 6th May 2007

At 12 o’clock Anthony got up and met with the hardy souls from the night before and got a cup of tea, a croissant and cornflakes to bring back the energy from a hard night before.

All had a large family lunch at 1pm and a cider apperitif was introduced at the start of the meal. Everyone ate well and had a lovely dessert at end. People began to depart and said farewell and hope to see each other again.

Kevin, Axel, Anthony, Jeff, Kiran, Radya and Frank then went to Château-Gontier to see traditional French outdoor comedy and a band playing a concert; it was good to see the people enjoying it.

Radya and Frank were taken to Laval train station by Kevin to go back to Paris.

Kevin, Axel, Anthony, Jeff and Kiran toured through Château-Gontier and discovered the beautiful art exposition in the local gardens. Some gardens had flamingoes made from hoovers, chairs with jewelery on them, recycled material made into modern art. Fantastic laid back atmosphere was experienced, it was good to see that French people take such pride in their gardens, making them into art galleries for a week. Also the French people grow a lot of food in their gardens, quite different to Ireland these days.

The group had a detailed tour of Château-Gontier, including the schools that Kevin went to and the church he was baptised in, also his former work places, it was interesting.

They went back to Kevin’s house and played a French game, “Palet”, throwing circular disks on a timber pallet from a distance. Trying to get on the pallet was a challenge in itself. Anthony won that one as a beginner.

Next we played Petanque which is with large metal balls and a smaller yellow ball. Objective is to roll out the yellow ball and get large ball as close to the yellow ball as possible. Axel won that game.

Next they had a family evening meal in Kevin’s house which was enjoyable prepared by Ginette. They laughed, joked and learned about each other. After this they had a game of soccer with Axel, Anthony, Styw, Kevin and Olivier and Jeff as a spectator in the front garden of house. Little Styw was the boss and enjoyed the game playing by his rules. Olivier scored the winner goal!!!

Went to bed at 10pm, all needed the sleep as tiredness was getting the best of Kevin, even though it was mentioned “No sleep until Dublin”.

Monday 7th May 2007

Everyone needed to get up at around 9am as they had to leave at 11am to pack and go to Nantes to catch the plane at 1pm.

They had breakfast and were given wine and cheese by Kevin's parents and made sandwiches for lunch, much appreciated by all on the flight. All said good bye to Kevin’s family and enjoyed the time they had.

Kevin drove them back to Nantes with his mother Ginette and Styw. They arrived at the airport and checked their bags in and said good bye to Ginette and Styw.

Anthony started to write up this report roughly and during the flight with Kevin’s assistance. This added to the flights entertainment as everyone had highlights to add in.

More Photos

Coming soon

Report : A. Moran

Photos : J. Burns

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