THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY – 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING

As many of you know, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in August – here is a run down of that celebration and the European trip that followed.

We invited friends and family to our anniversary party in August last year and had a marvellous day with lots of memories, fun and laughter. Abi’s friend Rhi wore my original wedding dress and Jordan stood in as the groom. I wrote a piece about the dress and sent in into the Daily Telegraph and it was published.

We were joined by many of our friends, some who have been to our other milestone anniversaries- Rose and Liz, Sue and Willie were at our 25th Anniversary in Ehrwald at the Spielmans. They also joined us for our 40th anniversary in Chalabre with my brother Joe, his wife Jan and my sister Kate. Plus Abi and her French friends. There was also a large Irish contingent, from Belfast, Carlingford and some who live in Chalabre.

The following week we set off on Our European adventure, which took us from Calais to Spain, via Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France. We left Lola in the capable hands of our brilliant house sitters, Kristina and Iain. We stopped in Calais for a Flunch Lunch and then some shopping at a local patisserie. Our first overnight stop was Mons in Belgium at an Airbnb. Ed was delighted that his Red Corvette would be safely tucked away in the garage underneath the apartment.

In the morning we drove to Pirmasens, in Germany and stopped at an hotel with a good restaurant next door. Ed had schnitzel and I had Pizza, washed down with Beer and Fizz. the following day we arrived at Spielmann’s hotel in Ehrwald. We enjoyed a restful, peaceful week here, enjoying the food, weather and doing nothing!

From Ehrwald, we drove through Italy, arriving at Desensezo del Garda on Lake Garda, to meet up with Henrik and Gitte. We spent three glorious days at the Lake in a lovely apartment overlooking the water. We have known Henrik and Gitte since 1983 when we met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and have spent many holidays with them, in Denmark, Austria, France and UK. We had lunch at the Grimaldi Restaurant, overlooking Lake Garda. Breathtaking views and delicious food.