Les balades aux flambeaux

Another activity for those of you who arrive early -- at night, they have walking tours by torch light in some of the nearby medieval towns. It's disney style walking tour with a tour guide in costume telling legends and stories from the middle ages. On Thursday night, there is a tour at 9PM in Limeuil.

If you can read French, there is more info here: http://www.perigord-patrimoine.com/anim_est.htm.

$279 to London

Great summer fares to London on sale now for only 3 days! Plus receive a complimentary British Airways London Eye Fast Track ticket with the purchase of a round-trip ticket on BA. If you wish to see London by land or water, exchange the bonus offer for either the Big Bus Sightseeing tour or the Thames Circular Cruise. It’s your choice. Hurry, sale ends April 26, 2007.

Sample one-way fares based on round-trip purchase excluding government fees and taxes. Travel valid May 28 - September 5, 2007:

New York JFK
from $279**

Newark
from $279**

Boston
from $299**

Philadelphia
from $299**

Washington-Dulles
from $309**

Miami
from $379**

Los Angeles
from $379**

San Francisco
from $379**

Link:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/offerus103/public/en_us

Toulouse

Claudia had a great suggestion for those of you taking inter-european flights. She found that Toulouse had cheaper flights than Bordeaux AND one gets to see more of the French country side (3 hour drive from Toulouse, 1.5 hrs from Bordeaux).

If you're coming from Paris, you're probably better off flying into Bordeaux (58 Euros each way on Air France) or driving the 5.5 hours. From Germany, Spain or Portugal, however, I would check both.

Come Dancing!

I have to say, I was pretty surprised when Kevin turned to me last week and said, "do you want to take dance lessons for the wedding?" The surprise of course, is because Kevin is already such an excellent dancer (in his mind that is).

My next surprise were how many companies specialize in "Our First Dance." Every dance company out there has a wedding crash course. So yes, we're planning to blow you all away with a spectacular cha cha for our first dance. Any of you all who are in Seattle and would like to practice with us are more than welcome. I haven't enlisted a dance expert yet, but as soon as I do, I will let you know. How this whole thing will work with a long, flowing dress, I'm not sure, but I will figure it out. If you haven't caught on, I'm already developing my excuse why other couples may perhaps be a wee bit better than me at dancing at my wedding.

Oh yeah, I paid a good deal of money to actually rent a dance floor so you all had better bring your dancing shoes! My original plan was to buy everyone flip flops at Old Navy, but they might be a bit bulky to ship so be sure to stick some slaps in your purses or under a table for later. There will be no excuses!

Car Rental Companies in Bergerac

If you need to rent a car in Bergerac, this site lists all car rental companies in Bergerac and their phone numbers:

http://www.bergerac-tourisme.com/fr/adresses_pratiques.htm

Cars are expensive in France - especially if you need an automatic. I would recommend renting in groups of 4 or more if you can. (They have 7 and 9 passenger vehicles for rent as well.)

Mobal® World Phones?

Does anyone know anything about Mobal® World Phones? I think we should have at least a handful of phones so we can easily communicate once we are in Europe. I'm trying to figure out if it's better to buy or rent phones.

The Mobal phones are only $49 (covers phone and the SIM card) but the rates seem high for France:

Incoming calls $1.25/min
National calls $1.25/min
Calls to USA & Canada $1.50/min
Calls to other countries $2.95/min
SMS text messages $0.80/message

What Kevin Will Wear?

Honestly, I'm a bit undecided. Originally I was thinking a standard tux. But after dusting off my summer linens for the INCREDIBLE weather at Seth's Party last week - now I'm thinking that a light colored linen suit would leave me feeling cool, comfy and very European...

What is Susie and Kevin Formal

I've been asked a lot what people are going to be wearing. What are your colors? Should I wear a big hat? What is Kevin wearing? Is this event formal, semi-formal, "Susie and Kevin formal" or what?

So I decided to look at pictures of French weddings, starting with the website of the photographer I hired. Looks like most women are wearing nice sundresses -- often with a hat -- and the guys wear light colored suits or sport coats. Honestly, wear whatever you feel comfortable in although my mom frowns at flip flops.

And our wedding colors are Kiwi and Violet. Oooooh.

Air Tickets to... Bordeaux? Paris?

In the end, it may be best just to fly into Bordeau. Ryan Air into Bergerac is great if you're British, but coming from the US it means you probably have to spend a night in London and at a minimum, you'll have to transfer from Gatwick to Stansted airport (about 2 hours apart).

Flights to Paris are much cheaper, but then you have to pay $150 round trip for the train. And transfer all of your bags to a cab to get to the train station.

If you found a great deal (Tysen - didn't you find something from Seattle to Lisbon for $780?) or are motivated to link up with a few others to try to get a group rate, please post a comment!