Leaving early we confidentially headed to Lausanne on Lake Geneva, and then tried to load the address we had into our GPS. Time and time again it failed so feeling a little less confident approached a local Newsagent who suggested we find a telephone book and check the details. There was no offer of phone book and with no phone box in sight we decided to have a coffee at local Cafe. Fortunately we found a lovely young girl who not only checked the phone book but used her own phone to see if the number listed was correct. There was a recorded message which was a little disappointing.
However not to be discouraged, we decided to motor on and hope that Gina was home because we had no other way of contacting her.
Arriving at GrandVaux we found her house but no-one was home.
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| Number 4 and no-one home |
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| View from the back |
At this stage Grant was rather keen to keep going but agreed to wait. We had some lunch and Helena took ages to eat hers...... we checked another restaurant to make sure that Gina and husband Jelle weren't out for lunch, we went for a walk, we then checked a table of ladies with one acknowleding that she knew Gina. Yeah !! we were in the right place and still we waited........................ and waited...................... and started to feel a little sad that we might miss them.
Finally decided to leave and as we walked away, Helena spotted a man walking towards the area where they lived. She turned around and watched him and was excited to see him opening the lock of #4. Running down to him, she asked "Are you Jelle?" "Yes" he said, with a confused look on his face. "Are you Ginas' husband? "Yes" he said and the introductions were made. Such excitement for all of us.
However, Gina wasn't there! She was playing Tennis and after an hour or so, Jelle took us for a drive with the idea of surprising her. Not to be, she was playing at another venue! So we waited but this time we had hope and the company of Jelle whose English was really good.
Just after four in the afternoon she arrived and it was awesome. We hugged and hugged and we really enjoyed meeting each other for the first time. It was beyond words, it was magic and something none of us will forget.
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| Cousin Gina |
After some more talking, an invitation to stay the night was accepted and later enjoyed their company over a wonderful meal that night.
It was quite an exhausting day - a day that was a mix of apprehension, tension, disappointment, surprise and great happiness to finally meet Gina.
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