Girl Power!

Women is THE main theme in our lives at the moment. Because of the rugby world cup of course, but not only. If you're not following this event, I can confirm that both Canada and France have won their quarter finals game and qualified for the semi-finals. And in both cases, we were there to support them:  


Canada, playing with confidence, nicely beat Australia 46 to 5馃憤.

For the French it was more complicated but they managed to win it over the Irish 18 to 13 in a absolutely crazy game! We went through all the emotions and we screamed so hard we didn't have any voice left at the end of the game 馃槄.

The beauty of women's rugby is that is remains accessible. By the price to begin with but most of all, because of the contact that is still possible with the players. After the game it's possible to go down to the sidelines and talk with them, congratulate them and take photos. J茅r么me was really happy to pose with Manon Bigot, a player he really likes. As soon as she got on the pitch in the 2nd half time things turned around for France and she is the one who initiated the play that had them win the game. And you can be sure he told her about it 馃槉.

Here with anothe player, Emilie Boulard. 

It's really great to have the opportunity to discuss with top level athletes (the best in the world) and their families.

But we didn't limit ourselves to rugby players, we also spent time with some football (soccer) players. Danielle, to whom I gave French lessons to for a few years when she was playing in Lyon now lives in London where she plays for the London City Lionesses. We really get along well together and we've kept in touch so, as we were sort of in the area, we made a little detour to go have lunch with her. Her wife Ellie, who also played for Lyon and now plays for Chelsea joined us a bit later. We again spent a wonderful moment with some great women 馃槉.

And the last but not the least, is Marie. Marie is the daughter of one of J茅r么me's very good friends Jean-Luc. She's lived in Oxford for 10 years where she teaches French and she gave us a VIP tour. Oxford University is actually the grouping of several different colleges and Marie works for 3 of them : St Edmund Hall, Queen’s College et Trinity College. Thanks to her access rights we got to see places that are not open to the public, like the magnificent Queen's College library and its collection of ancient books, to which students don't even have access to unless they have a special authorization.  

We were spoiled once again !! Thank you Marie 馃檹.

So women really made us live wonderful moments these past few days and it's not over! We're going back to Bristol tomorrow to first cheer for Canada who will meet New Zealand (Canadians are slightly favored to win it) and the next day we'll be there to root for France who will meet the highly favored team in this tournament… England. It's going to another difficult one for the French so they will need all our  support馃挭馃挭. And a head to head between France and England is always a good fight馃槈. 

So Go Canada Go! Allez les Bleues! (bis)

J茅r么me (who seems to be enjoying being surrounded by women馃槒) & Sophie

To find out where we've been hanging out between all these great encounters, check out the map: https://sodeslau.travelmap.net


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