Dan and Selina in Nice on honeymoon

Months of planning, tactical negotiations with caterers, in-laws, bus companies and electively helpless friends as the wedding approached it apogee left “Team Rivers” slightly jaded and a little frazzled. Honeymoon time was about relaxation, gathering strength, and driving the hairdressers car around the Mediterranean. Of course eating and drinking for Britain also played a major roll in this tranquil "grand tour" of Southern Europe. In a rather déclassé, inebriated and generous moment during the wedding reception I offered Dan and Selina the meal of a life time if they made their way to Nice. Much to our delight they took up the invitation and came to stay. Already immersed in the beauty and existential one-ness of a perfect marriage Dan surprised us by sporting a lovely black eye and a split lip. We thought it best not to ask. The promise of fine dining prompted a discreet visit to the bank to re-mortgage the apartment as we had decided to take the love-struck youngsters to one of Nice’s most famous seafood restaurants – the Boccaccio, just off the Place Massena. Dan decided to go for the bouillabaisse after one of our American friends who had tried it in the past declared - “this isn’t a bouillabaisse this is a theme park” and in fact that’s what it turned out to be. Dan getting into the Riviera swing of things ordered 6 bottles of wine, undid his top buttons revealing his masculine chest for all to admire and promptly tucked his napkin in and went swimming.

Bordeaux wedding and finding a house

Two Lambs on the spit at the reception