Easter morning and I couldn’t sleep, probably a result of overindulgence the night before and the silly round pillows that the French seem to insist on. So I headed out to explore the town before sunrise.

My favourite discovery was a road named ‘Grand Rue’ – an alleyway winding through the town that was no more than 1.5m wide.

We went to Easter Mass at the Abbaye de la Celle, just beside the hotel and where we be getting married in September. We learned a few things about the abbey – most importantly, bring a sweater! It’s very cold inside.

We also met with priest who will be marrying us. He’s quite young and seems very friendly – he spent seven years in Mexico and a year in the US, and he’s quite excited to do some of the service in English. I must admit, I was a little taken aback when this monk, wearing his grey wool habit, pulled out a Palm Pilot to verify dates. Never let it be said that the Catholic Church is backwards, at least not technologically.