Wether this was back in 2003 or 2004 I am uncertain about. But November it was. Ryanair was the hot thing to use for flying, so we got cheap tickets to Beauvais, right outside(50 some km) Paris. The tickets where cheap, but ended up being expensive. Not only did we have to drive to right outside Stockholm (30 some km), Julaften also ended up getting fined for speeding while travelling to Moss to get bolt for my tires, after I used to much muscle-power to twisted the damn thing off like a cork on coke bottle.
Well we got there in time, all four of us, and while 3 of us stacked up on necessities, the witch-doctor actually both beauty products. Who the hell buys beauty products on a golf trip with the Guys? Anyway, safely on ground in France, we stormed the only open store on the airport to get some local wine for the evening … actually the night, because it would be close to midnight before we arrived at Rebetz. When I found my perfect bottle or two, I had no chance finding my Visa. I must have left on the plane or in Sweden somewhere. The Witch doctor said he had plenty of cash (or credit) so he could give me a loan.
We got to the beautiful Rebetz Resort and settled into the 70 m2 apartment with ease. The wine was excellent and the company too. Polter, Julaften, The Witch Doc and ShortSwing.
If the resort looked nice in the dark, it looked even better in daylight. We were eager to get on the golf course and after warming up at the nice driving range, we got two Golf cars, a couple of bottles of wine and hit the course. A spacious and pretty parkland course. The challenges, besides playing golf, was not too many, but water in play on several holes. Specially the 9th hole was a beauty of a par 3.
That night we ate at the local restaurant and I think the food was good. They did not have froglegs, but duck was on the menu. Probably one of the plenty we met at the course. Beer and wine was fine, but apart from us, the only other people there was an older couple from Sweden. So we did not stay too long, but went to the apartment to shoot some dices and just chill.
The next day or the day after we went to Chamount En-Vexin, to play the beautiful and more challenging course there. As with Rebetz, the course was in excellent condition and the entrance was stunning. The course was very quiet, but that just made more enjoyable. We warmed up in a safety net, there was no driving range at this place. Both courses had clear signs of autumn, as there where plenty of “balls”, or leaves if you’d like. We hooked up with a French colleague, Attilla, at some restaurant in some town nearby, before we went back to the apartment. We ordered Pizza and really enjoyed it, delivered to the door with a surprise or two. The witch doc told me to shower my feet, so he could fix a long experienced pain in my foot. He fixed it, and it is still fixed, 14-15 years later…
…Shit … time flies … so did our morning trip to Paris. One of us said we could not be so close to Paris without actually going there. The 3 others tried our best to stall time, but we did not succeed. The only result from the stalling was that we did not have time to buy train tickets … Speaking of train. 4 guys in France and one said he knew some french another one said he had it in school, but when the message on the train told us that all passengers to leave the train to get on another one to Paris, we just sat around like some stupid ducks, wondering why everyone else got there froglegs moving and left the train. When the waiting train left, we relized that we should have changed. Even my non-existing french understood that much. Well we ended up in bar that was to dark too dirty and too spooky, in a town that was too dirty and too spooky for our own good. The fact that we ordered 4 cokes, did not do things better.
Well we got out there alive and into Paris. We spent most of the time there looking for toilets, as we all have had better mornings that this one. We got to see the tower and we also got to eat at a nice restaurant. Not even this one had froglegs …. and I thought that the french were famous for serving that … The trip back was without stop and we were happy to be back, and I still think I would have been a lot better off seing the tower in photo or on TV and spent my time on the golf course instead.
We managed to round off our stay with some more golf at Rebetz. The highlight of the golf, that I can remember, was when Polter was looking for his around for a avastandsmerke and a french dude thought he was looking for his ball. You’re ball is over there, he said and pointed. Polter replied, somewhat irritated, Yes I know, but how long is it …… How long is a golf ball actually?
Back in Sweden at the airport they called for ShortSwing, as they wanted to return my Visa. A great trip with great company, great golf courses and Paris … and did I mention, not even one frogleg.
