Jigsaw Puzzle, our passion.
Maransart
by Sophie de Goncourt
Saturday, February 6, 2016,took place the 11th Jigsaw Puzzle Competition of Maransart, organized by "la pièce qui compte".
Our adventure to Maransart start with an announcement on the 8 hours of Barvaux. Patrice asks me: "Can we go?" Of course! And how about asking to the We are puzzled! to participate with us?
In no time, I contact Cathy via Facebook. But her team is already complete, however she tells me she has space for the 4 hours Maransart contest on the 6th February. I tell this to Patrice who directly answers: "Let’s go". And this is how starts our trip from the Sarthe region in France, to Belgium. We decide to go by train so we can rest a bit. Cathy and Patrick invite us to stay at their place. This sounds perfect !
There we are in Brussels, on a grey week-end. After a Friday evening eating a "raclette" and the Saturday’s brunch, we go to Maransart. We are welcomed by the organizers, surprised to see some French participating to their contest. As usual, the good mood of Belgian people enchant us. Some participants eager to win are less happy to see us here.
We are split in two rooms. Now this is new to us: when the puzzle is finished, we have to go and ring a bell!
I see that the puzzles have been chosen by puzzle lovers. The images are colorful, easy to assembly between teams of four. It’s a real pleasure to see organizers as crazy as the participants. We can discuss about small carton pieces with everybody. Of course, the refreshment stall is well provided, there is plenty to eat and to drink. And so, we are ready to win.
1h57 hours later, our jungle is finished. Patrick runs to ring the bell. We are the first ones to have completed our puzzle in the expert category. One of the organizers bring a pile of old puzzles, everyone can chose in the pile some puzzles to assemble or even take back home. As we are fanatics, we buy the other two puzzles of the contest and use the remaining 2 hours to puzzle some more.
At the prize-giving, the first three teams of each category gets a diploma and a trophy. The first prize in the expert category was missing in the collection of We are puzzled!. Now their collection is complete.
Maransart has been a very nice puzzling experience:
a cheerful atmosphere, perfect puzzles, plenty to eat and drink. What more could we have wanted? 🙂
Useful links:
Facebook Group "La Pièce qui Compte"
