We headed for the "Village Celt", the main food court, sat down with our beer and tried to figure out what bands were playing, and when, and where. We deciphered the French as far as times, band names, dates and venue locations but, alas, could read none of the artists' profiles. After lots of attempts in (laughable) French to question volunteers, we found the ticket office. Almost all venues required a seperate entrance fee which, we soon calculated, could add up quickly. Our frustration with the language barrier and our concern over the rather high cumulative cost of tickets found us in somewhat low and irritable spirits when we finally made it to our first performance. "Le Nuit Magique" (night of magic) promised to be a spectacle of fireworks, dancing, singing and piping. As the first stirring sounds of a pipe band from the Galicia region of Spain pierced the night, all my irritability faded. And no translations were necessary as the common language of music made me forget my earlier frustrations. The number of pipers was indeed a spectacle. They came from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Galicia, the Isle of Mann, and, of course, Brittany.

The next day, we went in search of festival director Jean-Pierre Prichard, whom we had met at the North Texas Irish Festival hospitality suite several years ago. We had chatted with him there and he had encouraged us to come to the Festival Interceltique. We promised if we ever got the chance, -Pierre was never in one place very long and our attempts to find him were comical. While in the administrative area, we did find a volunteer who took us under his wing and was instrumental in turning our entire festival experience around. His name was Claude. He was a journalist and a dynamo. He bought us a beer and invited us to the VIP/sponsor tent. Claude knew everybody and, pretty soon, so did we. He introduced us to the mayor and other local figures. Most spoke some English and we were grateful. We made friends with a few sponsors who quickly fitted us out in free festival t-shirts. In about two hour's time Claude transformed us from pathetic foreigners to pampered guests.