Hi,
We are in Glasgow now. I am writing from a very dark bar/restaurant/club place called Bunker, where they have free internet access. It is so dark, I cannot see the keys, and I keep making typos because the keyboard is slightly different than the ones I use back home. So this may be short...
We left Stockholm yesterday evening. We were at Malin's mom's home, in Ekero, just outside of Stockholm city. It's a beautiful island, so green and lush. It was so sweet to see the American flag flying outside her home. All the neighbors knew the Americans were coming for a visit. As we were leaving, a group of young boys were playing in the common area and they said "we're playing Frisbee!", and we had to giggle because they weren't actually catching the Frisbee, they were just tossing it and running after it as it skidded across the ground.
Malin's mom, Siv, treated us to a wonderful spread of food. There were four different herring dishes, including herring cake (not a sweet cake, it was savory/crumbly) and herring in mustard, and herring in dill. There was also an assortment of salads, small boiled potatoes (I am really loving the simple boiled potato over here!), wasa crackers and cheeses. And schnapps. Hans, Malin's stepdad, enjoyed sharing the schnapps tradition with us, and led the group in singing a few songs before downing the schnapps. Unfortunately, we could not stay very long because we had to make our way back to the airport for our flight to Glasgow.
John and I are so glad we made it to Stockholm. We learned so much about Malin and we love her family and friends and can't wait to see them again, at our home, or in theirs.
Those of you who know us very well probably know that John and I do not share bedcovers. We sleep with separate comforters, and we have done that for quite a number of years. I have often wondered if that was "weird" or "bad", but after visiting Stockholm, I feel so much better about it! Over here, our hotel bed had two small comforters on the queen size bed, and when we asked around, we found that was perfectly normal! This way, nobody steals the covers during the long cold nights. So I am going to Ikea to pick up some new bedding when I get back. I am seriously considering a Swedish mattress as well. It was like sleeping in a cloud!
The packing light strategy has reallly worked well and paid off for us. We see so many people struggling with all sorts of baggage, and we are able to remain very mobile. Yes, we do have to do laundry in the sink, but it has worked out okay, with minor inconvenience.. the other plus is that I cannot spend a lot of money buying souvenir crap because I don't have room to tote it around.
I made a list of the things I loved about the wedding, and so I'll cover that now.
The priest made a short announcement before the wedding and she asked us to be "in the moment" and that taking pictures actually takes you OUT of the moment, so to please limit the number of picture-taking.. I totally agreed with that, because I have come to that conclusion myself. Taking photos documents that the moment happened, but it also forces you to remove yourself from the moment. I believe it is better to have the experience in your head, than to have a picture of the experience in your photo album. This is why we pay photographers for life's big events...
Jess and Malin walked up the aisle together. The father "giving" the bride away is offensive to Sweden's progressive culture.
Each of them spoke their vows in their own language. That way, they knew exactly what they were vowing, ha! They can't say they didn't realize what they were saying.
A female soloist sang two songs, one in Swedish, and one in English. Her voice was so angelic, everyone was in tears.
Jess & Malin provided bus transportation from the hotel, to the chapel, to the reception, and then from the reception back to the hotel, every half hour after midnight. Sweden has zero tolerance on DUI.
We took a group photo after the ceremony, which I thought was a nice touch. The chapel was at Drottningham Palace, which is an actual royal residence. The king was there earlier in the day, as the flag was flying when the guys arrived for pre-wedding photos. The reception was inside the coin museum at the royal palace in the city, which the royal family uses mainly for working out of. The king was at the palace as we saw the flag flying when we got there.
In Swedish tradition, there was a toastmaster and a toastmistress. Bjorn and Erika are friends of Malin (& Jess), and they did a wonderful job orchestrating the reception activities. Unlike American weddings, people who were going to give a speech/toast had to notify the toastmasters in advance so they could be properly introduced and placed into the program. During the course of the dinner, they would ring a bell to get everyone's attention, and they would introduce the next speaker. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice that it was worked into the whole evening. Oh! Also in Swedish tradition, couples were not seated together! Apparently, the Swedes realize they are not easily sociable, so they mix it up in order to force them to be social with those sitting near them. I did meet some great new friends! I had to turn my head to see John, but he was being social with those around him, too, so I did not worry about him after a bit.
Dinner was very good. John had pecan-encrusted halibut and I had the non-meat product that tasted better than chicken! I swear, I had to ask the waitperson after dinner if that really was not meat, and she assured me it wasn't! Even Julie could not eat it because it had such a meat texture to it, she thought it was meat. The wedding cake was the best we had ever tasted. It was called Princess cake, and it was a sort of sponge cake with a layer of strawberries then a layer of vanilla creme, and a light layer of marzipan. A different wine was served with each course, and a yummy port was served with the cheese and fruit course. The cheeses were very tasty.
So we got into Glasgow after 1am this morning and spent the day riding the hop on/hop off bus to the tourist sites. We toured Glasgow cathedral. It was beautiful and very gothic. Tomorrow, we make our way to Edinburgh, with a stop at Stirling to visit Stirling castle and the William Wallace monument.
This place is getting crowded and smokey now, so I'd better go. Every place we've been to so far has already instituted the no-smoking law, but Scotland's won't go into effect until early next year.
Signing off,
Lisa & John
PS: I am not looking forward to the big long walk UPHILL to McLay's guesthouse tonight. And the lift is scary. Lift = elevator. It barely fits two people and it creaks...
and, our door key is a skeleton key. I'm not sure how secure the lock can be?
A very sweet and sentimental weekend in San Luis Obispo for Doug and Monica's wedding! I also had a nice visit with my aunt and uncle in Atascadero. My mom and I had a nice weekend away. We went up Friday morning for the rehearsal and came home Sunday after a nice visit to Morro Bay.
It is extremely helpful to be reminded which way to look for the traffic before stepping out into the street! I think they had some problems with tourists getting mowed over, so they decided to spell it out for us. For those of you who are thinking "Look Left" is no different than what we do here (kudos for being so observant!), this shot was taken from a center island, after I had already crossed two lanes of traffic, coming from the right.
