European Weddings

I don't think I've blogged about any weddings that we've been to in Europe yet. They have a lot in common with American weddings but also a few extra things that are interesting. Last night we went to a wedding of one of Martin's friends from the ETH. The wedding was in Ursberg, Germany, which is about three hours southeast of Bad Dürkheim. There isn't much in Ursberg but it's located amongst rolling hills covered with forests and farmland. I think Bavaria is the prettiest area in Germany.

But I digress. Let's talk about weddings. European weddings generally occur in the afternoon, anytime between 12pm and 5pm. The wedding we went to yesterday was at 1pm. It started with a full mass in a gorgeous church in a monastery. After the mass and ceremony we went into the reception hall and were seated there starting around 2:30pm. At this time we were given glasses of champagne followed by an assortment of cakes and coffee as a mid-afternoon snack. While we snacked there were several activities to keep us busy - European weddings always have a lot of activities and different forms of entertainment. One activity was a time capsule. We were given blank cards on which we had to write where we thought the bride and groom would be in 10 years. Then all the cards were sealed into a big box that they will open in 10 years. There was also a guest book to sign (not a normal guest book but one in which you had to describe how you met the bride and groom, what you liked most about them, and answer other complicated sorts of questions), a photo booth, and a collage where every guest had to paint a square ... below are pictures of the collage in progress and the finished product. I think you were supposed to paint something with a heart in it but Martin and I painted a beach scene instead since the bride and groom, both German, will soon move to California for the groom to do his postdoc.



We also had to write on a postcard something that we wanted the bride and groom to do in the future. This postcard, which included the address of the bride and groom so it could be mailed back to them, was tied to the end of the balloon and let go into the sky. Every message that the bride and groom receive in the mail they have to do. For example, our friend David wrote down that they had to go on a trip to Croatia. So if they get his postcard back they have to go on a trip to Croatia at some point. Below we are waiting to let the balloons go during a brief respite in the pouring rain.



So, lots to do! Plus of course the bar is open all this time. :) At 6pm dinner started to be served and that lasted until about 8pm. The entire time between 3pm and 10pm was also filled with speeches from the parents of the bride and groom and other family members and friends. Family and friends also create slide shows and perform small acts like singing for the bride and groom throughout this time. In this case the bride was an elementary school teacher and her fellow teachers sang her a song and showed a video of all her students singing a song for her and then each student individually wishing her a happy wedding and good life. It was really cute. There was also a ventriloquist who performed ... it was kind of painful to watch because I think they're really lame but the couple of kids who were at the wedding really enjoyed it.

At 10pm the music gets started, the bride and groom have their first dance, and the dance floor opens up. This lasts until about 3am. After that the guests are on their own and there is usually a group of people who stay up until 5-6am celebrating. There is no wedding cake at European weddings but there is a second dinner served at midnight so you can keep up your energy while you're dancing. It's usually finger foods and is served as a buffet but it always comes just at the right time when you're starting to need a snack to get through until 3am.

So ... a few more pictures. Here is the inside of the church:



The bride and groom walking in together to start the ceremony:



Each guest was given a candle in a glass jar as a favor and at 10pm we all had to light our candles and gather around the dance floor to illuminate it for the couple's first dance. This was really nice, I thought:



Here are our candles:



The group of guys who were all in the same lab together at the ETH. The groom is in the front.



So, in conclusion, European weddings differ from American weddings in a few key ways. #1 is the length - they last at least until 3am without fail. And the grandparents stay the entire time, no early bus home for them. In the US you get kicked out of wedding venues usually by midnight and you have to organize an after party somewhere else and even that usually has to shut down around 2am. The #2 difference is the midnight dinner. Love the midnight dinner. #3 difference is all the entertainment and pre-prepared shows that go on. There are always slide shows and groups of people singing and performing for the bride and groom. #4 difference - no dancing until 10pm. This is when some weddings in the US end! #5 difference - no wedding cake. There's still dessert, but it's not cake.

All of this is, of course, just what I have experienced in Europe so far. There are of course exceptions to the rule and plenty of weddings that don't follow the above pattern here. It is nice, in my opinion, to have the wedding last so long so that the bride and groom really get to spend time with each of their guests.

Prague Day 5

On our last day in Prague we walked down to Vysehrad, which is a big fort in Prague that was built back in the 10th century. Vysehrad contains the oldest building in Prague, the Rotunda of St Martin, as well as a cemetery where Dvorak and Mucha are buried (remember Mucha from day 3?). The Basilica of St Peter and St Paul is also located in Vysehrad, you can see it in several pictures below from our walk along the wall. Here's the cemetery:



It was a beautiful cemetery filled with sculptures and every plot was nicely kept up with flowers, plants, and stones. Sorry we did not take a picture of the Rotunda of St. Martin. Next time. We walked right by it but did not find it remarkable enough to take a picture of and we had no idea that it was the oldest building in Prague. Here's the view of the Vltava river looking south from Vysehrad:



We walked along the top of the walls as it was finally sunny and beautiful out!



Prague castle in the distance:



The Basilica practically took pictures of itself:



The famous dancing house was on the way to/from Vysehrad:



And, I finally took a picture of the astronomical clock in the Old Town Square. Every hour some of the figures on it move a little bit. It's really not a big deal but like a hundred people gather in front of it every hour and cheer when it chimes! I didn't get it.



The only other thing I wish I'd gotten a picture of was the giant working metronome situated on a hill overlooking Prague. There used to be the world's largest statue of Stalin in that spot but it was dynamited away in 1962 and in 1991 the big kinetic metronome was built. You have to go there and see it for yourself.

Prague Day 4

On Day 4 it was raining again. And we saw the baby Jesus! In Prague there is a little baby Jesus wax statue who is the best dressed baby Jesus in the world. He resides in Our Lady of Victory church which is in the lesser town of Prague (on the side of the river with the castle). The infant Jesus is thought to bless all who visit him and many people visit the church just to sit and pray to him. Women from South America sit and sew new outfits for the infant Jesus and every ten years or so they make a pilgrimage to Prague to present the statue with the new outfits. He has hundreds of outfits.

Okay wait first we have to back up a bit. Breakfast! We found this bakery that had lots of awesome croissants - chocolate, ham and cheese, bacon, even apple-stuffed croissants. And they made you hot breakfast too with eggs if you wanted it. I liked the Prague croissants ... definitely better than German croissants.



Okay now we can move on to the infant Jesus. Unfortunately the altar behind him was blocked by scaffolding. It looks nice. For some reason I couldn't get an in-focus picture of the statue. It was also hard to get a picture of him when somebody wasn't standing in front of him praying.



There's a museum with a lot of his little outfits in it. Here are some pictures of his other outfits.



After meeting baby Jesus we wandered around Mala Strana, which is the name for the lesser town of Prague. We actually wandered up the big grassy hill there which was absolutely gorgeous with all the trees in bloom. It's steep but worth the hike because you get a great view even before you reach the top.



Taking a break from walking uphill. He was angry because he had to carry his coat.



Some views of Prague and the castle from the hill.



There was a monastery near the top of the hill - the sun finally started to come out here!



This is Martin looking at the monastery:





This was our last evening in Prague so we sat in the Old Town Square and had a beer (Pilsner Urquell of course!) before heading to dinner.



We got to dinner right before the thunderstorm hit. Had an excellent dinner at a restaurant called La Veranda (sorry no pictures of it but the food was excellent). I take pictures of clouds and storms, not restaurants.

Prague Day 3

Today it was raining again surprise surprise so we decided to go to the Municipal House and to wander around the old town of Prague. The Municipal House is Prague's most prominent Art Nouveau building and it contains Prague's largest concert hall. We did not manage to attend a concert there but maybe next time! We saw the current art exhibit at the Municipal House which was a bunch of movie posters, advertisements, and other works by Alfons Mucha who was a Czech Art Nouveau painter. He apparently created a piece called the "Slav Epic" which is a series of twenty huge paintings depicting the history of the Czech and the Slavic people but it wasn't at this exhibition! All the exhibition did was hype up this Slav Epic but it was not there which I found really disappointing. It was interesting nonetheless but his style didn't appeal to me so we didn't go out and buy any reprints afterwards. And yes I do realize that the Slav Epic is exhibited elsewhere in Prague but we didn't get to see it.

We didn't take any pictures in the Municipal House so here's the tower that sits in front of it:



We also wandered over to Wenceslas Square. This is where people go to protest and have political rallies. It's an impressive place. I'd rally here.



We ate lunch at a cafe in the Municipal House where I enjoyed still more potato salad. Couldn't help myself. The desserts there were also amazing. We spent the afternoon reading and napping (this is supposed to be vacation after all), had leftover ham for dinner, then set out to see La Traviata at the National Theater in the evening.

Here are some pictures of the opera house. Since the audience was almost completely tourists I fit right in taking tons of pictures because everybody else was. You could tell there were mostly tourists there by the number of people wearing jeans! I was surprised because the opera was more expensive than the Czech Philharmonic yet people were much classier at the Philharmonic (I think because the audience there was mostly older locals). I was worried I wouldn't be formal enough in my dress and heels at the opera but I was wrong. The second picture below is of the ceiling.



La Traviata was good, but I don't think opera is my thing. It bothered me to have to read the words in English throughout the performance, and the storyline also bothered me. It made no sense! Martin said of course it makes no sense to us, it's written by Italians and it's set in 1800 so it's filled with drama and familial obligations that don't exist today. So what if Alfredo's sister's boyfriend won't marry her because Alfredo is dating an ex-prostitute! Get over it already!



Beautiful opera house though.

On the way back from the opera we tried to take some night pictures of the castle. They're a little blurry but you get the idea.

Prague Day 2

On our second day in Prague I got up early and jogged over to the Charles Bridge to get a few pictures of it when it wasn't filled with tourists. It was, of course, raining and foggy but the bridge looks best in those conditions in my opinion.



The first picture below is what is on the inside of the sculpture in the second picture.



After returning from my picture taking expedition we set out to tour the Jewish museum, which is right by Inka's apartment. The Jewish museum consists of 7 sites - 5 Synagogues, the cemetery, and a ceremonial hall. You start out in the Maisel synagogue which is filled with a lot of information! The history of the persecution of the Jews throughout the history of Prague and the Czech Republic. You could spend hours reading all the plaques about different aspects of Jewish life throughout history in the Czech Republic. The second stop is the Pinkas Synagogue in which are inscribed, over all of the walls, the name of every Jewish person from Prague and the Czech Republic deported to Terezin and eventually sent to different concentration camps. There are also statistics about how many of them survived out of how many were sent away ... the number of survivors is very small.

The third stop in the museum is the Jewish cemetery. While we weren't allowed to take any pictures anywhere else in the museum, we got to snap a few of the cemetery. Apparently this tiny plot of land was where a large number of people had to be buried. Kind of spooky, and sad.







After the cemetery there were a few more synagogues filled with more details on the history of Jewish life in Prague and, finally, we came to the Spanish Synagogue which was absolutely breathtaking. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the inside but get yourself to Prague and see the inside of the Spanish Synagogue! I could have sat there for hours just staring at all the intricate gold patterns on the walls and ceiling. You can google photos of it but they don't do it justice.

After the Jewish museum we were famished so we headed over to Kolkovna, one of the restaurants Inka had recommended (she artfully paired restaurants with each of Prague's main sites so we had someplace to eat lunch and dinner every day!). I had cabbage pancakes (cabbage, potatoes, sausage, and ham in a pancake form and deep-fried ... delicious).



Martin had chicken schnitzel with potato salad and I found all of the potato salad we ate in Prague awesome. They put pickles in it! Pickles make potato salad so much better, in my opinion. I've never really liked potato salad but in Prague I couldn't get enough of it, I had some almost every day.

We returned to the apartment for our daily siesta and then ventured out again for dinner. We wanted something quick and easy as we were going to the Czech Philharmonic this evening so we went to one of the many food booths on the Old Town Square and bought some "Old Prague Ham". More ham! Here it is roasting on a spit earlier in the day:



They give you an enormous hunk of ham, some bread, and a frosty refreshing beer for your dinner. They charge Zürich prices though! Thankfully they gave us so much ham we had enough to make sandwiches for dinner the following night as well so it lasted us for two nights.



Here's my happy place! The Rudolfinum. Here we saw and heard the Czech Philharmonic. It was magical. They had guest vocalists, violinists, and a pianist. All were amazing but I especially enjoyed the pianist that accompanied the Philharmonic. I don't even have words to describe it. We were treated to two Mozart pieces and two Wagner pieces. If I lived in Prague I would definitely have season tickets for this.



Martin at intermission with some champagne. They serve refreshments before the performance and at intermission. It's a nice touch.



A quick photo I snapped of the setup for the evening. The audience was probably 90% locals. We didn't hear any English and everybody was very dressed up. And there was NOT A SINGLE IPHONE IN THE HOUSE. Not a single picture was taken before or after the performance or during the intermission and everybody was very formal and respectful and just there to listen to the music. So, I wasn't comfortable snapping pictures aside from the one below but the interior was beautiful. Go there and see it!!



And here's the statue in the old town square at night! Eerie and neat.