A Swedish Winter Wedding

The adventure started at 4am when my alarm went off and I had 15 minutes to get out of bed in Lausanne and get moving. I walked to the train station because the buses weren't running yet and at that hour the prostitutes were still out and the parties in Flon were still going strong!

I caught a flight first to Brussels and then on to Gotenberg. There was a 15 minute window given in the invitation for guests to arrive at the church and I made the timing perfectly. First I stopped to have lunch in Gotenberg at this small cafe. They had magazines and books that you could read and they had the most bizarre text book available! I couldn't read what it was about but the pictures said it all, I believe it was a text book about investigating the scene of the crime and the book was full of pictures of knives dripping in blood, bodies sprawled in apartments, blood spatters on walls and even a half burnt corpse in the woods.

After that bit of education I figured which bus to take but I needed help on the bus because I had no idea how to buy a bus ticket (machine was in Swedish) and these boys helped me. Lucky for me they really stress English in Sweden so I was able to communicate with most people.

The church was old, but exactly how old I never found out. It had the lovely painted alter like I had seen in so many museums throughout Europe and they lit all the candles in the church too.

After the wedding we made our way to the church.

One neat Swedish wedding thing they do is on the walk between the church and the hall they hang multiple choice questions about the bride and groom. Everyone fills out their sheet of paper and at the hall one of the evenings entertainment is to correct the answers and see who won.

Some other fun games that were played during the dinner is that when the glasses are clinked to make the bride and groom kiss, couples names are drawn randomly from a bag and that couple has to kiss. Then the bride and groom have to do their best to imitate the kiss.

And when the bride or groom leaves the room all the single guests (boys or girls depending on who left the room) run around and around the hall and kiss the remaining newlywed on the cheek because their partner isn't there to guard them.

And just like the last time I was in Sweden, this time there were also songs throughout the dinner. There were song books at each guests place and throughout the evening we would sing one of the songs.

One song we sang was:

Wann Mår sång baj Älvis Prässli

Vajs män säj, ånly fools rasch in
batt aj kent hälp, fåling in lavv vidd jo.

Kjell aj stäj, vodd itt bi öh sinn
if aj kent hälp, fåling in lavv vidd jo.

Lajk öh rivver floo, sjårly to de si
darling så itt gåos, samthing´s ar mänt to bi

Täjk maj händ, täjk maj hål lajf to
får aj kent hälp, fåling in lavv vidd jo
får aj kent hälp, fåling in lavv vidd jo

So if you didn't figure it out, the song is actually in English, now go back and read it again!

Also at the wedding we had name tags to find our seats, but on the back of the card was a word about us as a conversation starter. Mine said Mr Eee, which is the name of my steadfast little laptop that just keeps on working. I'm writing on him right now.

When it came time for the waltz the bride and groom had obviously practiced and when the rest of us joined I was asked by a man who actually knew how to waltz, a rare treat at weddings.

The dancing continued through the night and at different times I went to help with the dishes, there was no catering service (other than providing the dishes of food) so we used the church industrial dish washing machine to clean up after dinner.

It was a late night when I finally got to bed and a very long day that had started at 4am! I slept in the next morning and then eventually made it to the bride and grooms apartment for brunch. We talked about cooking and I told everyone about Once a Month Cooking where the idea is you spend a weekend cooking the meals for the rest of the month. I said I didn't do it myself, instead I do twice a month cooking. I cook a batch of chili, eat it for two weeks and then a wit in the room said I cook a second batch of chili again. No I replied, I alternate with a lasagna. Ok, not quite that grim but pretty close! I work long days and am never around when the grocery stores are open.

After that I stayed in Gotenburg at the house of one of the wedding guests and we watched live action episodes of the Tick. Yes, there is a live action version and it has some pretty cheesy lines: "When you get in bed with evil incarnate, it always steals the covers."

Now I am back in Switzerland. I don't get that coming home feeling arriving at my apartment but I do get it sitting on the train. The Swiss train is currently the home of my heart. It was also a shameful 5 minutes late coming into Lausanne today. Maybe I am becoming Swiss since I now classify that as shameful public transit behavior!