Saturday was the wedding day. Brian and I hadn't actually checked out the town of Bad Wildbad yet, so in the morning, we took a walk around the little town to get our bearings, and find out where the hotel & church locations were for the wedding activities. While it's not a normal thing in Germany to have a huge wedding party, Bettina did ask me to be her bridesmaid. She said she didn't know what it meant, but it sounded nice and wanted me to be her bridesmaid! So cute! I didn't have to get a special dress or anything, but she did give me my own bouquet of flowers.
I met her about an hour before the church ceremony at 1 p.m., at her hotel so we could have a glass of sparkling wine together. I also got to meet her mom and brother there. Then just the two of us got a ride to the church, while everyone went there ahead of time to get seated. It was lovely old, small English Church in the wonderful parkland. We met her dad outside of the church, so they could walk in together. Then, her brother and I walked in together, after the bride and her dad. I then ended up sitting with her family! The service was wonderful, but of course all in German. It felt more like a full church service, then our American shorted wedding versions. Overall, the service felt very familiar, and two of three hymns we sang, I absolutely knew in English, they were just singing in German of course. What a wonderful way to learn a new language by singing! I also learned that these hymns are German in origin, and they were translated to English many years decades later. I also recognized the Lords Prayer, which they say in the exact same cadence as we do, so I just said it along with everyone but in English. It was such a neat experience.
After the ceremony, everyone walked across the way to this wonderful old Theatre that is getting redeveloped for a drinks and nibbles reception outside. They had a receiving line, sparkling wine, and yummy German canapes. We visited with one of the other British couples attending, and then also met some of Bettina's friends. There was live music, and we had a tour of the theatre inside, with a wonderfully cute old German man, who couldn't speak much English. But Stefan, the groom, translated for us. Then back outside, there was singing and a balloon launch to celebrate - so wonderful!
There was a bit of a lull in between the reception and dinner, so we went back to the hotel to pick up the gift and chill for a bit. We had planned to meet up again with Bettina's friends for a beer before dinner started at 6:30 at the hotel. And boy, was it quite a dinner! We did not get done with the 7-course meal until 11:30 p.m.!!!! It was absolutely fantastic. They served fresh, local foods, and it was wonderfully displayed. In short, we had venison, with a veggie option for Brian. Of course, we coudn't read the menu, but were sitting by this great young couple who spoke like 5 languages, so they could easily translate for us! In between courses, there would be a speech, or a photo video, and at one interval, they had fireworks outside to celebrate!
I was most excited about the wedding cake - as it was proper Black Forest Cake - yummm!!!! Of course, there was still a dance, which didn't start until 1 a.m.!!!! So we were partying until 3:30 a.m. I think Brian and I either really impressed (or scared them really) with our crazy American dancing (after a number of drinks of course).
And Brian made friends with some lovely German ladies!!!
There wasn't much time to sleep in Sunday, as a number of guests were still in town and going on hike through the Black Forest. It was a great day to walk along with new friends, and then end at the ski hut, for lunch and beer of course! We just relaxed there outdoors with new friends, and it was so great.
To top off the weekend, we had to visit the natural spa of course! Bad Wildbad is a wellness and spa town. And of course, as we were visiting a German spa . . . yep some people don't wear anything! But, it was acceptable that we could - thank goodness!
We didn't have much of an agenda for Saturday, just wander about the city to explore and enjoy one another's company. We went to Leceister Square and found there was West End Live! going on, which was great. It was a large stage with various West End musicals putting on 15 minute free shows. So we caught - We Will Rock You - the musical about the rock band Queen. So Brian really liked that!
Walked a ways toward the Royal area, and saw that there was military parade happening along the Pall Mall, between Buckingham Palace and Horse Guards. As we were walking/watching, a black posh car was escorted in the front of the short parade of military tanks, and inside was Prince Charles and Camilla!! We had no idea that they were going to be coming down the way, but it was def them! He was dressed in his military best and she had on a white suite and big hat of course. Before we realized it was them, it was too late to nab a photo. But Sonja and I thought that was pretty cool!
We got so comfortable at this great pub off the tourist track, that we had to pull ourselves away to go find a proper dinner back down in the theatre district for some action. Had to part catching the Underground, so we could get back to Oxford and they could get back to their hotel. We took the bus to/from Oxford this time, and arrived home about 3 a.m. Will def admit I'm moving slow today!
