My busy summer! Wedding between Silvestris and Chigrima!
So... Last stop on my busy summer story... If that is even a word.
And before this event, I had started work. And dude. STRESSFUL!!! I'll get to that shortly, but important to know is that I was stressed out as hell. Don't think I've ever been this stressed out.
Anyway, so with that in mind... of course the giftcard I'd ordered from IKEA (which the brides wanted), was late. Very stressful. And I just about managed to get time off to go to the wedding. More stressful.
In other words, it didn't look like I'd end up enjoying my trip. Luckily, that was wrong. I had a LOVELY time!
The two brides are my long time friends silvestris and chigrima. None of them very active on LJ anymore, but it's their fault I have one! It all started here and on silvestris's website! She's an amazing artist, and that's why they hung out online talking. :-)
And, not to forget, chigrima and I wrote our masters thesis together.
I swear, I would never have managed to get a masters degree if it wasn't for her. And I told her as much in the speech I held. chigrima is the most academic person I know. For serious. (Her brother and sister agreed with me on that, as it turned out, since they pointed it out in their speeches to! X-D)
But I'm getting ahead of myself. :-)
My wonderful wonderful best friend spicehobbit was also invited. And since she lives quite close by, we borrowed mom's BIG car (a Volvo V70, they're huge) and took the ferry over to the island Gotland where silvestris and chigrima lives. Unfortunately that meant we had to leave Borås at 5am in the morning, so I got up at 4am... Less fun, but we managed.
There's one bigger city on Gotland only, Visby. Where the big Medieval Week is heald in beginning of August every year. Me and spicehobbit has spent so much time there, so as soon as we got of the ferry and I saw the great stone wall of Visby, I squeed and all the stress just flowed off of me.
As soon as we found our hotel, which was really close to where we got off the ferry, me and spicehobbit wanted to explore Visby and remember all the good times we've had. Poor peting73 didn't have much choice but to come with. Alexandra was going in her pram, and was quite content with watching all the strange things going on around her. She was mostly pleased with the sheep shaped jersey barriers. Gotland is famous for all their sheep, so I would guess that's why they’re sheep shaped. *grin*
So Friday was spent shopping and exploring Visby and having a really good time. Alexandra was quite well behaved, even when at the restaurant we found to have dinner at. Not the best one, but hey... they had meatballs and so the kid was happy. *lol*
Next day when we'd woken up in our rooms after sleeping for 10 hours (!). Our room was HUGE by the way! One bedroom, one kitchen/seating room with a kitchenette and one small bedroom for Alexandra... So perfect for us! Such a great hotel! Almedalen Hotel, if you're interested. ;-)
So next day, Saturday... and the day for the wedding... we first made our way to the church ruin where they were getting married to see how long it would take for us to walk there. And to find the way. Then we explored some more. Gotland might be a flat island, but Visby REALLY is not. *lol* So many steep streets and narrow alleys with medieval cobblestones... You need good shoes in that city!
We found a nicer restaurant and Alexandra promptly started "flirting" with one of the waiters, who totally played back with her! Was hilarious! And so cute! He was a great guy, and got a good tip! Food was GREAT to!
Alexandra also found a softie sheep and promptly wanted it, so a sheep she got. *grins*
Then we went back to the hotel and got all snazzy looking and stuff. :-) peting73 went the whole nine yards and even styled his beard and mustache. SO HANDSOME!!!! Me and spicehobbit had bought our dresses from Modcloth, and they looked quite nice, if I do say so myself. :-)
Then we made our way to the church ruin again where friends and family of the brides had gathered.
We got let in, and got a little wedding program from the brother of one of the brides, one each, and then we found a seat in the church. About in the middle or so, so we could still see quite well. I lifted Alexandra up so she could stand on the bench to see better.
And when the brides walked down the isles, Alexandra got all excited. “Princess, mommy! Princesses!” X-D Yeah, so… They are now and forever Alexandra’s princesses. *lol*
The wedding ceremony was great! Short and beautiful. The brides had written their own wedding vows and walked out to my all time favorite song: Bette Midler’s The Rose. There was a lot of happy tears among the guests, let me tell you!
After the wedding we got invited to a walk through beautiful Visby and listen to the long and colourful history of the city. Well, parts of said history anyway. Until we ended up at Fenomenalen, a science center for kids of all ages. Very old. Or very young. ;-)
Before we got seated, the families had arranged for a little competition among all the stuff in the science center, before we got a chance for food. *lol* Was a lot of fun! Kids and adults working together!
The dinner and everything was served on the second floor of the science center, which was…. somewhat crowded to put it mildly. Which made sure it ended up very VERY hot up there! Us and another family with slightly older kids (like my brothers, I’d say) ended up closest to the stairs down to the toys. Apparently we were all LARPers, and all though that family was friendly and all, I just got the… to-much-feeling from the mother. She was so chipper, giggly and overly supportive of her daughters, I had to take a step back and wonder what she was on…
Apart from that, we sure had a great time! Alexandra kept it up until 9pm, which was very impressive! She’s just 3 years old, and the trip and the wedding was a huge adventure for her. She was doing great!
When the brides left it was only 11pm, so me and spicehobbit decided to go for a drink. astroflammante, skarvsladden (and husband) and tekiila who were there for the wedding to, decided to join in. So we went to a really nice little pub and nightclub in Visby, The Munkcellar. We had a GREAT time talking about chigrima and discussing the wedding. And, of course, the good old days at the Student Union pub where I meet these awesome ladies.
After that me and spicehobbit our back to the hotel and our rooms. Collapsed and slept so DEEPLY! And, at least me, very very happy for the beautiful brides. :-)
Sunday we had more of the great breakfast, after Alexandra woke up. She slept until about 9am, which was GREAT! Then breakfast and… you guessed it… more shopping and exploration of Visby. *lol*
Most of the shopping we did was at Kränku. A tea/coffee/and random stuff associated with the same -store. *lol* Family owned! They mix their own flavours of tea there, which is AWESOME! SO MUCH YUMMY STUFF!
We bought peting73 some kick ass whiskey coffee! (So expensive!) And a gift for MIL since she’s taken care of our cats while we’ve been gone. A nice metal box to keep coffee in. And Kränku’s special roasted coffee. :-D
Once it was time, we gathered us all in the car (with all the packing!). Drove spicehobbit to one ferry terminal, since she took the ferry towards Stockholm to meet up her parents there. We? We took the ferry back to Oskarshamn and then drove for four hours back here to Borås. We arrived somewhere between 11pm and midnight. Alexandra slept the whole way. Was perfect.
The whole trip went so much better than I thought. And I had SUCH a great time!
And, of course, I am RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY for silvestris and chigrima!!!!
This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.
And before this event, I had started work. And dude. STRESSFUL!!! I'll get to that shortly, but important to know is that I was stressed out as hell. Don't think I've ever been this stressed out.
Anyway, so with that in mind... of course the giftcard I'd ordered from IKEA (which the brides wanted), was late. Very stressful. And I just about managed to get time off to go to the wedding. More stressful.
In other words, it didn't look like I'd end up enjoying my trip. Luckily, that was wrong. I had a LOVELY time!
The two brides are my long time friends silvestris and chigrima. None of them very active on LJ anymore, but it's their fault I have one! It all started here and on silvestris's website! She's an amazing artist, and that's why they hung out online talking. :-)
And, not to forget, chigrima and I wrote our masters thesis together.
I swear, I would never have managed to get a masters degree if it wasn't for her. And I told her as much in the speech I held. chigrima is the most academic person I know. For serious. (Her brother and sister agreed with me on that, as it turned out, since they pointed it out in their speeches to! X-D)
But I'm getting ahead of myself. :-)
My wonderful wonderful best friend spicehobbit was also invited. And since she lives quite close by, we borrowed mom's BIG car (a Volvo V70, they're huge) and took the ferry over to the island Gotland where silvestris and chigrima lives. Unfortunately that meant we had to leave Borås at 5am in the morning, so I got up at 4am... Less fun, but we managed.
There's one bigger city on Gotland only, Visby. Where the big Medieval Week is heald in beginning of August every year. Me and spicehobbit has spent so much time there, so as soon as we got of the ferry and I saw the great stone wall of Visby, I squeed and all the stress just flowed off of me.
As soon as we found our hotel, which was really close to where we got off the ferry, me and spicehobbit wanted to explore Visby and remember all the good times we've had. Poor peting73 didn't have much choice but to come with. Alexandra was going in her pram, and was quite content with watching all the strange things going on around her. She was mostly pleased with the sheep shaped jersey barriers. Gotland is famous for all their sheep, so I would guess that's why they’re sheep shaped. *grin*
So Friday was spent shopping and exploring Visby and having a really good time. Alexandra was quite well behaved, even when at the restaurant we found to have dinner at. Not the best one, but hey... they had meatballs and so the kid was happy. *lol*
Next day when we'd woken up in our rooms after sleeping for 10 hours (!). Our room was HUGE by the way! One bedroom, one kitchen/seating room with a kitchenette and one small bedroom for Alexandra... So perfect for us! Such a great hotel! Almedalen Hotel, if you're interested. ;-)
So next day, Saturday... and the day for the wedding... we first made our way to the church ruin where they were getting married to see how long it would take for us to walk there. And to find the way. Then we explored some more. Gotland might be a flat island, but Visby REALLY is not. *lol* So many steep streets and narrow alleys with medieval cobblestones... You need good shoes in that city!
We found a nicer restaurant and Alexandra promptly started "flirting" with one of the waiters, who totally played back with her! Was hilarious! And so cute! He was a great guy, and got a good tip! Food was GREAT to!
Alexandra also found a softie sheep and promptly wanted it, so a sheep she got. *grins*
Then we went back to the hotel and got all snazzy looking and stuff. :-) peting73 went the whole nine yards and even styled his beard and mustache. SO HANDSOME!!!! Me and spicehobbit had bought our dresses from Modcloth, and they looked quite nice, if I do say so myself. :-)
Then we made our way to the church ruin again where friends and family of the brides had gathered.
We got let in, and got a little wedding program from the brother of one of the brides, one each, and then we found a seat in the church. About in the middle or so, so we could still see quite well. I lifted Alexandra up so she could stand on the bench to see better.
And when the brides walked down the isles, Alexandra got all excited. “Princess, mommy! Princesses!” X-D Yeah, so… They are now and forever Alexandra’s princesses. *lol*
The wedding ceremony was great! Short and beautiful. The brides had written their own wedding vows and walked out to my all time favorite song: Bette Midler’s The Rose. There was a lot of happy tears among the guests, let me tell you!
After the wedding we got invited to a walk through beautiful Visby and listen to the long and colourful history of the city. Well, parts of said history anyway. Until we ended up at Fenomenalen, a science center for kids of all ages. Very old. Or very young. ;-)
Before we got seated, the families had arranged for a little competition among all the stuff in the science center, before we got a chance for food. *lol* Was a lot of fun! Kids and adults working together!
The dinner and everything was served on the second floor of the science center, which was…. somewhat crowded to put it mildly. Which made sure it ended up very VERY hot up there! Us and another family with slightly older kids (like my brothers, I’d say) ended up closest to the stairs down to the toys. Apparently we were all LARPers, and all though that family was friendly and all, I just got the… to-much-feeling from the mother. She was so chipper, giggly and overly supportive of her daughters, I had to take a step back and wonder what she was on…
Apart from that, we sure had a great time! Alexandra kept it up until 9pm, which was very impressive! She’s just 3 years old, and the trip and the wedding was a huge adventure for her. She was doing great!
When the brides left it was only 11pm, so me and spicehobbit decided to go for a drink. astroflammante, skarvsladden (and husband) and tekiila who were there for the wedding to, decided to join in. So we went to a really nice little pub and nightclub in Visby, The Munkcellar. We had a GREAT time talking about chigrima and discussing the wedding. And, of course, the good old days at the Student Union pub where I meet these awesome ladies.
After that me and spicehobbit our back to the hotel and our rooms. Collapsed and slept so DEEPLY! And, at least me, very very happy for the beautiful brides. :-)
Sunday we had more of the great breakfast, after Alexandra woke up. She slept until about 9am, which was GREAT! Then breakfast and… you guessed it… more shopping and exploration of Visby. *lol*
Most of the shopping we did was at Kränku. A tea/coffee/and random stuff associated with the same -store. *lol* Family owned! They mix their own flavours of tea there, which is AWESOME! SO MUCH YUMMY STUFF!
We bought peting73 some kick ass whiskey coffee! (So expensive!) And a gift for MIL since she’s taken care of our cats while we’ve been gone. A nice metal box to keep coffee in. And Kränku’s special roasted coffee. :-D
Once it was time, we gathered us all in the car (with all the packing!). Drove spicehobbit to one ferry terminal, since she took the ferry towards Stockholm to meet up her parents there. We? We took the ferry back to Oskarshamn and then drove for four hours back here to Borås. We arrived somewhere between 11pm and midnight. Alexandra slept the whole way. Was perfect.
The whole trip went so much better than I thought. And I had SUCH a great time!
And, of course, I am RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY for silvestris and chigrima!!!!
This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.