Adam and I are now suffering from EWS - Europe Withdrawl Syndrome. Symptoms include misty-eyed reminiscing, strong cravings for currywurst and fresh lake trout, cynically bitter complaining about how minor American annoyances would never happen in Europe, and a powerful urge to go back out to the airport and hop the first flight to the Continent.
We survived the 9-hour flight back to the States and we've arrived at the apartment ready (sort of) to work our way back into the regular routine. In the Small World department, a friend of my dad's was flying in business class on our flight and stopped by to say hello. He's a super nice guy and we had a nice chat, although as a result I missed about 15-20 minutes out of the middle of the third Harry Potter movie.
Once again, thanks for stopping by and travelling via armchair. Since we did this, we now don't have to bore you to death with 5 albums full of vacation photos. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm totally going to bore you to death talking about this trip. You might want to bring a book or something.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Friday, September 17, 2004
Grüss gott from Austria! We've arrived in Salzburg after a two-night stopover in Hallstatt. Hallstatt is absolutely gorgeous, in spite of the fact that it was cloudly pretty much the whole time we were there and it rained quite a bit as well. The clouds rolling off the mountains and the deep Alpine lake are quite the site to see.
Hallstatt is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and as a result they're able to pour a ton of funding into what makes the city special. It's most famous for the salt mine, which has been actively worked for the past 7000 years. We toured the mine and it's a ton of fun - you get to ride a funicular (sort of like a roller coaster up the side of the mountain) up to the mine and during the tour you get to use a couple of the wooden slides used by the miners hundreds of years ago. They're a blast. We didn't learn all that much about salt mining, but we had great fun with the goofy outfits they make you wear. The salt mine is also famous because of the large number of archaelogical sites discovered as a result of mining activity, including a Bronze Age Celtic burial ground and a prehistoric man preserved in salt. We were able to see some archaelogists at work while we were there.
We also explored the Dachstein Eishöhlen, which are a series of limestone ice caves discovered around 1910. Even with the cable car to take you up most of the way, it's still a pretty tough hike to the cave entrance and the paths inside are steep, full of stairs, and potentially fall-inducing as a result of melting ice. I can't even imagine how the little Yorkie we saw on the tour (dogs are apparently allowed) managed the trip up. We weren't able to get many pictures of the caves because flash photography isn't allowed, but it was very beautiful to see.
Dinner in Hallstatt was quite the experience - we ended up both nights at the only restaurant in town that appeared to be open. As a result, it was pretty much filled with American tourists. The wait staff, being total good sports, played along with our obnoxiousness and the dinners were a lot of fun. Adam's favorite part was the extremely tall bus boy (we calculated that he's about 6'7"), and I got a big kick out of the rather tipsy American woman inviting everyone up to the hotel room she was sharing with her aunt to get bombed on apple schnapps made by her German husband's relatives.
We arrived in Salzburg around lunchtime today and we spent the afternoon on the famous Sound of Music tour. Adam's never seen the movie and I barely remember it so some of the sites were sort of silly, but we got the opportunity to take a luge ride - totally awesome. You slide on a little sled down a winding metal track in the middle of the Alps - how many times in life do you get to do that? I wish we'd had time to ride more than once, but sadly we had to move on.
Tomorrow we're headed back to Munich for a brief 3-hour stopover at Oktoberfest, and then it's off to Zurich to catch the plane home. It's been a great trip - I hope you've enjoyed following along!
Hallstatt is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and as a result they're able to pour a ton of funding into what makes the city special. It's most famous for the salt mine, which has been actively worked for the past 7000 years. We toured the mine and it's a ton of fun - you get to ride a funicular (sort of like a roller coaster up the side of the mountain) up to the mine and during the tour you get to use a couple of the wooden slides used by the miners hundreds of years ago. They're a blast. We didn't learn all that much about salt mining, but we had great fun with the goofy outfits they make you wear. The salt mine is also famous because of the large number of archaelogical sites discovered as a result of mining activity, including a Bronze Age Celtic burial ground and a prehistoric man preserved in salt. We were able to see some archaelogists at work while we were there.
We also explored the Dachstein Eishöhlen, which are a series of limestone ice caves discovered around 1910. Even with the cable car to take you up most of the way, it's still a pretty tough hike to the cave entrance and the paths inside are steep, full of stairs, and potentially fall-inducing as a result of melting ice. I can't even imagine how the little Yorkie we saw on the tour (dogs are apparently allowed) managed the trip up. We weren't able to get many pictures of the caves because flash photography isn't allowed, but it was very beautiful to see.
Dinner in Hallstatt was quite the experience - we ended up both nights at the only restaurant in town that appeared to be open. As a result, it was pretty much filled with American tourists. The wait staff, being total good sports, played along with our obnoxiousness and the dinners were a lot of fun. Adam's favorite part was the extremely tall bus boy (we calculated that he's about 6'7"), and I got a big kick out of the rather tipsy American woman inviting everyone up to the hotel room she was sharing with her aunt to get bombed on apple schnapps made by her German husband's relatives.
We arrived in Salzburg around lunchtime today and we spent the afternoon on the famous Sound of Music tour. Adam's never seen the movie and I barely remember it so some of the sites were sort of silly, but we got the opportunity to take a luge ride - totally awesome. You slide on a little sled down a winding metal track in the middle of the Alps - how many times in life do you get to do that? I wish we'd had time to ride more than once, but sadly we had to move on.
Tomorrow we're headed back to Munich for a brief 3-hour stopover at Oktoberfest, and then it's off to Zurich to catch the plane home. It's been a great trip - I hope you've enjoyed following along!
Monday, September 13, 2004
Hello once again. We´ve finally made it to Austria (if only barely over the border). We´re staying at Gasthaus zum Schluxen. It's a hotel in the middle of nowhere, basically. It's a on a farm, and the view of the Alps from our hotel room is amazing. We had dinner tonight and watched the sun set over the alps. We both had Spätzle for dinner (Jess had cheese, and I had ham), and they were both very good. We also took our longest train ride of the entire trip today (a whoping 2 hours), but it was the first train that went directly to the place we were headed. It wasn't particularly fast, but it got us here. Tomorrow we're getting up early for breakfast and then hiking to Neuschwanstein castle, which should be about a 60-90 minute trip. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain almost all day tomorrow. Not exactly the greatest castle viewing weather. But, we've had great weather so far so I suppose we can't complain about some rain.
In other exciting fronts, we're actually doing laundry tonight. In a real laundry machine (though it's European, so it holds about 4 socks and a pair of underwear, and costs €7 per load). This beats doing it by hand in the sink and then letting everything drip dry.
Also unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to post any more photos during the trip. Having not brought the cord to connect my camera to a computer, I have to use a memory card reader to transfer the pictures (and I don't actually have one of those with me at the time). But when we get home we'll be sure to post some more pictures.
Until later, Auf Wiederschreiben
In other exciting fronts, we're actually doing laundry tonight. In a real laundry machine (though it's European, so it holds about 4 socks and a pair of underwear, and costs €7 per load). This beats doing it by hand in the sink and then letting everything drip dry.
Also unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to post any more photos during the trip. Having not brought the cord to connect my camera to a computer, I have to use a memory card reader to transfer the pictures (and I don't actually have one of those with me at the time). But when we get home we'll be sure to post some more pictures.
Until later, Auf Wiederschreiben
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Greetings once again from Bavaria! Munich continues to be a lot of fun, although the weather today is pretty crummy - drizzling and sort of cold all day. Thankfully I'm from the Midwest so I'm used to this sort of thing.
I had a very enjoyable birthday celebration yesterday - at the beer garden where we ate dinner, the very sweet German couple sitting next to us bought us a round of drinks to celebrate. We also went overboard on the desserts, ordering two different types of struedel and these fried apple rings that were out of the world. We pretty much rolled ourselves back to the hotel after that!
Our trip out to Dachau was very interesting - it's the first time I've ever been to a concentration camp and it was very moving. Most of the buildings that stood at the camp during the war have been torn down now, but the foundations remain to give you a sense of what things were like. There are many memorials on the grounds now commemorating those who suffered at the hands of the SS, including a group of 4 female British army officers who were shot at Dachau 60 years ago today. Every German schoolkid is required to visit a concentration camp at some point during their education, and it's easy to see why. While the photos and stories from the survivors are profound, the stark sight of the barbed wire and guard towers alone is enough to drive home the moral adopted by the place - "Never Again."
After a sobering morning, we came back into town and headed off to the Deutches Museum, which certainly lives up to its billing as the German Smithsonian Institute. Anything that you can imagine about the scientific and technological history of Germany is there, along with a ton of stuff you wouldn't expect. With the museum being so large (over 10 miles of exhibits), we only saw a small portion of it. I was having great fun at the exhibits about the history of printing, but Adam doesn't like to let me hang around anything to do with books for too long for fear that I'll get carried away. I think he's probably safe here, seeing as I don't read German.
Tomorrow it's off to Füssen, the nearest town to the Neuschwanstein castle. We're hoping for better weather for hiking and photos!
I had a very enjoyable birthday celebration yesterday - at the beer garden where we ate dinner, the very sweet German couple sitting next to us bought us a round of drinks to celebrate. We also went overboard on the desserts, ordering two different types of struedel and these fried apple rings that were out of the world. We pretty much rolled ourselves back to the hotel after that!
Our trip out to Dachau was very interesting - it's the first time I've ever been to a concentration camp and it was very moving. Most of the buildings that stood at the camp during the war have been torn down now, but the foundations remain to give you a sense of what things were like. There are many memorials on the grounds now commemorating those who suffered at the hands of the SS, including a group of 4 female British army officers who were shot at Dachau 60 years ago today. Every German schoolkid is required to visit a concentration camp at some point during their education, and it's easy to see why. While the photos and stories from the survivors are profound, the stark sight of the barbed wire and guard towers alone is enough to drive home the moral adopted by the place - "Never Again."
After a sobering morning, we came back into town and headed off to the Deutches Museum, which certainly lives up to its billing as the German Smithsonian Institute. Anything that you can imagine about the scientific and technological history of Germany is there, along with a ton of stuff you wouldn't expect. With the museum being so large (over 10 miles of exhibits), we only saw a small portion of it. I was having great fun at the exhibits about the history of printing, but Adam doesn't like to let me hang around anything to do with books for too long for fear that I'll get carried away. I think he's probably safe here, seeing as I don't read German.
Tomorrow it's off to Füssen, the nearest town to the Neuschwanstein castle. We're hoping for better weather for hiking and photos!
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Helfenstein Castle-Bathroom
| The Helfenstein Count was incredibly advanced for his time. This castle has the first known example of doors on the bathroom, as well as the first example of having a pictoral charachter represent the gender of the bathroom. Of all the castle ruins, the bathrooms remain in the best shape. |  Img_0406 Originally uploaded by aclight. |
Helfenstein Ruins-Kitchen
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Baden-Baden
Adam is busy downloading pictures from our camera to add to the blog - soon you'll be able to see all of his glamour shots of Germany.
We're relaxing here in Munich and enjoying the sites. It's tough to get oriented to such a big city after spending all our time so far in small towns. Munich bicyclists are completely fearless, so it's almost a full-time job avoiding an accident.
Last night we went to the 6,000-seat beer garden in Munich's largest park. We quickly discovered that we should have set out much earlier for dinner, as there are no lights of any kind along the paths, which makes finding your way in the many many acres a huge challenge when you can't see any landmarks. Eventually we made it to the garden and I have to say that I've never been so happy to see a massive group of drunk people in my entire life. While the park is quite safe, I haven't lost those Chicago instincts that have convinced me that wandering around outside at night with no lights is pretty much asking to be a crime victim.
Today we got to know the city a bit better with a guided walking tour. We got the gloss-over of most of the major sights, including the Residenz (an enormous museum), the Viktualien Market (a cornucopia of local food, drinks, and crafts), and the Frauen-Kirche (the Church of Our Lady, whose twin onion-domed towns are the symbol of Munich). We wandered through the Hofbrauhaus, which is Munich's most famous beer hall. You'd be surprised how many people are busily downing 1-liter steins of beer at 11am, complete with the head-splitting Bavarian musical accompaniment. And of course we saw the famed Glockenspiel, which really is not as exciting as the large crowd of rapt tourists in Marienplatz would lead you to believe.
This afternoon we checked out Munich's famed shopping districts and quickly discovered that we were definitely not the target market when we looked at the prices posted in the windows. We eventually found the more reasonably-priced shopping, but we're still a bit bug-eyed from sticker shock.
Tonight we'll continue to soak up Munich's lively beer culture with another trip out to the beer gardens, hopefully with less wandering through dark forests this time. Tomorrow it's a double-header of can't miss sights, as we visit the former concentration camp at Dachau (not very honeymoony, I know, but then neither are the two single beds we inadvertently got at our hotel here) and Munich's world-reknowned Deutsches Museum, which is the largest science and industry museum in the world.
I'm off to go check my email again for happy-birthday wishes. And there'd better be some when I get there, or I'll be forced to go drown my sorrows in several liters of Löwenbräu.
We're relaxing here in Munich and enjoying the sites. It's tough to get oriented to such a big city after spending all our time so far in small towns. Munich bicyclists are completely fearless, so it's almost a full-time job avoiding an accident.
Last night we went to the 6,000-seat beer garden in Munich's largest park. We quickly discovered that we should have set out much earlier for dinner, as there are no lights of any kind along the paths, which makes finding your way in the many many acres a huge challenge when you can't see any landmarks. Eventually we made it to the garden and I have to say that I've never been so happy to see a massive group of drunk people in my entire life. While the park is quite safe, I haven't lost those Chicago instincts that have convinced me that wandering around outside at night with no lights is pretty much asking to be a crime victim.
Today we got to know the city a bit better with a guided walking tour. We got the gloss-over of most of the major sights, including the Residenz (an enormous museum), the Viktualien Market (a cornucopia of local food, drinks, and crafts), and the Frauen-Kirche (the Church of Our Lady, whose twin onion-domed towns are the symbol of Munich). We wandered through the Hofbrauhaus, which is Munich's most famous beer hall. You'd be surprised how many people are busily downing 1-liter steins of beer at 11am, complete with the head-splitting Bavarian musical accompaniment. And of course we saw the famed Glockenspiel, which really is not as exciting as the large crowd of rapt tourists in Marienplatz would lead you to believe.
This afternoon we checked out Munich's famed shopping districts and quickly discovered that we were definitely not the target market when we looked at the prices posted in the windows. We eventually found the more reasonably-priced shopping, but we're still a bit bug-eyed from sticker shock.
Tonight we'll continue to soak up Munich's lively beer culture with another trip out to the beer gardens, hopefully with less wandering through dark forests this time. Tomorrow it's a double-header of can't miss sights, as we visit the former concentration camp at Dachau (not very honeymoony, I know, but then neither are the two single beds we inadvertently got at our hotel here) and Munich's world-reknowned Deutsches Museum, which is the largest science and industry museum in the world.
I'm off to go check my email again for happy-birthday wishes. And there'd better be some when I get there, or I'll be forced to go drown my sorrows in several liters of Löwenbräu.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Guten aben from Munchen! We've discovered a ginormous internet cafe here in Munich right by the train station, so we're taking advantage of the opportunity to delete massive amounts of spam from our email accounts and let you know what we're up to.
Yesterday we wandered around Rothenburg and checked out all the tourist traps. As is to be expected, we saw several groups of Japanese tourists tromping being guided by the ever-present cheerful group leader. Unfortunately, she didn't have her requisite little flag, so I'm giving her a demerit.
We also had an opportunity to check out a local delicacy - schneeballen. I'm not really sure how to describe them, but they look sort of like a yarn ball that's made out of fried crackers and dusted in powdered sugar. Very messy to eat, and kind of dry, but what can you do?
The food here in Germany has been excellent so far - it's simple fare but very tasty. Yuki, you need to convince Mom and Dad to bring you here - I need someone to eat my side salads. The desserts are delicious - I'm happily enjoying the apfelkuchen (apple cake). German breakfast has also been a big hit with us as it features several of our favorites, including fresh bread, yogurt, local meats and cheeses, and the best hot chocolate. Yum.
Today we made a special trip to Geislingen an der Steige, home of the Helfenstein castle, which Adam's dad has linked to the family through his genealogical research. There's not much left of it now (the term 'fixer-upper' doesn't even begin to cover it), but it has a commanding view of the city below and it's very beautiful. Unfortunately, the beer garden there isn't open during the week so we missed out on that. We'll make up for it tonight at the mother of all beer gardens - Munich's Englischer Garden.
That's pretty much it from me - Adam will be along to post his thoughts in a little bit.
Yesterday we wandered around Rothenburg and checked out all the tourist traps. As is to be expected, we saw several groups of Japanese tourists tromping being guided by the ever-present cheerful group leader. Unfortunately, she didn't have her requisite little flag, so I'm giving her a demerit.
We also had an opportunity to check out a local delicacy - schneeballen. I'm not really sure how to describe them, but they look sort of like a yarn ball that's made out of fried crackers and dusted in powdered sugar. Very messy to eat, and kind of dry, but what can you do?
The food here in Germany has been excellent so far - it's simple fare but very tasty. Yuki, you need to convince Mom and Dad to bring you here - I need someone to eat my side salads. The desserts are delicious - I'm happily enjoying the apfelkuchen (apple cake). German breakfast has also been a big hit with us as it features several of our favorites, including fresh bread, yogurt, local meats and cheeses, and the best hot chocolate. Yum.
Today we made a special trip to Geislingen an der Steige, home of the Helfenstein castle, which Adam's dad has linked to the family through his genealogical research. There's not much left of it now (the term 'fixer-upper' doesn't even begin to cover it), but it has a commanding view of the city below and it's very beautiful. Unfortunately, the beer garden there isn't open during the week so we missed out on that. We'll make up for it tonight at the mother of all beer gardens - Munich's Englischer Garden.
That's pretty much it from me - Adam will be along to post his thoughts in a little bit.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Just had to get my two cents in : ). The trip has been fabulous so far - every place we've been has been thoroughly enjoyable. Our room here in Rothenburg is so cute adorably German. The sense of history here is really amazing. The room I'm sitting in lets you see the half-timbered construction used to build it so very many years ago. Very cool, and something you'll never see in the States.
Bacharach (where we stayed last night) is a very cool little town, considering that you can walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes. The Junderberge (youth hostel) is located in the city's castle on the top of a very steep hill. They really make you work for the cheap rooms! We only made it far enough up the hill to check out the Wernerkappelle, a beautiful ruined Gothic church.
Since there are others (doubtless Americans) waiting to check in with the outside world, I'll wrap up here. We're off to check out a local museum and then take a guided tour of this medieval city.
Guten tag!
Bacharach (where we stayed last night) is a very cool little town, considering that you can walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes. The Junderberge (youth hostel) is located in the city's castle on the top of a very steep hill. They really make you work for the cheap rooms! We only made it far enough up the hill to check out the Wernerkappelle, a beautiful ruined Gothic church.
Since there are others (doubtless Americans) waiting to check in with the outside world, I'll wrap up here. We're off to check out a local museum and then take a guided tour of this medieval city.
Guten tag!
We've arrived in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We are staying at a hotel with an internet connection, and a keyboard with the 'y' and the 'z' in the right place. The web browser, however, does not allow secure connections or javascript, so neither of us can check our e-mail. But blogging works.
We finished our stay in Baden-Baden with a visit to the other spa in the city. This one did not involve nudity, but did involve lots of old ladies in showercaps sitting in the hot tubs. It was nice and relaxing though.
Yesterday we visited the Rhine river. We started in St. Goar and toured Rheinfels castle. It was ruined, but apparently the bees didn't get that memo. And you know about me and bees. But I managed not to either a)get stung nor b)fall off the castle wall trying to avoid getting stung.
After touring the castle we took a 1 hour cruise on a boat down the Rhein to Bacharach. The cruise was relaxing. The sights were pretty, but it went pretty slow. We arrived at Bacharach and started searching for a hotel. The first two places we went to were full, but the third had rooms. Our room was on the 2nd floor, and was literally 5 feet from the train tracks. Earplugs were included with the hotel room. Thankfully, so was a fan, so we didn't need to sleep with the windows opened.
We left this morning, and after several train transfers, we are now in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It's a walled city. That's about all we've discovered so far. I went straight from the room we just checked into to the computer. Some things never change.
We finished our stay in Baden-Baden with a visit to the other spa in the city. This one did not involve nudity, but did involve lots of old ladies in showercaps sitting in the hot tubs. It was nice and relaxing though.
Yesterday we visited the Rhine river. We started in St. Goar and toured Rheinfels castle. It was ruined, but apparently the bees didn't get that memo. And you know about me and bees. But I managed not to either a)get stung nor b)fall off the castle wall trying to avoid getting stung.
After touring the castle we took a 1 hour cruise on a boat down the Rhein to Bacharach. The cruise was relaxing. The sights were pretty, but it went pretty slow. We arrived at Bacharach and started searching for a hotel. The first two places we went to were full, but the third had rooms. Our room was on the 2nd floor, and was literally 5 feet from the train tracks. Earplugs were included with the hotel room. Thankfully, so was a fan, so we didn't need to sleep with the windows opened.
We left this morning, and after several train transfers, we are now in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It's a walled city. That's about all we've discovered so far. I went straight from the room we just checked into to the computer. Some things never change.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Greetings from Baden-Baden
As you can tell, we survived 8 hours in coach to make it to Germany. The z and the y are reversed on German computers, so please forgive our numerous typos.
The flight over was fairly nice - I think that's the first on-time flight I've ever had out of O'Hare. Adam got some nice pictures of the meals on board which we'll post at some point. The highlight of the flight was the extremely drunk woman across the aisle from me who along with her seat neighbor downed 1/2 a bottle of duty-free whiskey before the movie started. At least she managed to sedate herself sufficiently so she slept the rest of the trip.
After some train adventures and numerous inadvertant naps on my part, we arrived in Baden-Baden around lunchtime. We strolled along the Lichtentaller Alee, which is a nice little bath along the river that flows through town. We checked out the rose garden along the way and window-shopped at the insanely expensive stores near the casino.
In the evening we took advantage of one of the sites Baden-Baden is known for - the Friedrichsbad spa. It's a Roman-Irish spa, which basically means that it combines mineral baths, steam rooms, and a soap and brush massage adminstered by very businesslike Germans. We threw off our prudish American sensibilities for a little while and did as the Romans did - it's a fully nude spa. Thankfully it wasn't crowded so the embarassment factor was minimal.
Today we started our morning early (thanks to jet lag) and took advantage of the cooler weather to hike up to the Altes Schloss, which is a crumbling castle on a hill looking over the city. It's very pretty up there and makes the rather steep hike up there worth it. We've got some good pictures of it as well.
More to come later - our 30 minutes on the internet here at the local library is almost over....
The flight over was fairly nice - I think that's the first on-time flight I've ever had out of O'Hare. Adam got some nice pictures of the meals on board which we'll post at some point. The highlight of the flight was the extremely drunk woman across the aisle from me who along with her seat neighbor downed 1/2 a bottle of duty-free whiskey before the movie started. At least she managed to sedate herself sufficiently so she slept the rest of the trip.
After some train adventures and numerous inadvertant naps on my part, we arrived in Baden-Baden around lunchtime. We strolled along the Lichtentaller Alee, which is a nice little bath along the river that flows through town. We checked out the rose garden along the way and window-shopped at the insanely expensive stores near the casino.
In the evening we took advantage of one of the sites Baden-Baden is known for - the Friedrichsbad spa. It's a Roman-Irish spa, which basically means that it combines mineral baths, steam rooms, and a soap and brush massage adminstered by very businesslike Germans. We threw off our prudish American sensibilities for a little while and did as the Romans did - it's a fully nude spa. Thankfully it wasn't crowded so the embarassment factor was minimal.
Today we started our morning early (thanks to jet lag) and took advantage of the cooler weather to hike up to the Altes Schloss, which is a crumbling castle on a hill looking over the city. It's very pretty up there and makes the rather steep hike up there worth it. We've got some good pictures of it as well.
More to come later - our 30 minutes on the internet here at the local library is almost over....
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Saturday, September 04, 2004
For those of you who weren't at our wedding, I though I would let you know how it went. We had a nice day, though it was pretty humid and hot. The ceremony site (The Glessner House Museum) in Chicago was great, and the staff there were very helpful. Everything went smoothly--except that our minister didn't show up. By the time 3:30 (our scheduled start time) rolled around, and he hadn't shown up yet, I tried calling his cell phone, church, and home phones. No answer at any of them. So we tried to make other arrangements. At one time, we had 5 separate people on the phone trying to make arrangements for a minister (or anyone who could legally sign our marriage certificate). The photographer, security guard, maintenance man, another employee of the museum, and my father were all on the phone. We finally got a minister of a nearby church to come and do the ceremony. I briefly introduced myself to him, and gave him the program we had printed up. In the middle of the ceremony, he turned to me and whispered "You are Christian, right?". I said yes, and he said "that makes this a lot easier." Later on, after we had exchanged vows, he turned to us and said "You may now salute each other." We kissed anyway. And then saluted each other. In the end, it turned out just fine.
Later that day, when we were at the reception, the minister called me and said he was on his way, and that he had encountered an emergency situation. He never said exactly what happened though. I suppose this gives us some great stories to tell, if nothing else. And, the whole situation was so funny (after we actually had a minister, of course) that we couldn't stop snickering during the ceremony, we had a great time, and thank everyone who came to celebrate with us. We're off for our honeymoon tomorrow morning. Jess is hoping that telling the gate agent about our affairs will lead to some sympathy, and possibly a free upgrade to business class. We'll let you now if this actually works.
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