Just a quick post while I upload photos from the weekend to facebook and wait for the cake I'm baking to finish off (my boyfriend, despite being quite tired is currently building me a bike as my old one died just before we left, and I need to get to work tomorrow (though I wouldn't mind f I didn't as it's stock check this week - swiping thousands of books' barcodes).
I've had a lot of fun this weekend visiting 3 different countries - lunch in France (we visited Dunkirk as I've always wanted to see where the evacuation took place), afternoon tea (Belgian waffles of course!) and dinner in Bruges (convenient place to break the journey), and then lunc, dinner, breakfast in the Netherlands yesterday and today.
The wedding was great fun, in an outside chapel, held in a mixture of German and Dutch. This was followed by large amount of cake eating and champagne drinking (see above for the spread of cake) at the groom's mother's house. Then there was a break to check into hotels - we stayed at a campsite in a little chalet, where they brought us breakfast in bed by leaving a basket in a rabbit hutch outside the door. The we went to a wonderful meal in a restaurant by the sea, which was preceded by dancing to Strauss outside and more champagne. The highlight of the evening was waving sparklers as the cake was brought in (I won't pretend that the rest of the evening conducted in German which I don't speak wasn't deeply tedious).
I also got the dress code wrong..."smoking" means black tie, but this only applied to the evening. Everyone was dressed formally for the church service and I could have got away with trousers, but changed for the evening. I did the English thing of having one outfit for both... Still, I coordinated with my boyfriend who looked wonderful even if he was teased about his pink cufflinks...
I didn't do too much reading - I read another book (wedding themed as couldn't find anything location-themed) for my Virago Venture and will post about that later this week. We didn't even listen to an audio book as it was so interesting looking out at the different places. I drove for 2.5 hours today, and needed all of my concentration anyway as I've not driven on the "wrong" side of the road before. And I started a Jane Gardam in bed last night.
All in all a very adventurous weekend. I'll get back to blogging this week, especially as Vintage have sent me a "new" A.A. Milne book which is endorsed by PG Wodehouse (so I'm hoping my boyfriend will read it and give us his opinion too...)
Mmmm, cake...
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend loves his pink cufflinks (and pink shirts and ties) :).
I am looking forward to reading your Virago blog post about Cassandra at the Wedding as it's one I have been wanting to read for some time (I have a copy). I also have The Wedding by Dorothy West and looking out for The Wedding Group by Elizabeth Taylor. Non Virago, I also want to read The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. I have a wedding later this year and another one next year so perhaps you can remind me of wedding themed reading at the time?! Hopefully I'll manage at least one of these before the weddings themselves.
Yes, I contemplated The wedding by West, but thought Cassandra was a bit more readable. It was very frothy with a hard edge, really good. Can't wait to right about it.
ReplyDeleteI've got the Wedding Group - it's the only Taylor I own I think.
I love themed reading - I just put "wedding" and "marriage" as keywords into the Virago website; what Virago can I take on a band tour to Bognor and Bournemouth this weekend?!
There was a lovely pink shirt at the wedding, not on my boyfriend though. It was very sweet of him to colour coordinate, especially as he was paranoid about clashing with his jacket lining!
I think that you 'take the cake' for best weekend plans. The wedding sounded like a lot of fun and the dessert table made me want to reach out for a slice of something. And aren't you two the industrious couple, baking cakes and making bikes after such a whirlwind weekend!
ReplyDeleteYes, you're right! I was quite impressed by our energy when we got home to do those chores. Will post a pic of the cake tonight :) Don't like the new bike, it's a grim shade of red, whereas the old one was pink and purple...
ReplyDeleteThe cake was definitely the best bit of the wedding, apart from perhaps singing hymns in German...
You know that that sort of post about that sort of weekend makes all us who live in Australia green with envy! 3 countries in a weekend - it nearly takes me that long just to get to Europe ;-) Sounded divine.
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