The Minister Thought they needed to think about it for 1.5 hours - Ha

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This should have actually gone in yesterday’s blog.

So, I called to get the pins for my credit cards. Susan said they were able to set the pins for their USAA cards on line. I tried getting it online but couldn’t find out how, so I called American Express first. This was for my Delta Reserve card. You know this is a card many businesses travel with. So, I got an agent and ask him how to get the pin. “we don’t have pins”. What, “nope, we don’t have them and you just need to find someone that will take your card and not sue a kiosk”. Are you kidding me, this is a travel card and I can’t use it at any kiosks??? I keep asking and I tell them about the USAA cards. He makes excuses… Really, I just hang up in disgust. I then call Chase for my other card. I get to their automated card pin service and request a pin. They will mail it to me in 7 -10 days. WTF, how will that help. I will attempt to not use kiosks anymore while I’m on this trip but I intend to really raise a stink when I get back to the states, this is really ridiculous. AT least my back card works and I can continue to get cash if needed.

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It was a slow morning. Patrick and Kim were outside exercising, the boys were playing, I read for a bit, then decided to take a short nap. I knew it was going to be a long day – little did I know how long. After my nap, Susan, Don and the boys and I walked to the grocery store. Nicky this store was almost as close as the one in Barcelona, maybe 1 block more. It was a tough walk. Ha. We bought food for lunch and breakfast the next morning. After lunch we started getting ready for the wedding Dennis wanted to leave around 2 for the wedding. I’d been told the wedding was at 4 but figured we were leaving that early because he had things to do at the church. Susan and I rode with his parents. Dennis road with a friend and Patrick took Dennis’s car with the rest of the gang. We arrived at the church which was a rustic church that looked very German. There were tons of people here. I thought wow, Germans sure like to get to the church early, nope I was told wrong, the wedding was supposed to be at 3. Ok, that makes more sense. So, we all get seated and it’s a minute or so before 3 when Dennis starts talking, people laugh a little, then they get up to walk out. Dennis comes over to explain. Turns out the minister thought the wedding was at 4:30. He was now in route. About 20 minutes later, people started coming in to get seated and there was a little more commotion, then the wedding started. The service was all in German but some of the songs were in English. We could follow along for parts of the service. Afterwards we found out what the other commotion was. It seems the organist too, was told the service was at 4:30. One of Dennis’s mentors took over and played the first 2 songs which he knew by heart and then the organist arrived just in time to play the last 2 which his friend didn’t know. I would have never known since the music sounded great. As we left the church the bells were ringing. We thought that was a nice touch.

The photographer took a guest photo and it took a while to round everyone up and get them close enough for the picture. Of course, all the instructions were in German so we just followed what the person in front of us was doing. Before we left for the reception/dinner, each car was given a white ribbon to tie on the car. This was one of the German traditions. I actually really like it. Susan and I got a ride to the reception with the friend that brought Dennis to the church. Patrick drove the rest of the gang.

The reception place was really nice and they had a beautiful set up. I of course, really appreciated the glass of champagne as I walked in. We found our table and put down our stuff then proceeded to talk to people who could understand us, walked around and looked at everything, drank some, talked more,… They had a candy table (Nicky kinda like your cookie table) and we got a bag of assorted candies and even tried a few. About an hour later Dennis and Venessa arrived. We continued with the talking people, drinking some,…. The DJ was playing some music for the group and Alex and Carolina took the opportunity to dance together a lot. It was very cute watching them. About 6:30 everyone sat down for dinner. The DJ came to our table and started talking in German. He motioned clinking of the glasses so Susan took her spoon and clinked hers. More German and then we said “English” he said since we clinked our glass, we had to sing a song. Little did he know that Susan’s family has this tradition of all the women singing “Close to You”. So, we started it up. The DJ traveled to several other tables and they sang songs too. Then dinner started. The first course was an Italian wedding soup and it was delicious. The dinner was a buffet and the food was great. It was nice to get some good veggies and they had a variety. During dinner, the speeches started. 95% of the speeches were in German but there was a bit when they switched to English for us. We could tell some stories though that Dennis was staying, especially the one where Venessa would pull back each time he tried to kiss her on the first 6 dates. The fathers also gave speeches. I would have loved to know what was said in each speech. A bit later the dancing started. I loved the music, there were 2 Latin pop songs, some techno German sounds, some English songs made techno…. All of them had a very good beat. As much as I wanted to dance, I really didn’t want my knees to hate me so I just watched.

Now, these Germans can dance and it seemed the older they were the better they danced. Dennis’s parents were fantastic. They were all over the floor and you could see he was leading her great. But the rest of the men had a beat. I have never seen a dance floor where everyone could dance (it did slack off as the night went on – I guess the alcohol might have slowed them down some but they still did a great job). The music went to about 11:30 when the friend that took Dennis and then Susan and I, got up and did a speech on Dennis with pictures. Sometime this evening Alex started getting tired and he and Carolina went to lay on the mats. He said, “I didn’t sleep with her, I just laid with her”.. Ha, ha.

Then the games started. They put Dennis and Venessa in a chair – back to back and they had to take off their shoes. One shoe from each was given to them. Then they were asked questions and a shoe was raised. Well, they got a few correct but most of the time they didn’t match. One-time Venessa even turned to see Dennis’s answer before holding up a shoe. I wish I knew what the questions were. Next was the bouquet and garter belt toss. No, Susan and I didn’t get in position to try for the bouquet. After that the cake was served. Guess what time it was. Midnight. Yep, German receptions go on and on and on.

I thought we would be leaving shortly after. Nope, Alex was dead to the world but everyone else (including Donny) were having a blast. I figured the only way I’d stay awake was to dance so – I gave up and decided the knee would just hurt. Oh, I had such fun. My favorite dance was when they played Despicito. This guy looked like he really wanted to do the dance so well, what the heck, I jumped in. It was a blast and he telescoped his next moves great so I followed pretty well. Then we did another dance with turns. The first two turns were flawless, the 3^rd, well, there was this foil confetti that had been continually dropped on the floor. During the next turn, my foot landed on solid confetti and I knew I was going down. Relax, roll and no damage, I was back up and finished the dance but we did take it a little slower. I danced a little more, mostly too keep myself awake and then I went up to the bar to get a glass of water. Dennis’s dad was there and the next thing I knew, I was drinking a shot with him. It was a good passion fruit schnapps. Ummmm.

Donny danced almost non-stop until we finally called it quits around 2:45. Stephanie, Don and Alex caught a ride about 15 minutes earlier. I heard the party went on till close to 5. Wow, these Germans know how to party.

Susan drove the car home using the GPS on the phones and we all came in and crashed. Oh yes, the sun rises early here and we could see it starting to get light on the horizon. Dennis and Venessa got home about 5:30.

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Photos

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Dennis and his parents before leaving for the chuch

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The church

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The discussion when they were learning about the minister

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The gang

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Alex and Carolina

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The reception area

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Alex and Carolina dancing

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Dennis and Vanessa arriving

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The parent's table

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Donny dancing with Susan

Comments

[Patty]

wedding
Sounds like y'all had a blast, and your knee must have held up for dancing!