Poland - Wedding Day

After getting home decently late on Friday after travelling and eating so much food, I thought for sure I would have a problem getting up in time for the 1:00 wedding on Saturday morning. Normally I would not hesitate to set my alarm clock in my room and ask for a wake-up call, but I found it interesting that this hotel, like all the other hotels I stayed in during the whole trip, didn't have a clock in it! What gives?? My cell phone didn't work there, so I was scratching my head about how I should wake up. Luckily I had a fully charged Palm Pilot so I set the time zone and had myself an alarm clock to wake up at about 9:00 on Saturday morning. In fact, not having a watch or a cell phone meant that the Palm Pilot was essentially my only clock for the whole time in Poland!

The only alarm clock I really needed, though, was already set - jet lag. I woke up at 5:00 in the morning with my esophagus and chest on fire with terrible heartburn or possibly acid reflux. Whatever it was, I couldn't lay down without it killing me but I was still really tired but I couldn't sleep. I guess rich food and beer the night after travelling for 24 hours with no food in your system isn't the best way to get the stomach plumbing started right. After downing some water every few minutes, I somehow managed to sit up in bed and fall back asleep with the hard edge of the headboard leaving a dent in my cranium. I woke up a bit later and laid back down and fell asleep until the alarm woke me up.

I had planned to meet some of the others at 10:00am to go down into town and check it out before the wedding, but I guess they got stuck with a few extra beers the night before and ended up taking shots of vodka and going to the hotel's club in the wee hours and were no-where to be seen on Saturday morning. Undeterred, I took the high road down into town, which was about a mile and a half away down some hills. I came across a lot of little markets in town, mostly artists and antique dealers hawking their goods, but I had no zlotti's on me yet, so I began the fruitless journey around town to find an ATM, checking out various sites while I was walking. I had planned on eating some pastries for breakfast but I soon realized that there were no bakeries to be found here, which I found interesting. Since most of my trips to Europe have involved Germany in one way or another, I guesss I've been spoiled with the plethora of freshly backed goods that can be abundantly found there. Seemed to be a recurring thing in Eastern Europe though.

Parched with hunger, I decided to stop into a random restaurant and use my credit card to get me some breakfast. Afterwards, I asked for the cash machine and they showed me where it was. Of course, like right across the street. It didn't matter though, because I showed up and the thing wasn't working at the moment.

It didn't matter though, I had to head back to the hotel and get ready for the wedding. On the way home, I stopped at a memorial wall that had been built out of Jewish tombstones that were crushed by the Nazis in World War II. The area had had a rich Jewish history before they were sent to the death camps when the Germans over-ran Poland. In front of the wall there remained some fragmented tombstones and behind the wall was a wooded area that still had some of the large tombstones in place. It definitely brought home the reality of one of history's saddest moments.

Anyway, back at the hotel, the people began their gathering. The bride and groom were picked up by a horse and a wagon that were to be driven down into town with the guests following them in other wagons and taxis. We met up at the Franciscan church atop the hill that overlooks the city, where a full Polish (or Latin, like I can tell the difference!) mass was given. I pretty much just followed everyone else since I had no idea what was going on. At one point of the ceremony, Brendan read his vows - in Polish - much to my amazement. Let me tell you, I've heard many languages, but this is probably the hardest one to pronounce and read that I've ever seen. Try pronouncing chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie. Yea, it's up there with Hungarian, and it's a scrabble player's dream language - few vowels, lots of C's and Z's.

After the ceremony, everyone greeted the married couple and then headed back to the hotel. More Polish customs were performed in front of the hotel, where Ewa was formally handed over to Brendan by her parents and they were blessed with rice and breaking of bread. Brendan then broke a glass by throwing it over his shoulder then picked up Ewa and carried her into the building to start the celebrations.

Walking into the dining area, I was amazed to see all the food everywhere. The tables were literally covered with plates of dishes. But this wasn't even the start of what was to come. These were just the snacks to be eaten between the meals and the drinking. Vodka toasts with beer and water as a chaser came every few minutes by someone from the wedding party. Before long, everyone was sipping the vodka rather than taking a full shot because there were so many toasts. The Polish band came into the dining room and played some traditional folk music that the old Poles sang along to. There were three full meals throughout the night, capped off with the magestic bigos, a Polish mixture of cabbage and sausage that was one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten.

Of course there was also the Polish dancing on the dance floor that everyone was involved in and the wedding games like musical chairs and the blindfolding of the bride and groom to see if they could figre out which leg was their new spouse's. I was most amazed by the older Polish crowd, who partied more than anyone else and could be seen dancing on the dance floor the whole night. Check out the videos to see these folks in action!

Needless to say, everyone went home that night in a foggy state. Ten hours of gluttony tends to do that to you! I think that everyone should experience a wedding so full of tradition, it's definitely worthwhile.

J. Riley, playing catchup