Summer Travel, Euro Style! : You don't make sense.....

That basically sums up my general feeling of the day. We had out first Austrian wedding and it was very similar to our culture, but there were some pretty stark differences as well. Ron at one point said, "I'm glad you are comfortable being uncomfortable with me." That was our general state. The language barrier was HUGE, but people did come talk to us in English intermittently. It was like a date night to us since we were on our own most of the time.

The wedding started at 1pm at a traditional Catholic Church in a little town of less than 3,000 people. This was where the bride and groom live. This was like the village church. It was very beautiful.

There were a ton of people at the ceremony and many were dressed in traditional Austrian garb. Here's a pic of two little boys dressed like that.

The mass was about 1 hour 45 minutes long and totally in German. So glad we didn't bring the kids!

After the ceremony many Austrian weddings have something called an Agape. I guess they invite a ton of people to the ceremony and not as many are invited to the party afterward. Some villagers will just attend the ceremony (even if they weren't formally invited) because it's something important happening in the community. To celebrate with them they have an Agape directly after the ceremony that's like a small reception with snacks and drinks. Those not going to the party have a chance to give congratulations.

Walking to the Agape:

Music during Agape

Pics of us there

There were a few hours to kill between the Agape and the party so Ron and I decide to check out a big city called Linz. We were only there a couple hours, so didn't see a ton. We did walk along the Danube River.

And see along some winding streets in the city.

The coolest part of Linz was this GIANT old Cathedral called the Dom.

It was massive and just unbelievable. I would like to take a tour of this later. Linz is only like 20 minutes away from Wels.

Then we headed to the party that was in this adorable courtyard. They had some pretty traditional activities at the party like the dances and cutting the cake. It didn't really get going till 9pm and from what we understood wouldn't end until like 4 or 5 am! When we left at midnight it seemed to really be getting underway.

The most interesting traditional we saw was the stealing of the bride. I guess at some point during the party a group of guys steal the bride and take her to a bar outside of the reception. There they run up a bar tab and have a ton of fun. Then the husband gets a group of people together to steal her back. Ron and I came along with this group. We all smushed into this little restaurant where the bride was hiding out with a group of male attendants. I guess she had a list of quiz questions for him about her. If he got one right she would go back with him, of he got it wrong he had to slam his drink. The groom slammed quite a few drinks and there were was a lot of uproarious laughing. Here's a pic: