Wedding

We had a busy few days to the end of our Swedish summer holiday last week; on Wednesday we went fishing, on Thursday we went to watch the athletics and on Saturday it was Richard and Linda's wedding. I've posted 3 separate posts about them below, but it has taken me all week to do it as I've been super busy at work and every time I've tried to post them Blogger has refused to let me add any photos...but I got there in the end!!

On Saturday we travelled back to Trollhattan for Richard and Linda's wedding. Richard is English (Daniel used to work with him at Saab) and Linda is Swedish so it was a traditional Swedish wedding service and reception, but held in English! Richard's Dad and step-Mum are both priests so were able to conduct the wedding service themselves, with the Swedish vicar actually pronouncing them 'man and wife' to make it official!

Linda's daughters Fanny and Emilia were bridesmaids - I have only ever been to weddings where I have been a bridesmaid (4 times!) so I was ready on standby if they needed me to step in!

The reception was held in Alberts Hotel, which is a beautiful old hotel opposite our old flat. We had a 3 course meal, which was punctuted with lots of Swedish songs, one of which included putting a bag on your head, paper plates on your ears, platic glasses over your eyes and sugar cubes in your mouth as buck teeth (I was laughing too hard to do this!) - I think seeing everyone in the room looking soooo stupid was one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

Athletics

All of this week the European Athletics have been taking place here in Gothenburg. We have been to watch several of the firework displays to celebrate the event and on Thursday we went to watch the athletics at Ullevi stadium. We'd never been to see live athletics before so it was great to the athelites competing right infront of you. Sweden had a very strong team so the crowd were very patriotic cheering on thier home team!

"My fish is bigger than yours!"

On Wednesday we went fishing with David (above) and Magnus (below) off the coast of Hunnebostrand, near Magnus's summerhouse.

I've never been fishing before so was amazed that it was as easy as it was! It was just a case of sticking the rod off the side of the boat, waiting a few minutes and pulling up the fish! Between the 4 of us we caught around 7 mackerel in only 3 hours!

The highlight of the day was when I managed to catch a monster, giant cod!! It was the biggest fish caught by anyone on the boat and was lovely when we had it for dinner later on in the evening - of course in true English style with chips and tartar sauce!

Möhippa

Yesterday was Linda's Möhippa (hen party) ready for her wedding next Saturday. In Sweden it is traditional for the bride to know nothing about her Möhippa and to be kidnapped and taken away for a day of stupid games and drinking! The day was planned in total secrecy and with military precision...

11:50 - Waiting in the woods before sneeking into Linda's House and kidnapping her!

12:10 - Linda being made to wear a bee-keepers outfit! (No real reason for this other than to make her look stupid when we went outside!)

12:30 - Picnic and Femkamp. Femkamp is a series of 5 silly games, such as throwing wellies, tying a knot in string with one hand, and the game in the photo below - trying to get a pen which is tied round your middle in a beer bottle! Not a very lady-like pose!

14:00 - Bowling

(Continued below as Blogger didn't want to let me have lots of photos...)

Continued...

Continued...

15:00 - Afternoon at a spa, with wine and chocolate tasting!

18:00 - Dress up Linda and do her makeup. You can't quite see in this photo just how bad her makeup was - very 80's style!!

19:00 - Dinner and far too many tequilas!



23:00 - Off out to get as many men as possible to write words of wisdom on Linda's veil.

I think she's all set now for the wedding on Saturday!

Tjörn

Yesterday we went to Tjörn, a small island off the coast of Gothenburg, with Andreas to visit his parents, Pappa Janne and Mamma Gullan. We spent most of the day inside as the rain was pouring down, being spoilt by Mamma Gullan and her cooking - lots of homemade bread and hot cinamon buns! Mmmm!

I've just discovered a black and white photo button on my camera so it seemed like the right time to try it out in the gloomy, overcast weather.

Last time we were in Tjörn it looked like this - I'm not looking forward to it being winter again!!