Emily's Escapades » Hanna and Henrik

A Swedish Wedding – Part II

emily — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:55:00 +0000

After the ceremony, a massive party commences. (It even said on the invitation: MASSIVE party to follow.)

As soon as the groom leaves the head table, all of the guys rush up to kiss the bride. The girls all kiss the groom if the bride leaves the table too. Not just once – every time either of them leaves.

There are a lot of songs sung by everyone, usually ending in a toast. We also saw lip-sync performances, many speeches by their parents and siblings, and various fun activities by friends.

During one traditional game, they had to answer questions about which partner had more of certain traits by holding up the shoe of that person.

After the dinner, toasts, games and general fun, we went to another building for coffee and cake (this was at 11 PM. Swedes love their coffee!)

The dance then started about midnight. I think it was 3:30 AM when we left. It was certainly a massive party!

A Swedish Wedding – Part I

emily — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:28:00 +0000

An excited bride! Hanna was one of the most expressive (and fun!) brides I’ve ever seen.

We all got on a boat to take us to the castle grounds.

Approaching the castle… it was actually the summer home.

A simple ceremony was performed outside. Because they had so many international guests, it was in both Swedish and English.

Silhouettes in a castle

emily — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:39:00 +0000

These were taken in castle ruins about 20 minutes from Jonkoping. It was raining and the sun was setting.

Wedding

emily — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:31:00 +0000

We just got back from a week in Sweden. Our best friends, Hanna and Henrik, tied the knot. We had a wonderful time and you’ll be seeing photos from it for several days!!

They asked me to do a reading (in English) during the ceremony. It was really an international wedding, so a lot of things were both in Swedish and English.

Whisk

emily — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:06:00 +0000

Whisk is a little cafe on Huaihui Lu that is famous for its chocolate! It is so rich! Jon and I also love their antipasto platter.

Glasses Market

emily — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:08:00 +0000

I’d read about the glasses market a while ago and wanted to go, but we’d never made it there yet. Hanna had bought 2 pairs of glasses in Beijing and decided she wanted to look at some more, so we made our way there one afternoon. It is in the Railway Station Metro stop, exit 3 or 4. Glasses are about 150 RMB, or more if you want the expensive lenses.

There were thousands of choices from probably hundreds of vendors. You can either bring your prescription or have their person test you. They also have sunglasses and contacts, though Jon is quite dubious about the quality. (Remember the tainted and recalled contact solution in the US that was manufactured in China?) Hanna was quite happy with her glasses and the price was about 1/5th of what we’d expect in the West.

the Pearl TV Tower

emily — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:19:00 +0000

Thursday it finally stopped raining for a while! Jon went to work while we went site seeing. We went to the Pearl TV Tower first.

On the right is the Jin Mao tower, and the taller tower is the World Financial Center.

There are 3 different levels of the TV tower you can go to. The lowest level even has a roller coaster in it.

The museum has a bunch of miniatures in it from different periods throughout Shanghai’s history.

The Bund Site-Seeing Tunnel (aka The Disco Tunnel) is a tunnel decorated with super-cheesy, migraine-inducing lights. It costs 40 RMB to go through, while the subway costs 3 RMB. However, it is right on the Bund while the subway forces you to walk back several blocks, so if you can afford it it is worth taking.

The classic view of the Pudong skyline.
(All Hanna’s photos, once again!)

View of Shanghai

emily — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:48:00 +0000

I merged together about 5 photos Hanna took from the TV tower together. Click on the photo to see a large panorama of the view.

789 Nanjing Lu

emily — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:04:00 +0000

After dinner we decided the evening shouldn’t end just yet. We went to 789 Nanjing Lu, which is the bar at the top of the Le Royal Meridien Hotel. It is on the 65th floor and overlooks Nanjing Lu.

This is the Radission – we haven’t been there yet but decided we need to try it sometime. It looks cool!
(These are all Hanna’s photos.)

Picking up clothes

emily — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:50:00 +0000

Wednesday after work we went back to the fabric market to pick up our clothes.

You need to try everything on so they can make adjustments if needed, and check if the buttons are all there, etc.

Hanna and Henrik both got suits made. Hanna’s is a copy of one of mine (which I also had made there.)

I got a couple short-sleeve button down shirts. My boss called just as I was trying them on. Custom made clothing really makes you feel good about wearing it, since it fits perfectly!

(These are all photos Hanna took.)