28.5.10

After wedding - Cats and Mountain hut

After the big day, all the people went abroad. Ursina and Fabrizio went to Morocco for honey moon; Andrea (Ursina's sister) and Marius went to southern France. Matthais(Ursina's brother), Barbara and Julieta went to Buenos Aires to visit Barbara's family. Susanna and Hans Peter(Ursina's parents) were going to Germany soon. Before that, Susanna invited me to their house in Chur where I spent a very nice time with them.

It was a very sunny day. As Chur is in the valley, the weather is usually much warmer than Basel. Luckily, I could escape from the coldness in Basel!

View from the train. Photobucket

It was not my first time to take the train in Switzerland. And I also experienced so many train journeys in India. But once I was in this developed and organized country, I was totally disarmed and I made a mistake that I never made.

When I was sitting in the train, I thought,'Um, the train in Switzerland is such a extreme against India. Here is clean and quiet and almost no passenger!' I sat comfortably for one hour. When the train approached Zurich, the ticket officer came to check my ticket, I handed it to him indifferently.

Then he looked at me over his glasses and asked,'Have you ever heard of the difference between 1st and 2nd class?'

I immediately sensed the mistake while I was opening my mouth widely and said, 'No!' I didn't mean I had never heard about it. Acutally, I meant, 'Oh no, stupid me!'

He still looked at me without any emotion and said, 'In fact, you need to buy a 1st class ticket if you want to sit here, but unfortunately your ticket is a 2nd class one.' Then he gave me back my ticket and asked me to go to the other coach.

What a shame! I thought. But when I went to the 2nd class, I didn't notice the difference between them. It was still quiet and clean and comfortable and also with AC. Thinking about the chaotic sence of the 2nd class train in India. I thought, it was difficult to blame me for this mistake:p

Susanna and H.Peter had constructed a new terrace last year. When I came last time, it was not yet finished. This year they accomodated me in the new guest room on the terrace.

It was like the 'executive suite' of a 5-stars hotel which had a wonderful view over the mountanin and the whole valley.
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Because of the glass, the terrace was exceptionally warm in this cool weather. I felt like in the early summer.
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I love the different shades of the green in Switzerland.
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I love cats. And there are five cats in this house! The cutiest one is Tommy! He doesn't look like 17years old, right?
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Oh, my sweetie, why are you so happy? Photobucket

Actually, his eyes were fixed upon this Swiss speciality. And he licked all the cream from my fingers!
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Tommy, what are you thinking? Photobucket

He was arousing attention when Susanna was sending text message to Ursina.
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On the other hand, Tommy's sister, Jeanie had secretly hidden under the chair in the sitting room.
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The cats had really brightens my days up.

When we were heading to the mountain hut in Emserberg moutnain, Tommy came to farewell us.
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It was quite incredible that I came to this magical little hut again, after almost exactly one year!
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And I did the same thing as last year - BBQ! Photobucket

However, there were still a little bit differences. Last year, I came with Ursina and Fabrizio, this time with Ursina's parents; last year, we did the BBQ outdoor, indoor this time. Last year, I could see the snow mountains surrounding the house, this year I could only see a heavy layer of fog.

Before...
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After...
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When the fog was gone, we went for a little walk. It was incredibly cold here, such a big contrast to the warm terrace! Actually, during this period, Europe was abnormally cold. It was the same even in Italy, eg, the time being should be early spring season, but the temperature was still like in winter.

Luckily, we found some blossoming around. They told us it was indeed spring time. Photobucket

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There was another kind of beauty in the fog. Photobucket

Thanks very much for Susanna and H.Peter, they are very sweet and funny. I felt they were more like my friends than parents. Susanna always cooked delicious food for me, thanks for the asparagus and the home-made sauce, they were excellent! H.Peter was also putting a lot of effort in speaking English with me, thanks so much and thanks for the small flowers:)

Susanna also brought me to a local concert, where a Swiss girl, Elisabeth Sulser performed different kinds of flutes, including the horn of a cow (unluckily, I don't know the proper name of this musical instrument). I had never imagined that flutes could produce such a big varieties of sound. Morover, when the flutes were mixing with the harmonium (with a funny player), the music was amazingly pleasant. I liked this concert a lot and it really boarden my 'narrow music horizon'!

Thanks for all the things!

Before the wedding 2 - Ladies' night

Contrasting to people who are thinking they should have a crazy night before marriage, Ursina just wanted a quiet and a cozy one.

Fully packed with clothes, food, luggages and other preparation materials for the wedding, Carla (Fabrizio's sister) drove Ursina, Saskia and me to the town Neuchatel the day before the wedding. We would check in a 'hostel' there and spend Ursina's last night to be single.

I had been to the lake Neuchatel last year on which we were sailing. But I never knew the town Neuchatel. It is small, but still lively and modern, kind of mixing the feeling of quaint village and a busy town.

The downtown area. Photobucket

One can easily turn into the alley and escape from the busy area.
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There are plenty of old houses. Photobucket

Ursina and I walked to the high point of the town, from where we could have a overview of this beautiful place with the lake behind. At the same time, we were so happy that the sun finally came out from the clouds.
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After meeting Ursina's sister, Andrea and Regula, we went for a creperia to have dinner. A restaurant where only sells crepe!
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We greedily thought we could eat three crepes, but after the second one, I was completely K.O. Look at my crepe! It was full of delicious cream!
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We carried our big stomachs to the hostel nearby. An old building also.
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Inside is quite modern. Photobucket

There is a swimming pool also! Unluckily, it was too cold to jump to it.
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Our beautiful and cozy room. Photobucket

Once we arrived, we immediately hanged out our clothes. Which is mine?
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Not many people know this German game, Settler of Cantan. But I was lucky enough to learnt it in Colombia and I was totally addicted to it. And it is one of Ursina's favourite game also! So we had a six people battle this night.
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Buying brick, selling sheep, building settlements, exploring the new island, the winner finally came after about two hours of struggling. You can see who was this from her contrasting smiling face...
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Then we played another game, which is called 'Activity' in German. But in HK, it was quite popular in the TV show game, which is called, 'The Big TV'. Though I had some difficulties in adjusting to it because the game is based in German, we still had many funny moments.

That was Ursina's last night before marriage. I like it very much as I also don't prefer to see something like a half-naked man jumping out from the big box, dancing around all the ladies...

Actually, a beautiful day was waiting for us to get up early and experience it!

A super beautiful morning on the wedding day. Photobucket

View from the hostel. Photobucket

27.5.10

The promise, the Swiss wedding

After visiting Europe last year in July, I flew to India. One day, I got an email from my best friend, Ursina. She announced that she was going to get married with Fabrizio in May 2010. I was really happy and also surprised, because I was always asking them in May last year that when would they get married, and the answer seemed not so soon.

In 2005, when I first went to Switzerland, I promised that I would save enough money and come back for their wedding. Even her mother reminded me when I went to visit them last year. As the voice was still echoing in my head, how could I fail my promise?

This was the main reason I flew all the way back to Europe from India this year. Except to witness the important moment of my best friend and her boyfriend, I made another promise - to be their photographer. This was my first time to be a wedding photographer, though there was pressure, I was very happy and enjoying all the moment.

I believe they will continue to live their fairy tale lives together...and with their babies soon!!!Hehe.

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I think Ursina and Fabrizio's wedding is a wedding that many people can only dream of. As they both like sailing, the theme of their wedding is always related to the lake. The ceremony was held in an old castle overlooking Lac de Neuchâtel, where they have a boat and where Ursina would come every summer since she was a child.

In front of Chateau de Vaumarcus where the ceremony would be held.
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Ursina and Fabrizio were coming into the hall where all the guests were already ernestly waiting.
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They planned the whole day very dedicatedly. The ceremony was solemn but touching, with a Russian musician playing wonderful music and the boyfriend of Fabrizio's sister (who is a opera singer) singing.
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Moreover, the uncle of Ursina, whom they always do sailing with, made a speech about their childhood which was full of sense of humour.
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The beautiful and simple ring exchange. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Branca!
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A path of roses, welcomed the newly-married couple.
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Even the sun came out to congratulate the couple! Cheers!
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After taking group pictures with different people and the aperitif, we gradually moved to the port and we were going to take the ship across Lac de Neuchâtel, through the channel and arrive the restaurant on the shore of Lac de Bienne.
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A very beautiful day which permitted the guests to stay on the deck.
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Everybody was concentrating on playing the quiz about the couple.
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Music and 'dancing' on board. Photobucket

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Funny situation when the couple was doing guest presentations. I was surprised that I was included in the presentations!
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The beautiful two hours' journey on the lakes.
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Wasn't it a fairy tale wedding? Photobucket

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The beautiful restaurant where we would have the wedding dinner.
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The couple kicked start the dinner. Photobucket

In between the dinner, there were many speeches and performances of guests, including the drama by Fabrizio's family, singing of his sister and her boyfriend, piano playing and singing of Saskia (Ursina's friend)'s boyfriend etc.

Moreover, there was a movie about the couple's love story made by Ursina's brother.
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The most surprised part was organized by Regula(Ursina's friend) when she presented the wedding book.
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They were super excited to open the book. Photobucket

Actually, the book collects all the surprises from all guests. Regula asked us to send her a page beforehand which represented our best greetings to them. All people used their imagination and creativity to make this book together. It is the best wedding gift I have ever seen in the world!

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All the guests were so curious to see the work of other people.
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This is my page made with macrame. Photobucket

Last but not least, we still had the dancing section.

Waltz.
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Cha cha cha. Photobucket

And then all the guests were dancing together! Photobucket

Oh yes, I have to show you one of the dishes that night - my vegetarian spring roll! Have you seen such a big spring roll before? It was delicious!
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It was such an unforgettable and happy memory for me. Moreover, it was indeed an honour to be included and I could share the joy with them. Thanks very much, Ursina and Fabrizio!

Maybe you will ask, what are the differences between a Swiss and a HK wedding?

Swiss people usually don't have pre-wedding photo shootings, while HK people like to go to Taiwan or studio and change million sets of clothes.

They don't invite too many people, they just invited less than 60. While in HK, a dinner hall filled with 200 people is very common.

On the wedding day, they don't change several sets of clothes. While in HK, the bride has a set of Chinese costume in the morning, Western costume in the ceremony and several sets of evening gowns in the dinner.

They don't play the groom in the morning. The groom doesn't have to perfom the 'talent show' (like playing piano) during the dinner.

Although Swiss wedding is simplier, I still prefer no 'ritual' at all IF I will ever get married:)

Cheers! A funny picture taken by the mother of Ursina. Photobucket