Monday, December 22, 2008
Baden-Baden (Part 2)
22-DEC-2008:
In the previous post Baden-Baden (Part 1) we left the friend's church wedding and drove south to France finding our hotel in a very small not-even-a-town situated outside of Strasbourg. We were to stay here for the next two nights together with the bride and groom and their family and friends.
There was very little time for us to rest and we went straight to the wedding dinner venue which was supposed to start at 6:30pm, not wanting to be late. We should have known that all wedding dinners regardless of Chinese, French or German are *always* late. Not only were we the first to arrive but all the others were late!
It was a simple dinner with only 7 or 8 tables - our seats pre-arranged and our names labelled at the table where we were supposed to sit. Dominic was placed at a different table from ours and as expected, he kept coming to our table.
The dinner was the most lengthy I've ever been. First, there was cocktail and it was ages before everyone was seated. And then wine was served. It was just typical that the French would feel that wine is more important than food. It must be 8pm by then and I was having hunger pains. Finally, the bread was served. Long after that, we had the starter which was one of my least favourite food - pate. Dominic didn't touch it at all and by now he had downed 3 glasses of orange juice and a coke. I think at about 9pm, we had the 2nd dish which was a piece of fish. It was quite yummy but hardly enough to fill a quarter of my stomach. After the 2nd course, we were to wait forever for the next dish while the guests danced on the dance floor. Since there was nothing to do, we danced too and it was the best part of the dinner. I'm sure Dominic agreed with me too since he had a really great time "dancing" with his friends.
The next time I attend another French wedding dinner, I must remember to bring my own snacks. The 3rd course was sorbet in liquor, which was really weird because as I recall the whole night I've not eaten anything solid yet and now they're serving me dessert? I think the *real* food only came at about 10:30pm - roast veal with vegetables. This was simply delicious. After that, we excused ourselves (at around 11:30pm). It was one of the most fun wedding I've attended (because of the dancing) but it's really advisable to eat dinner before going.
The next morning at brunch, we found out from the rest that the party ended at 2:30am last night.
He copied what his daddy was doing.
And here, he was asking for more juice. At this age, he has very little stranger anxiety and it was really fun to have him enjoy himself and leave us alone to enjoy ourselves.
This dog sat under the table throughout the whole night! Not making any sound at all.
