We had great fun showing Maren and Kirsten the town. Kirsten is German but she has also never been to Denmark. We showed them the little mermaid, Amalienborg Palace (complete with blue guard guys with their bear fur hats), the round tower, and real Danish hot dogs! Kirsten especially liked those.
Here are some pictures from friday:
It was fun fitting everyone in our small apartment. Kind of like a slumber party. Saturday morning we decided that before heading for the belated wedding reception at Morten's parents' house, Maren and Kirsten and I would go on a canal tour. It was a great idea, except for the fact that it rained the entire time and A) we didn't have unbrellas and B) I wasn't even wearing a rain jacket. It fun to see some of the sights of Copenhagen from the water and ride under some REALLY low bridges, but we were also very glad to get off the boat again and head for the dry and warm house.
We arrived looking like drowned rats and immediately commenced a frenzied effort to become better looking. I don't know if my effort was as noble as it should have been, seeing it was the third day recently that I have been the "bride" so I guess some of the novelty had worn off by then.
The reception was wonderful! Morten's mom and the rest of the family did a great job of making the house and yard beautiful, complete with a tent in the backyard in case of rain. As luck would have it, the sun came out and we spent a very enjoyable three hours with friends and family.
There are a few Danish marriage traditions that I was not previously aware of. The one with which I was most familiar, was that we do a waltz to the sound of the Danish "bridal waltz." So when they ushered us into the middle of a circle, started the music and began clapping to the rhythm, I wasn't very surprised. I was a little more surprised when they began pelting us with rice, even stuffing it into our clothes...well, the pictures can speak for themselves:
After this I was even more surprised when, after the music stopped, everyone seized upon my husband, lifted him up in the air, violently removed his shoes, and cut off the tips of his socks with scissors, amidst his cries of "not my toes, not my toes!"
Later after the reception we had a smaller family dinner. It was very cozy and fun. I was excited to finally understand more danish than someone else at a family party, and we enjoyed teaching some danish phrases to Kirsten (which she promptly learned to say much better than I can).
At one point during the meal, Morten's uncle started banging on his glass with his fork. Everyone else joined in and at my confused look, Morten explained that we had to stand on our chairs and kiss. We had to keep doing it until they stopped, but then they started stomping their feet. This meant we had to go under the table and kiss. Everyone thought it was exceptionally funny.
It was a really good day. We got home really tired and ready for some nice rest. But then, strangely we saw decorations posted on our door:
and became wary of more foul play. We opened the door to find...
DOT DOT DOT
I will continue the story of what we found in our apartment at another time, partially because I am tired of blogging now and partially because we haven't uploaded the pictures yet. Stay tuned...
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