Sparkling Diamond: Our Moulin Rouge Wedding

 

Here are a few highlights of our wedding on October 10, 2010. Beginning with the opening number 'Sparkling Diamonds' inspired by the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film "Moulin Rouge" featuring the fabulous Nina as 'Satine'. The second song is the Elton John favourite 

"Your Song" as sung by Nicole Kidman and Ewen McGregor.

What I Learned In Europe

1. Where there's castle, there's hill.
2. 'Foxy' brand tissues from Poland are the best tissues, and they're scented.
3. The Catholic Church and the Nazis are the mass murder champions of Europe.
4. People who design railway stations don't carry their own luggage.
5. The south of France looks just like the south of France and the Swiss Alps look just like the Swiss Alps.
6. The Swiss will almost always stop for pedestrians, the French almost never will.
7. The French love smoking and dog-shit, and they never check your train ticket (SNCF).
8. The Germans and Austrians don't like the Turks.
9. Cobblestone streets are pretty to look at. Asphalt streets are easy to pull luggage on.
10. If the service is poor, the tip is probably included on your bill.

Carcassonne, France. The Old City

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

We got up early and went for breakfast. It was going to be a full day of walking and I didn't want to get tired too soon so we called a taxi to take us to the old town.

Carcassonne, is famous for being the best surviving example of a medieval military city in Europe. The city was next on the hit list for the Christian Crusaders after the sacking of Beziers. 

Beziers, France

We arrived in Beziers and checked in to our hotel. It is a mid-sized city and looks much like others in the area.

Beziers if famous for three things; The first is it's four day bull fighting festival in August of each year; Feria en Aout. That may soon end, as it has in nearby Spain. Animal rights activists are trying to have the grotesque 'sport' banned. We did not attend a bull fight.

Goodbye Switzerland. Hello France.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

We have left Brig and are on our way to France. First stop Geneva, Switzerland where we will swtich trains and get on the French high speed train the TGV (which I love). We then continue on to Lyon where we have a stopover of several hours. We may take in a museum or some sights if we can find a luggage storage at the train station.

Bettmeralp, The Better Alp (so they say)

Today is a beautiful day  with crystal clear skies and we are both excited and full of anticipation for our trip up the mountain.  We have to take a short 15 minute train ride on the Matterhorn Gottard Bahn, a privately run railway to get to Betten, which is where we will connect with the cable car. 

Arrival In Brig, Switzerland.

Monday, October  25, 2010.

Our first night in Brig was quiet and uneventful. We found a hotel very close to the train station that was reasonably priced and set out to find dinner. After a few minutes of browsing around the old town we quickly  realized that Brig was not going to be cheap. We settled on a pretty average looking family run pizzeria and had pizza that was really quite good. The only problem was that it was served by a young woman who, in my opinion, does not have a future in the service industry.

Bregenz, Austria

Switzerland; Sunday October 24, 2010

Last night we spent our last night in Austria near the Swiss border in a town called Bregenz. It is a nice enough town situated on a lake, but we arrived late and only had time to find a meal, our hotel and then it was time for bed.

Vienna, Austria

We arrived in Vienna this morning at six am.  The sleeper car on the train was quite comfortable, but I stayed up too late editing and the result is about four hours sleep. The geniuses at Eurorail printed Wien Westbahnhof Station on our tickets and the train stopped at Wien Meidling Station, a few kilometers away. It's like buying a Via Rail ticket to Union Station in Toronto and being dropped off at Greenwood without being told.

I feel like I shouldn't be complaining, but really! It wouldn't be a big deal if we were in a city we knew, but when you come out to the street in the dark and don't know where the hell you are it is not very pleasant, especially at six am on four hours sleep.  We found a coffee shop near the station, waited for it to open and eventually figured out where we were and where we were going.

We are now about half way to our hotel, and have entered the Twilight Zone. It started to rain so we've stopped at the old restaurant that happened to be next to us when the rain began: The 'Cafe Westend'.

I can only describe this place as vintage. The waiters are in full black suits with bow ties, and the place looks like it hasn't been redecorated since sometime around 1944. There are velvet green banquettes built in with black marble topped tables and large chandeliers overhead.

I'm half expecting Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall to walk in at any moment. The smoking section adds to the ambiance, and poor air quality, by the way I have stopped smoking again, for those of you keeping track.  The Cafe opened in 1859/60. The breakfast of bacon and eggs was mediocre, but my cup of tea is perfect.

I can see the Westbahnhof station out the window. It is being rebuilt which explains our rerouting. Too bad they could't have told someone at Eurorail. You can be sure they will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from me in the near future. 

Update: When we left Vienna, we had to depart from the Westbahnhof station. It is open and I have no idea how Eurorail managed to screw up on our arrival, but we will let them know.

Wierzyneck 1364 Krakow, Poland

The visit to Auschwitz was our last stop on the WWII history portion of our trip. I'd wanted to see Nuremberg and the Nazi party rally grounds and the Congress Hall and then Auschwitz. Now it was time to move on  to  the happier portion of our trip and dinner always makes me happy so we set out to find a restaurant.

One of the nice things about Krakow is the great value for your money and even in the old city centre prices were more than reasonable. 

We were walking around the Main Town Square menu browsing when we came across a very nice restaurant called Wierzyneck 1364. It is beautiful. We were seated in the main dining room, which is decorated with sumptuous carpeting, linens, drapes and gorgeous stained glass.

After browsing the menu we decided to have the duck, which is flambed at your table. It is served with apples cooked in honey and a ginger cranberry cake. It was delicious, and quite the showstopper to see it prepared.
For dessert I had a beautiful frozen pear mousse with a dark chocolate sauce. Again, it was delicious.

www.wierzynek.pl

Love this post? Hate it? Please leave your comment/reaction below!

Auschwitz: The Reality of Hitler

What can I say about Auschwitz that hasn't been said? Just about everything I saw and heard today, I already knew. The only thing new for me is the knowledge that the Nazis were even more sadistic and inhumane than I had imagined. 

Work Makes You Free Sign

There were many camps throughout Europe and North Africa. Some were concentration camps and some were death camps. Auschwitz functioned as both and Auschwitz II is the most infamous and largest of any of the camps. 

 Auschwitz I is the original camp here and houses the indoor museum (technically speaking the entire place, both camps are museums and UNESCO World Heritage Sites) with emotionally moving exhibits in an attempt to explain some of the terrible things the Nazis did here. 

Initially, political prisioners and intellectuals were brought here. Then, as the murderous Germans streamlined their killing machine, the focus was put on the Jews. Auschwitz I is where the famous gate with the sign overhead that reads "Arbeit Macht Frei"; a sick lie which translates roughly to "Work Makes You Free". Work was just one more way to kill in this place. As prisoners went to work each day they were made to march to the tempo of the prison orchestra. This was an added bit of Nazi humiliation, for good measure. 

The exhibits and museum are inside the original barracks buildings where the first prisioners were held. These barracks had originally been a Polish army barracks. The Nazis took control in September, 1940 when they invaded Poland at the beginning of WWII. These are the actual buildings and rooms where people were brutalized, tortured and killed. This way of experiencing the place really helps the visitor to empathize and imagine what it might have been like to have been held here.

We saw the room that held the kangaroo court where innocent people were convicted of 'crimes' and then sentenced to die after a 'trial' that lasted, in many cases, a few moments.

We saw the 'death wall' where so many political prisioners and others were shot to death by firing squad; their only crime: being an intellectual or outspoken political activist. On one record setting day here they managed to shoot and kill over 200 people at this wall within 24 hours.  Click READ MORE to continue to the rest of this post and see the videos.

Pod Wawelem

Pod Wawelem is a pub/restaurant in the Hotel Royal and just a couple blocks from our hotel, in the old city, across from Wawel Castle. We thought we were entering a posh restaurant and were surprised when we came into what was basically a beer hall.  Big steins of beer were everywhere, sauerkraut, sausage, cherry vodka shots and cute boys and girls serving the happy crowd. filled the room .They were surely growing big muscles under the massive platters of food they were delivering to hungry patrons. 

I had a bread bowl with sauerkraut and sausage and pork ribs that were divine in their simple deliciousness, and a big stein of beer that would make Homer Simpson drool.

Like this post? Hate it?
Please leave your comment or reaction below. Your feedback is appreciated!    ~ Mark Daye

Krakow, Poland (Eat, Pray, Pray, Pray, Love)

Krakow, Poland: October 16, 2010.

There were several nice little bistro type places on our street near our hotel, so we thought we'd try one of them. One italian place very close by looked nice and had a live jazz band playing so we decided to go inside. The place was packed and a frazzled waiter brusquely told us "NO", followed by some Polish which was unintelligible to me. I have come to realize that the Polish and Germans have a bit of an edge when they speak English and can come across as being bit abrupt, but I think it is generally not intentional, just a different inflection than what the average English speaker is used to. In this case, the guy was very busy and overwhelmed, and I can certainly understand.

We made a hasty exit and decided to try out the Horoscope Restaurant on the corner at the end of our street. The place was a quaint Polish bistro with plenty of candles, low red lights and interesting wall decor. We did some quick math and realized the prices were more than reasonable compared to what we pay in Canada for a meal at a restaurant of similar quality.

Krakow maple leaf. I have maple leaf pics from Paris, London, Rennes, and a few other places.

We ordered appetizers. David had the fried camembert with almonds and a raspberry compote. This was more than enough for two people and reasonably priced.

For mains I had the 'rabbit, in it's own sauce', beetroot and gnocchi. David went for the 'chicken in it's own sauce' with a side of roasted potatoes.

To drink, we chose a Chianti, the best one on the menu, which we would never normally do at home, but the price was right, and we are on our honeymoon after all.

The busy little restaurant served delicious food that was inexpensive, and had a homemade and robust quality to it.

The staff were friendly and helpful, spoke some English and the restroom was tiny, but clean and pleasant

My first impressions of Krakow are good. I'm an atheist, but if I was a praying man I'd have a difficult time deciding which church I'd attend. There are literallly some 31 churches shown on the map of the area immediately surrounding our hotel.

I do enjoy the architecture of churches, let's face it, they cost a fortune and the faithful don't mind spending on their places of worhsip, and I get to enjoy the visual result.

Krakow is VERY Catholic, the late Pope John Paul II was the archbishop of Krakow and he is the main man here. You will see him all over the place, along with other various saints, martyrs and other religious types. 

I covered the eat and the pray.

The love is for my husband, and I now also love Krakow and can't wait to return and see the rest of it.

Like this post? Hate it? Please leave your comment below, all are appreciated!    ~ Mark Daye

The Trip To Frankfurt

Tuesday October 12, 10:55 pm EST. 

We are in the air. Takeoff was uneventful and we are now somewhere over eastern Ontario heading for Frankfurt, Germany. Thr inflight 16x9 display is pretty impressive with it's selection ogf movies and games and tv shows. I first chose CBC news (didn't work) then I thought I'd try a game (didn't work) then I was about to write here that I tried to watch a short Canadian film called 'The Red Hood' which suddenly stopped. I just realized I selected 'preview' instead of 'watch'.  I will watch it now  while I wait for dinner  and a drink.
 

11:08 pm EST.  'The Red Hood' seems pretty good. It seems I did select 'watch' afterall, but it ends abruptly two minutes  or so in. To summarize the Air Canada in flight entertainment leaves much to be desired. I will try something else.

11:09 pm EST. The flight is very smooth so far. We are on an Airbus 330. The temperature is  -54 degrees C outside at this altitude of 33 thousand feet. We are now over Montreal. It is 5:10 am in Frankfurt now. This little netbook is great for blogging on the go. Chicken and pasta with some cubed vegetable salad thing and a brownie that was really good. I've had a few meals on flights over the years and this one stands out because it was edible. Actually we did has a rea\lly nice meal on an actual plate on Air Transat once. We are pretty well into our flight and going to try to have a nap. I wanted to try the keyboard on the netbook, and it seems to be pretty good. I'll give you an update later on after we land in Germany.

03:20 am EST. I slept for awhile, but now we are into some turbulence and everyone is awake. It reminds me of the coun try roads from childhood, minus the dust. Outside we are flying into the sunrise and I can see the thick cloud cover hundreds of feet below us. I always find this to be a bit bizarre after spending a lifetime looking up at clouds. Earlier I looked out and couls see all the stars, it was so black outside, and the air so calm.
I hadn't intended to be writing a movie review, but it's five am and I need to vent about this abombination playing out before my eyes.

We are watching Sex & The City 2. I thought our Moulin Rouge wedding was the epitome of uber-gaiety, until I saw the Stanford and Anthony wedding opener in this sad excuse for a film, which features swans, a men's choir and Liza Minelli with a face so tight you could  bounce a quarter off of it. The old hag can barely talk her lips are so stretched over her bony old face.

The movie is a horrible, desperate attempt to invoke the past triumphs of the ground breaking  series and the eagerly anticipated and well received first film. Sex 2 has so much product placement that Lady Gaga would blush and the four main characters are so wealthy and unsympathetic that the movie is barely watchable, not to mention offensive to anyone who is reasonably 'normal'. I'm only continuing so I can see the end of the line for these old girls, who have now proven that you can't go back and recapture the past, nor should you try.

(Later) Okay in the spirit of truthiness, I admit I didn't finish the movie and I am glad I didn't waste anymore of my life on it. David did however, and told me the gist of the story was that America is still the greatest country in the world (like they'd ever let anyone forget) and women who wear burkas all have Chanel or Dior hidden underneath!

We have arrived in Frankfurt safe and sound, are exhausted and are going to bed. A quick look  at the German news program playing on the lobby television tells me that the trapped Chilean miners are finally being rescued.

We get to our room only to find two twin beds. I feel like we are the gay neibours of Lucy and Desi, or the Flintstones. David goes to the desk and the man there tells him his colleague is dealing with it so he comes back up to the room to find me and the maid pushing the beds together. The maid vacuums the crap from undeneath where the bed originally was and presto we have our Frankfurt marriage bed! Before she leaves I give her the Gideons New Testament, I don't want one in our room. I've decided to fight back, I won't be part of the religious hate spewing disguised as spreading the love. By the way, I don't see a Koran or a Torah or any of L. Ron Hubbards books around here anywhere!

It is now almost 11:00 pm here, we went to dinner at an Irish pub just down the street. I know that isn't very adventerous, but we were hungry and they had an english menu and staff and beer. We are very close to the city centre and train station, which we planned because tomorrow we are taking the train to Nuremberg. Frankfurt seems to have a pretty complex public transportation system, a subway to rival Paris or London and street cars as well. There is a picture of a street car below, much more modern than  what we have in Toronto, but our new ones are going to be state of the art.

In Nuremberg we will visit the museum at the old congress centre and also the Nazi party rally grounds and the castle where the war trials were held after WWII.

Here are a couple of pictures I took tonight bon our walk. Please feel free to comment below. 

 The main drag, I didn't get the name, it's about a block from our hotel.

 

This is a modern bank building. Looked pretty cool all lit up in blue. Frankfurt has some nice modern architecture.

Newlyweds on 10-10-10

 

David Raetsen & Mark Daye 

Here is the link to some pictures from the night before party.

Moulin Rouge Wedding Setup

Here is a sneak peak at the 'Moulin Rouge' room for our wedding tomorrow.

FCKH8.com Straight Talk About Gay Marriage

10-10-10 Our Wedding Day! (and the wedding day of many others too)

I've been wondering how to tell you the story of our upcoming wedding on 10-10-10 here at the Daye. Well, this morning I woke up today and found out that apparently the 10.10.10 wedding is not exactly an original idea so I decided to start our story today.

The wedding chambers at Toronto City Hall is so booked for weddings on October 10, 2010 that they have moved their weddings to a nearby hotel. According to the Star it is "Wedding Perfection". The perfection part comes from the number 10 supposedly being perfect in the Chinese calendar.  I don't know anything about that but I do know that 101010 is the perfect binary number and computer language for the number 42 which we all know is (according to Douglas Adams) the answer to life, the universe and everything!

Our story really has nothing to do with 42 or 10-10-10. It all started on 10-10-04 when we happened to meet. Conveniently we just happened to be on the Eiffel tower in Paris on our fourth anniversary of meeting and David asked me to marry him. I said yes and we set the date: 10-10-09!

YES, 10-10-09. Shortly thereafter we realized good friends of ours were getting married on 10-09-09 and that most of our friends would therefore probably be hungover and tired for our wedding.  It was the right decision. I think we finally went to bed at 6 am following that wedding!

The solution; wait a year. The result of this decision is well; 42. 

So, there you have the back story. This is the first official post about our wedding on Sunday which has a Moulin Rouge theme, which is my favorite movie and a great tie-in to getting engaged in Paris.

We will be leaving on Tuesday the 12th for a trip around Europe and I will be posting about our wedding and our trip over the next few weeks. I hope you will enjoy the story.  The picture to the left is David and I in Prague in 2008, it was on this trip that we became engaged (on 10-10-08).