Swantje and Thomas's wedding

The challenge of blogging, at least for me, is the work of sorting out the interesting observations and details from the rest of the mass, which is meaningless to anyone besides me. Unlike a diarist, who records every thought and experience privately for later reflection - with an eye to posterity, or not - the blogger has to write for an audience with different tastes, one that is just a mouse-click away from the stock ticker or YouTube. So rather than go into the details, I'll just say that it was a beautiful wedding, on a sunny day after two days of clouds, with romantic touches like the arch of long-stem roses that we formed to escort the couple from the church to the afternoon reception; that the black-tie reception that evening was beyond elegant; and that Hamburg is a fantastic city. (More about Hamburg later.) Also that there were so many speeches that the dancing didn't begin until after midnight, but no one minded at all. If you want more than this, send Abby or me an e-mail.

This leads to another aspect of the weekend, that of being in Germany. Abby has some functional German, so we could get around Hamburg, and most of the guests spoke English, but it really was like having a rug pulled out from under my feet whenever they switched into German. It's a fascinating language to listen to (except when someone is shouting, in which case I begin to look for police dogs), but not something you can pick up in a weekend.