A busy two weeks

It has definitely been a momentous two weeks over here. The biggest news is the announcement of our engagement. Benny proposed to me on a weekend away in the New Forest, about 1.5 hours out of London. We left after work on Friday, hiring a Fiat 500 at Gatwick. We arrived not too late and went to one of the famous restaurants of the area. The next morning we woke to the magnificent scenery of the forest area. There was wild horses and ponies everywhere, even by the sides of the roads. It was such a picturesque place, perfect for a proposal.

The weather was nice, not to chilly, so we were able to take a few walks on the Saturday. We went to the local markets in Lymington in the morning and had a great tapas lunch. In the afternoon we went for a romantic walk where Benny got down on one knee. It was very romantic and I was very pleased that he asked mum and dad for their blessing. We celebrated with dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant, which was nice as this was our first date meal together four and half years ago.

We got back on Sunday night and I had to get organised to fly to Jutta and Sebastian's wedding in Germany which took place on Friday. I managed to squeeze in two days of work before flying on a far too early flight to Salzburg. I was staying for four days to help prepare for the wedding and spend time with my 'European' family. The weather was amazing, temperatures over 25 degrees, perfect for a wedding. It wasn't until I arrived that I realised the wedding was taking place in Austria in a tiny village Maishofen. On Thursday before I was going to help Jutta and Sebastian decorate the venue I went for a lovely long walk in the countryside with Renate, Hans and her cousin and partner. I fell for Renate's trick of saying it would be a short walk, 2.5 hours later we were home and eating lunch. I had never been to visit at this time of year, it was so beautiful with the leaves changing colours. The night before the wedding we had dinner with the many people that had come to Inzell to help celebrate the wedding.  After dinner, Hans was so kind and picked up Benny just after midnight after a late flight from London. Ben had the pleasure of catching the train with the left overs of the Octoberfest in Munich.

On Friday morning, we woke bright and early. I had my hair done at the local salon, nearly falling over at the very cheap price. Renate, Agnes (Bridemaid) and Jutta jumped in the car to go across the border. We relaxed and I had the pleasure and honour of helping Jutta get dressed. She looked gorgeous and a little nervous. The wedding was in traditional Bavarian style, something that I don't think Ben and I will ever experience again. It was held in a quaint, many hundreds of year old Farmer's house, surrounded by huge mountain ranges. The house had its own church and shooting gallery. The wedding day started with having a few beverages in the sunshine before entering the church. The service was lovely, even if it was hard to understand in German. Benny and I sang to the hymns as best we could. Luckily we sat next to a family friend who lives in London and he kindly translated the important bits. After the ceremony we went outside to toast the bride and groom. We then sat down to coffee and cake before we moved to the shooting gallery. It was compulsory to shoot at this specially made target. Prizes were even given out at the reception. One of the most interesting Bavarian traditions was the kidnapping of the bride. We took Jutta with a few of her close friends to the local pub. Sebastian and his best man had to track us down and pay for the drinks consumed while waiting plus pay a ransom for Jutta. We got back just in time for the reception were we ate lovely food and danced to a great band. Two members of the band I knew from my student exchange. It was great to see them again. It was such a lovely few days spent with Jutta and her family that I hold very dearly to me.