The Wedding day of Myrta & Rene as seen by Monte & Kathy Kirsch
Awake 6:15 am Quite foggy here at the Stoll farm house
Oskar has a nice breakfst waiting for us @ 6:30. Kathy & Katrina shower
first, then eat.
Oskar has to leave for the local flower shop this morning in Andelfingen.
The shop will decorate his car with a flower arrangement, then he will
pick up the wedding couple & transport them to the Church Oberarth, about
1.5 hrs away.
At 10:40 am. Thomas, our driver, Kathy, Katrina & I leave for the Church
of Oberarth...stopping @ Buloch(near Winterthur) en route to pick up
Oskar's friend, Sylvia. We pass several wedding cars along the way with
their hoods decorated with flowers; another Swiss tradition. I admire the
neatness of the country side, the quaint little villages & the smooth
roads as we travel.
The early morning fog has dissipated now & the sky is a clear blue. When
we arrive in the village of Arth Goldau, Oskar has already parked his car
near the church & he, the proud father, is displaying his flower
arrangement. The church service begins @ 1:30 so we have at least 40 min
to linger. Oskar (with David, his grandson)invites us over to a nearby
courtyard cafe for coffee, beer or juice. Soon we are joined by Rene's
sister, Doris & her guy friend....then Myrta's childhood friend Heidi &
her guy friend... then Sylvia, Oskar's friend.
Only 105 people could fit into this small Lutheran church with most of the
pews filled. The wedding service lasted one hour & it was all in Swiss
German ... except for the 10 member Univoice Gospel choir, hired to
perform for the wedding....they were fantastic & sang mostly in English.
Myrta & Rene sat up front near the sanctuary for the entire service. The
Minister(who by the way, baptised Myrta as a child) gave quite a talk to
Myrta & Rene as we heard later from an interperer....focusing on family
values, being faithful & true to one another....etc.
As the wedding party processed from the church, they were led by little 3
yr old David(son of Gigi & Gabriel), dressed as a chimmey sweep in a
special, black chimney sweep outfit & top hat & carrying a small ladder.
He is really a handsome young fellow. Having a chimmey sweep guy @ a
wedding is another Swiss tradition. Cleaning out the "old soot and grime"
brings good luck to the wedding couple. Pascal(son of Ruth & Urs) was the
ring bearer...dressed in a Tux & looking quite handsome as well.
Outside now, the wedding party is met with a dozen or more Swiss Comm
guys, Rene's colleagues, who are holding up sticks with circuit boards
dangling above their heads making a canopy to walk under. Beyond the
church steps, another group of people(Members of the ski team Myrta & Rene
belong to) are holding up ski poles to form another canopy for the wedding
party. Then the individual & group pictures are taken on the slope of the
hill...this takes some time. A short break in picture taking occurs when
David has to relieve himself. Gabriel took David over to some nearby
bushes, pulled down his pants and held him waist high so he could
accomplish what he needed to do. That done, picture taking could resume.
Now the Apero(like a mini-reception) for everyone who came to the church
wedding, is gathering across the street & 500 ft further down to the
church parish house. Here some light refreshments (fruit, cheese, bread,
etc) & drinks (wine, juice, water, etc) are being served while we wait for
the wedding party to join in. During this time, Kathy & I introduce
Katrina to many people we already know from our previous Swiss visits.
When the wedding party joins the Apero, there is also a pickup truck
nearby & a few men unloading (2) long crates with wire mesh covering. They
set these crates on the ground...and Rolf makes some kind of an
announcement in Swiss German...suddenly about 150 homing pigeons were
released into the sky. Another Swiss tradition. The pigeons are from a
farm only 10 miles down the road so they should have little difficulty
finding their way back home.
Now a line is forming for " Congratulating " the married couple. This also
takes some time & is a signal for the winding down & closure of the snacks
& drinks of the Apero. This mini-reception was very nice as it gave us
time to visit with people we'd met over the yrs but haven't seen for some
time plus time to meet new friends & relatives of the Stoll & Zuercher
families. Quite a few people who have not been invited to the wedding
dinner tonight will be leaving now.
Now Rolf uses the megaphone & asks the crowd to follow him. We all start
walking down the road, across the street & past the church where, by the
way, another wedding is taking place. Then Rolf stops...and we stop. There
is nothing here, only an empty field. What's happening? We know zilch.
Some people think we will be picked up & transported by bus to where the
wedding dinner will be held, others think maybe a sky writing airplane
will have some wedding script up above. So we wait, patiently.
The sky is a deep blue, wind calm....suddenly out of nowhere an airship, a
dirigible, flying low over the village & slowing down to maneuver itself
lands on this empty field. This airship seemed huge in relation to the
size of the field. Also out of nowhere are the ground support crewmembers
who help with the tethering of the machine. The landing was no problem.
Rolf proudly guides the bride & groom & Myrta's goddaughter across the
field where the pilot greets, assists, & helps them into their seats &
they were off toward the mountains. It was amazing to us what little space
was needed for the machine to land & takeoff. Rolf then announces on his
megaphone: "Follow that airship or follow me in your car!"
We join the line of autos following Rolf up this well traveled mountain
road from the village of Arth Goldau...gaining maybe a thousand feet along
the way to the village of Sattel. Occasionally we could spot the airship
well ahead & at a much higher altitude. At Sattel, we turn off the main
highway into an area that resembled a large parking lot exclusively for
patrons of a nearby small amusement business. Here we calculate is where
the airship will land. Sure enough, 20 min later, out of nowhere...the
airship & then the ground crew appear. The landing is routine.
An SUV (sports utility vehicle) backs up slowly near the airship. This SUV
is pulling a flatbed trailer & on the trailer is a snowmachine. Rolf makes
another announcement in Swiss German. Myrta & Rene are helped out of the
airship and onto the flatbed trailer & onto the snowmachine. Now Rene
takes the megaphone & explains " what's happening!" The snowmachine has
been completely renovated by the ski team that Rene & Myrta belong to.
Rene spent many hrs usng this machine over the last 20 yrs during the ski
racing events they held each yr. He has fond memories & is very happy to
see the machine in like-new condition again.
Now the SUV...pulling the flatbed trailer with Rene & Myrta sitting on the
snowmachine, leads the way out of the parking lot & begins climbing a very
steep mountain up to the area called, Hochstuckli. The road is basically a
one lane road with an occasional widened area for opposing traffic to
pass. By the time we reach the Hochstuckli ski resort parking area, we see
Rene & Myrta, still in their formal wedding attire, getting their ski
boots buckled & preparing for their next adventure. They have to lock
their ski boots into a pair of skis built for two....and ski on the
asphalt the remaining distance up the hill to the parking area. Every
step(so to speak) has to be taken in unison together. When they do arrive
at the finish line, Myrta has that look of exhaustion while Rene has that
look of: " What's next?" " Bring it on!"
Sure enough, there is more...but only for Rene. Their ski team buddies
take these wedding pranks seriously. Now Myrta can relax while Rene
releases his ski boot locks from the skis built for two, dons ski overalls
over his tux, & gets help fastening his ski boots onto a small track
rolling ski unit that allows one to ski downhill on grass or other dry
material. This will be a downhill race between Rene & a tough competitor
from the ski team through a zig-zag course marked off by the other team
members. The downhill grade is plenty steep, and one scary thing about
these track skis, they have no brakes & no way of snowplowing to a stop.
Some of the crowd walked down to the bottom of the hill to the finish line
the long way around, others choose to watch what they could from atop the
hill. Kathy & I walk half way down to try & capture some of their high
speed race on film.
A shot rang out & they were off & moving fast. It was all I could do to
click one action photo. It was nearly neck & neck most of the way down but
close to the finish ribbon, Rene inched ahead & went flying not only
through the ribbon finish line but also thru a cattle fence quite a
distance past the finish line. With no injuries, the crowd went wild. What
a Finish!
After watching that thriller race, coupled with all the other interesting
activities we've been exposed to so far today, we are ready for some sit
down...do nothing but relax kind of inactivity. I can just imagine how the
wedding couple must feel.
So next, our crowd is checking into the hotel/restaurant " Berggasthaus
Herrenboden " not far from where Rene skied through the fence. We are
lucky, as we take our suitcases up to the 3rd floor, there are our names:
Kathy, Katrina & Monte...assigned to an end room of the hotel with 4 beds
& plenty of space. It's very nice. We freshen up for the next social
rendezvous to be downstairs & outside on the veranda...white wine as a
social time before dinner. Kathy & Katrina didn't stay outside very
long...the sun is down now & the air is cooling in these mountains.
Soon....the call for dinner is announced.
We are seated at a " non Swiss table." So developed so that we could all
speak English....especially us 3 Americans. An exception to our non-Swiss
-table was Thomas(son of Oskar). It must have been an oversight but we had
no problem accepting Thomas. Besides Katrina, Kathy, Thomas & me, there
are Bernie & Monika from Germany as well as another guy whose name I have
forgotten...plus Joseph & his wife from Austria. Most of our conversations
the entire evening were in English....and Bernie from Germany was our best
interpreter, explaining " what's happening " not only at the main wedding
table, but also for any other outburst of activity that brought laughter
that we were curious about or needed to know.
After a few more refills of white wine, some appetitzers & social talk,
the glasses are exchanged & the red wine began flowing.... & really didn't
stop flowing throughout the rest of the evening until sometime early
morning. We estimated the dinner crowd to number 75 to 85 total. Yes we
know a lot of these people but certainly not all of them.
Sometime during the 1st dinner serving, the assigned skits began to take
place. Most were relatively short, some were simply poems read to Myrta &
Rene & obviously very clever & funny. Others were done with music,
singing, dancing etc.
I think it was about 9:30 pm when we were notified our skit was to be
preformed in 30 minutes. Now you've read in previous journal days about
the BIG Binoculars being constructed, Katrina wearing a Bikini, things
like that. Well, to begin with, we needed a good interpreter to vocalize
our skit along with my English & our actions. Luckily we had Bernie who by
nature is quite funny & speaks very good English. He made our short
performance come alive this evening.
Before I go any further, I'll explain just how our particular skit came to
fruition: Last year, October 2003, we were attending a rally in our
motorhome in Key West, Florida. At the same time, Myrta & Rene were on
holiday in Miami, Florida. We agreed to drive in & spend the weekend
visiting them & their friend Teresa @ the Marriott @ South Beach.
Mid afternoon at this beautiful beach ...just a casual walk from the
Marriott, we lazed around in the sun soaking up rays & catching up on
life. I couldn't help but casually notice Rene looking at other sights &
scenes on the beach...and they weren't sand castles, low flying aircraft,
power boats pulling water skiers or kite fliers. Something he was focusing
on magnified 10 times over, would obviously have an effect on his facial
expression, his breathing & would occasionally produce some light audible
guttural sounds.
Then I would look at Myrta...she said nothing while watching Rene &
shrugged this obvious voyeuristic behavior off with "no big deal!" So
this experience at the beach was the basis of our theme for tonight's
skit.
A runner comes up to our almost non-Swiss-table & gives us the word:
You're on in 15 minutes.
Now we have Katrina wearing a Bikini under a short skirt, carrying a
towel, relaxing on her beach chair & representing a good looking beach
girl(like she is); Kathy in her swimming suit carrying a towel & imitating
Myrta; I in my shorts & bare chest carrying my powerful BIG binoculars &
acting as Rene.
Bernie announces in Swiss German to the audience our entrance into the
room & sets the mood....of BEFORE MARRAGE: SCENE I
I vocalize to the audience that.." I am Rene " as I puff out my chest!!
"And I am the best Swiss Comm worker; The best skier on the ski team; the
best hi-teck gadget guy in town & the best girl watcher on the beach."
Bernie translates this message to the audience. Then we somewhat duplicate
the beach scene that Rene demonstrated at South Beach, Florida. And like
Myrta, Kathy ignored & poo pooed my obvious voyeuristic hehavior aimed at
Katrina & some of the younger girls in the audience with my BIG
binoculars.
Then we leave the audience & return to our small room off the main dinning
room to prepare for scene II:
Again Bernie announces to the Audience our entrance into the room and says
into the microphone: " AFTER THE MARRAGE, SCENE II ": Now I come into the
room wearing a shirt with a rather large pillow tucked underneath...giving
one the impression of Rene's stomach prutrusion, considerable weight gain.
And, in lieu of those powerful BIG binoculars, I now have a very small,
not so powerful pair & that just don't magnify well at all. No matter how
much I clean the lens, I am frustrated. Meanwhile, Kathy as Myrta, is
watching my efforts of girl watching & looks downright disgusted & comes
flying over to me with her towel, taking my little binoculars & hitting me
over the head with that towel and dragging me off back to our room. We
could hear a lot of laughter & a round of applause as we left the scene. I
think it went over pretty well especially with Katrina, Kathy & Bernie's
help. Only a few more skits were performed after ours and they were quite
entertaining as well.
Back to our almost non Swiss table, we find new plates & another dinner
serving. Wow! I am still a little hungry so I do eat most of what's been
served but no dessert. Whereas Kathy & Katrina ate much of the additional
food and then sampled a little of everything on the dessert table. Later
they admitted being stuffed. In retrospect, they had a better idea.
Most of the crowd are finished eating when the D J begins spinning
records. This is the same D J that spun records during the Gabete (like a
wedding shower) on Sept 11th in the barn on Oskar's farm. His selections
have been terrific & tonight is no exception. The wedding couple begin
dancing, followed by other members of the wedding family, and eventually
anyone. I dance a few songs with Kathy, a few with Katrina & a few other
nice ladies....and then...and then... I finally dance with the beautiful
Bride Myrta. The evening went quickly at this point because we were mixing
& meeting new relatives & friends of the wedding party plus doing a lot of
gabbing. It was about 2:00 am now & only those of the younger crowd were
still partying. There is talk of us all moving downstairs to a smaller
room where there is a bar with no bartender and the bar is open and
then.... WE can do the SCHLUME. When I first heard of this I let them know
that I don't know how to do the SCHLUME. They laughed. They said it's not
a particular dance, it's just doing the "last dance!" Well let me tell
you, that last dance went on for hours & we finally had to sneak out of
that bar/dance room & slither thru the young crowd to make our get away
around 4:00 am.
That's about all I can remember...it really was a GREAT DAY!
Lights out: 4:15 am
Some photos are on line of this wedding: www.foto-reinert.ch
Click on gallerie...then Rene & Myrta. I had to click on gallerie several
times to have the list of wedding couples appear. If you look closely in
the church photo, you can see the lovely Kathy & her almost bald
husband...way to the back right.
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