Sometimes you get to be in the parade of life instead of just watching it go by. Last week, I got to be in my Sister in law's wedding in Gyor, Hungary. Every year this city of 120,000 people holds a baroque festival and the 3 day wedding is the highlight.
The baroque period was one of the high points of wealth in Europe. Lots of art, architecture and a high quality of life.
The wedding involved about 200 people dressed up in costumes and 4,000 people looking on. This was quite a wedding and the highlight of a once year festival for this region of Hungary. For those of you wishing to see some highlights of Hungary including the Esterhazy castle, Budapest, Gyor and the city of sopron. Have a look here for far too many pictures.
One of the things I have learned traveling is that the less I speak the smarter I appear. Knowing no Hungarian means my in-laws instantly assign 20 extra IQ points to me, always helpful. Notice how well we all get along in this photo. They are all very friendly. I am on the far left, next to my wife acting as a natural translator / buffer with the rest of the family. The wedding procession was a great cultural treat, I waved to a crowd of thousands having absolutely no idea what they were saying. It kind of feels like being Peter Sellers character, Chancey Gardner in the film Being There, which I would highly recommend for your netflix que.
