Travelling to a foreign country to attend a wedding sounds like a great adventure – and it was! Just getting to the event would have been enough for a Brysonesque paperback, the local minibus system proved efficient up to a point – a point some 30km short of destination. These simple things just add to the adventure, making each journey more and more memorable, especialy for our ageing, sweating, taxi driver who seemed to thrive on the challenge of communicating via written numbers and various hand signals as he admirably helped us find our hotel, with time to spare!

Krakow to Wisla on a Sunday morning is probably not the most common of trips, so it was not really a surprise that after a 2.5 hour journey on the Cieszyn bus as far as Skoczow (relevantly pronounced Scotch-ov!) there was no chance of making the hotel before the wedding coach left for the main event. Hence the taxi – whose driver probably took the rest of the day off, having earned enough Zloty for a week!

A culturally different service proved refreshing, enriching the British norm. A kilted Scotsman was supported ably by a Japanese Kimono wearing Best Man. Incidentally, Best Men don’t exist in Japan! Two Ukranian cameramen, in traditional / national dress darted around the building. The Polish bride was easily spotted – even before the service, chatting in the aisles, fixing flowers, kissing the groom… This was great! Much better than the will-she-won’t-she late arriving British Bride!

Lost in Translation – could have been, easily. The official translator brought everything across extremely well, enabling a smooth running order. To the side, simultaneous Russian translation took place, for our Ukranian friends (comrades?). Gangs of Paparazzi-esque well wishers invaded the stage and personal space of the happy couple on numerous occassions… this act was welcomed by all, hence the frequent repeats!

No barriers here, just an open, relaxed, deep, meaningful, happy day!