Gwinners in Greece: Part 3, Family Wedding

When our young, Franco-Greek cousin, Ariane told us she was getting married in Athens, the idea of taking a trip to Greece was mighty tempting. It was even more inspiring when we discovered that the wedding date was July 29, the 20th anniversary of our own wedding.

Organizing a trip from Lima to Athens is a little complicated. The distances are big, involving lots of hours in airplanes and airports. Also, it's mid-winter here in Peru, rather than summer vacation. But as it happens, July 28 is national independence day in Peru, which is a big holiday. Addison's school gets the month off for winter break. Britt was invited to give a talk in Germany right about the same time. And Valerie was able to schedule the start date of her new job for the beginning of August. So off we went.

It also happens that we Gwinners love a good wedding. Invite us to yours and there's a good chance we'll go - or at least, do our best to attend.

This one was especially sweet and charming. There were stilt walkers and members of the band who were friends of the bride and groom. Family and friends came from all sorts of different countries. The party was outdoors on a beautiful evening under the lit up temples and ruins of the Acropolis. Here are the happy and glowing bride and groom, Blake and Ariane
Britt, Addison, champagne, good food, good company
Cake and champagne

Johannes (had come all the way from Moscow via Mongolia for his cousin's wedding) and Veronique, mother of the bride

Unfortunately, we didn't get photos of the actual ceremony -- because we missed it. There was that little problem of the car break-in. Just as we were going to head off to the hotel to change into our going-to-a-wedding outfits, we discovered that thieves had broken into our rental car, taking with them Britt's briefcase, including computer, phone, passport, I-pod, and other key items of that type. So instead of watching the happy couple exchange their I-do's, we negotiated our way with friendly shopkeepers, an assortment of police officers, and the world's stupidest cab driver.

These are the breaks - or break-ins. We did get to enjoy the wedding party. We did get to see family and celebrate. Britt did manage to get his passport replaced in time to give his talk in Germany. We did kick ourselves for leaving valuable things in the car.

We're still glad we went.

And July 29th is still a good day for a wedding!