Yes, you CAN go to Canada for the weekend and survive...

It was the Morwinder extravaganza last weekend, which brought us all the way back to Kanada! From Thursday night to Monday afternoon!!! (We're still a bit goggly-eyed!)

Thank goodness for the trip, though, as we were getting a bit spicy about Switzerland in recent weeks... Turns out all we needed was to party like a Lohan for a weekend in order to feel better!

Here are a few pictures of the main events...starting with the Sikh ceremony at the gurdwara!

A few factoids about gurdwara protocol:

• Out of respect, shoes may not be worn inside a gurdwara. There is a place to leave shoes at the entrance way.
• Another requirement is that heads should not be bare. Women will typically wear shawls or scarves and men will wear a turban or ‘patka” -- a cotton scarf.

In the part of the ceremony you see below, the bride's father places one end of a palla (scarf) worn by the groom into his daughter’s hand, symbolically entrusting her to her future husband. Then the bride and groom circle the Guru Granth Sahib, and bow before it in acknowledgment. The completion of the fourth circle formalizes the union of bride and groom! Here are Inder and Morwenna, fourth time around...


And after...married!
Friday night was pub time, and a special night at The Victory was planned. Carrie and Matt, Quiz Mistress and Master, administered an Inder and Morwenna-themed pub quiz...
...and then the live-by-request music sing-a-long-dance-a-long started.
Here are Rebecca and Inder, totally rocking "Hey Ya!" Rebecca, we hardly knew ye! (Inder, we always suspected.)
The next day it was off to the Anglican wedding. The ladies below looked lovely (l-r Isis, Kristin, Monty). As you can see, if there was ever a time to wear a charming fascinator or a Carmen Sandiego hat, this was that time!!!(Even though Ian and I failed to take any pictures of ourselves, rest assured we also looked totally hot.)

Then there was a reception in Kleinburg...which I seem to remember involving a lot of beer, "Morwinder #1" foam fingers, and an after-party Chez Carrie... (We'd rather not post these pictures on the interweb, lest the thin veil of our anonymity is one day destroyed.)

Even with all this rabble-rousing, we still wanted to make time to see our families, especially our favourite six-year-old Jonah! Ian and I are looking a little worse for wear, but bear in mind that this is the end of the weekend and after a full Sunday of shop-to-you-drop-dead-ing! Yes, we blew big wads of cash in order to cure the $100-t-shirt problem we've encountered in Zurich,
the world's sixth-most expensive city!Jonah also provided some awesome artwork for our new apartment. Thanks, J!
There wasn't much left to do except crash...
...oh, and see our wedding venue...
...and then board a transatlantic flight with a cat, and make it back to Zurich in time for German school!!! Luckily, our hotel was completely prepared for Mr. B's arrival. This sign was on our door:
Tomorrow, we are on the move yet again, this time to our real apartment! Here is Ian, in his Euro-pose in our soon-to-be living room! We got the keys today, and then enjoyed a beer with our cigar-smoking "landlord representative" Rolf, who owns the restaurant downstairs. He has invited us to come any time. I think we've picked locations wisely...

Now to pack up all our worldy possessions (yet again) and get ready... We'll be off the interweb until we're wired in the new place, with only iPhone to send our SOS calls across the ocean. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly...