蜜月之旅的下半部是坐地中海遊輪﹐八天七夜往西西利﹐希臘﹐土耳其和克里特島。其實坐遊輪是最舒服的旅行方法﹐可以在最短的時間看最多的地方﹐完全不用擔心收捨行李趕搭火車巴士。每天落船遊玩完畢﹐回到船上吃飯玩樂睡覺﹐明天早上窗外又是新的景色﹐不知不覺又扺達新的地方。我們選擇乘坐Royal Caribean的Navigator of the Seas﹐十四萬噸的海上巨無霸﹐從岸上看還以為橦十四層樓高的大廈。它停泊在西西利的小港口時﹐更是全市最高的建築物﹐好不威風。這是我和老婆第一次坐遊輪﹐最初有點擔心會不會悶﹐聽人家說遊船上很多公公婆婆。的確過半數的乘客也是上了年紀﹐一家大細來旅行也有不少﹐淨下來的便是像我們一對對的新婚情侶。遊輪還特別為新婚夫婦搞了個蜜月派對之夜﹐我們在那兒碰到十多對來自世界各地的新人。有對新人還是來自約旦呢﹐奇怪那個妻子怎麼不用包頭。
London Heathrow Airport is probably the worst airport in the world. I read from the news that on average 6% of luggage is lost every year and 20% of flights are delayed in Heathrow. A few years ago, Heathrow lost my luggage and it took almost a month for airline to locate it. I am taking BA for my honey moon to Rome, so I have to take a transfer at London. I thought the new T-5 terminal would have some improvement to the airport, it turns out to be worse.
On my way there, I have the most horrable airport experience. The plumbing system of T-5 is broken, there is no flushing tiolet. The airport is really stinky and janitors has to carry bucket of water to flush the toilet after each use. It is even worse than Indian’s airport, at least airport in India has running water. (no tiolet paper though). On my way back, the tiolet is working, but I was stucked in the plane for two hours waiting to take off. The pilot claim because of bad weather, 85 flights is queueing up for the runway. Luckily my luggage is not lost this time.
Even if the broken toilets and flight delays are just accidents, there are fundamental problems with Heathrow’s operation and design. Passangers have to walk a long way and queue up for the custom just merely staying in the airport for the transfer. One thing I don’t quite understand is the gate number assignment in Heathrow. Airport around the world assign gate number for each flight far ahead of time. Usually when you print your boarding pass, you already know which gate to board. In Heathrow, they keep the gate secret until the very minute. The moment you see the gate number show up in the display, you should get moving to the gate so that you won’t miss the flight. Everyone ends up waiting in the common area and create a huge crowd. One thing that is even more stupid is the new T-5 has 3 buildings connected by an underground light rail. Going from A gates to B gates is a one way street. Once you arrive in the B gates building, there is no way for you to go back to the A gates building. Passenagers can only go to the B gates once their gate number shows up in the display, which is almost time to board. As a result, passenagers won’t able to spent anything in the B gates shops. Then why the airport have shops and even a resturant in the B gates building. I feel sorry for those who open a shop in the B gates building, I don’t see a single customer in those shops, everyone is lining up to board.
梵蒂岡是世界上最細的國家﹐其領土只有城牆內和聖彼得廣場的面積﹐出入境很簡單沒有海關﹐只要過條馬路就越過國界。不過梵蒂岡對外開放的地方不多﹐只有聖彼得大教堂和梵蒂岡博物館﹐其他地方要神職人員才可以進去。聖彼得大教堂是世界最昂貴和最大的教堂﹐說起來可是基督教從天主教分裂的罪魁禍首﹐當年教庭賣贖罪籌錢起聖彼得大教堂﹐馬丁路德提出反對被逐出教會﹐結果自立門戶創立基督教。聖彼得大教堂入面的雕像和油畫﹐無一不是文藝復興時代的藝術瑰寶﹐連有幾百年歷史的鐵門也細緻精美﹐中世紀教庭不愧財雄勢大。反而外面的聖彼得廣場﹐除了夠大外便一無是處﹐空洞洞的只有一個紀念碑和兩個噴泉。最外圍的圓柱陣放了很多金屬探測器﹐入大教堂好像去機場般保安嚴密。去教堂的規矩要衣著端裝﹐梵蒂岡對衣著的要求特別嚴格﹐女士不可以衣著暴露﹐男士不可以短褲涼鞋﹐我見有不少穿小背心的遊客被拒於門外。聖彼得大教堂建於聖彼得的墳墓上﹐教堂正中央就通往聖彼得墓的祭台﹐不過一般遊客不可以入內參觀﹐參觀地下的聖彼得墓要預約。聖彼得大教堂每天也幾次彌撒﹐平日彌撒在近入口的小教堂舉行﹐我們參觀的時間剛剛好﹐參加了意大利文的彌撒還領了聖體。不知是一處鄉村一處例﹐還是意大利天氣很潮濕﹐平時我食開的聖體很脆﹐但梵蒂岡的聖體卻很軟。星期天的主日彌撒則在教堂後方的主祭台舉行﹐全部禮儀和詩歌也用拉丁文﹐很有宗教的神聖氣氛。我們星期天下午離開羅馬﹐早上也特地去多次梵蒂岡﹐參加拉丁文彌撒。聖彼得大教堂除了教堂本身外﹐還有其他可以參觀的地方。遊客可以排隊上教堂的圓頂天台﹐從高處眺望羅馬的景色。也可以排隊下地窖﹐參觀歷代教宗的墳墓。古代教宗的石棺很華麗﹐不少上面有精美的雕刻﹐有些棺蓋甚至雕有該教宗的臥像。踏入二十世紀﹐教宗的墳墓越來越簡單﹐上幾任教宗只有一塊刻了名字的雲石碑。上任教宗John Paul II的墓總是前人山人海﹐很多教徒在那個位置停下來祈禱﹐相對其他教宗的幕前則冷清得多﹐年代久遠的教宗連鮮花也沒有。去梵蒂岡一定要順道寄明信片﹐因為梵蒂岡是個國家有自己的郵票。梵蒂岡有兩間郵局﹐一間在聖彼得廣場旁﹐另一間在梵蒂岡博物館內。
I am officially a married man. Horace and Patricia has become one under the witness of over 200 families and friends. The wedding is very successful, thanks to the helps from our good friends. I don’t want to repeat my wedding speech again in the blog, but I must say thank you to those who have helped us one more time. It is great to see all of my good friends to celebrate my biggest day in life with me. Many of them come from far away, some even just stay for a few days. We had good time and able to catch up with each other before the wedding.
The wedding is very well planned, down to time resolution in 15 minutes. However, Murphy’s Law always rules. Thing is working pretty well in the morning. Except no one knows I had a stomachache due to too nervous. I have to ask my best man drove me to McDonald’s for a washroom break before the the door opening game begins. I don’t think asking to use the washroom in Pat’s house would work. The morning photo session is pretty fun, we have lots of group pictures with the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Everyting seems running so smooth that we were able to arrive early in the church.
Probably none of the guests notice, the church ceremony is really off schedule and liturgically wrong in a few places. Too bad that there is another wedding right after ours, so we were literally kicked out from the church. We did not get enough time to have group photos. Luckily, we were able to make it up in the banquet. Those group photo are most boring photo in a wedding anyways. It is more like a record of who has shown up. So consolidate group photos into bigger groups to speed things up wasn’t really a big lost. We planned another photo session in Stanley Park between church and banquet. In the original plan, the wedding party will tag along too. We are running short of time, so we decide to take more couple pictures instead of group shots. The groomsmen and bridesmaids went straight to the restaurant to setup. They got some rest and with just us and the photographers, we were able to take photos quite efficiently. It is important to have take engagement photo with the same photographers, so that we know how to work with each other on the wedding day.
I am really tired at the banquet. We have good MC and wedding planner, so the banquet runs pretty well. I just have to follow the instruction. I don’t have to think too much. It seems my brain has shut down and I am just react with subconscious reflections. We have some silly games in the wedding. One of the game is hiding the groom. It is the first break I have since the morning. I was hiding quite relaxingly at the table in the far corner. That table is full of Pat’s high school friends, the girls could not finish the dishes, so I can share some food. I was enjoying a chicken leg when Pat finally found me. After the banquet, we have another challenge. We received lots of gifts, some of the gifts are in huge boxes. I love gifts in general, but some gifts I got simply shows the giver has no common sense. For example, I got a huge fancy garbage bin. It is nice, but it is inconvenient to bring to the restaurant in the first place. Did the giver ever think about how could I possible move it home? Luckily my groomsmen are really good friends, although it’s pretty late after the banquet, they still helped me to bring the gifts home. It takes three cars to load all the gifts.
I will write a more detail blog entry about my wedding experience when I have more time to digest it. There are so many things happening in the wedding day. I could use some quiet time in my honey moon trip to think over it when I am sun bathing on the deck of a cruise ship.
T minus one and counting. Only one more day from my big day. Things are piling up. I already passed the point I feel nervous or pressured. I simply could not feel anything. Tonight, my groomsmen and bridesmaids met and have dinner together. It is the first time the whole group is gathering in one place.
We had done the church rehearsal, it’s funny that the guy who conduct our rehearsal seems even more stressful than we are. He lost his temper over some silly questions, yelled at us and have to walk to the side to clam himself down. Maybe I simply have the talent to push people over the edge, or maybe he is just nuts. The only thing important in the church is the entry, the exchange of the ring and the exit. Who cares about the liturgy, no one knows the “correct” way anyways. If we screwed up and missed some steps, as long as we improvise on the spot, no one will notice.
Traditional Vancouver special style wedding requires lots of work and co-oridination. I am glad that we have lots of good friend helping us out. With their help, we are in reasonably good shape. I stronger suggest those who are about to get marry, consider keeping it simply. Travel wedding just with the family and a few close friends would be much easier.