Jer got up before Jess and showered, then serenaded her with "Happy Birthday" when she finally dragged her sleepy self out of bed. We finished off the marzipan (birthday) cake, Jess showered, then it was time for prezzies. After opening some lovely cards, she was thrilled to receive a 1930s-style curved watch from her mother-in-law, a gorgeous white sapphire ring from her parents and a sapphire and diamond pendant from Jer. She got kitted out in her new sparklies and we headed down to breakfast.
The Sofitel Victoria Warsaw puts on quite a breakfast spread. Jer had coldcuts, cheese, olives, fried mushrooms, bacon, strawberry pierogi, little savory puff pastries and fruit. Jess had waffles, eggs, bacon, coldcuts, pickles, olives, cheese pierogi and fruit. We both washed it all down with juice and tea and were amazed that they didn't have to roll us out of the restaurant.
We walked up to the Old Town, where we caught a tram to the other side of the Vistula river to the Praga neigborhood, home of the Warsaw Zoo. It's smallish, but set in a beautiful park, with a surprising variety of animals. We particularly enjoyed seeing the big cats: a jaguar, several puma, a cheetah, two lions and a pair of leopards. The monkeys were also fun, especially the gibbons, squirrel monkeys and lemurs, which all live on tree-covered islands in a pond. Amusingly, the zoo has attracted a number of corporate sponsors, including Puma (for the puma exhibit, of course) and Dodge (for a wild ram exhibit)! The only problem with the zoo is that the enclosures are small, though they are being converted into habitats rather than cages.
Upon leaving the zoo we caught a tram back to the Old Town, where we walked to Bar Pod Barbakanem, a milk bar just outside the old city walls. Without a phrase book our understanding of the menu was limited, but Jer tried chlodnik (a beet soup with hard-boiled eggs), Jess had kotlet shabowy (like wiener schnitzel) with mashed potatoes, and we both had lemon Fanta. As with all milk bars, it was tasty and inexpensive (under $9, all told).
We headed back to the hotel to finish packing and getting ready for the wedding. After checking out and leaving our bags with the porter, we walked over to the church where we were greeted by Margo, her family and her adorable yorkie, Mika. Soon, we all headed into the lovely church for the ceremony. It was a bit perplexing, since we don't speak Polish, but we managed okay by watching other people stand, sit and kneel. The best part was the soloist, an opera singer, who was amazing. Her "Ave Maria" brought tears to several people's eyes!
We caught a ride to the reception site, Jablonna Palace, from Margo's cousin. After checking into our hotel room there, we took a brief nap before heading to the reception. There was tons of food served throughout the night. Notable courses included smoked salmon with cream, mushroom soup, corned beef with mushroom stuffing, and consomme with beef dumplings. There were also salads and veggie platters, including wonderful insalata caprese and fantastic dill dip for the crudités. The wedding cake was delicious: two layers of booze-spiked chocolate cake, and one of less-boozy vanilla. Both were excellent.
In between the seemingly-never-ending courses, there was plenty of dancing, drinking and silly party games. We were thoroughly amused at being dragged into the chicken dance and the macarena, and Jer jumped at the chance to get into the conga line. There were also lots of dances involving people holding hands and forming concentric circles on the dance floor. We're not sure what was up with that, but we joined in anyway. Jess danced with the groom at one point, Jer with the bride at another, and it was great fun.
There were many toasts throughout the night, to the newlyweds, their parents, the grandparents, and so on. Jess's birthday was toasted twice, to her amusement. Also, to get the bride and groom to kiss, the guests sang songs about the vodka being sour and needing kisses to sweeten it.
At 3 am, we snuck off to bed.