swedish wedding in black and white...

Part two of the wedding of the year, in black and white...

 Blessings all around...

 I now pronounce you husband and wife...

 Let the fun times begin!

 Congratulations, hugs and love...

 Lyra takes a skip down the aisle...

 Friends, family and sunshine!

 Beautiful women abounded... x

 Rice time...

 Young and old all getting involved...

 The bride...

 The groom...

In love... x

swedish wedding in colour...

As if there hadn't been enough amazing trips this year...

Cornish new year... Austrian winter pow... Polish Gdancing... Oslo snow (coming soon!)... Brighton cider walks... Austrian summer cycling... Tis a gifted life...

Our other summer holiday had been planned for a while though, namely the wedding of Ms Emma Shepherdson and Mr Nicklas Wallberg in beautiful Soderkoping, a couple of hours south of Stockholm... Unfortunately for me, a large, work related spanner had been thrown in the mix and it came right down to the wire for me to make the wedding... Thankfully, everything came together in the eleventh hour and what resulted was a weekend I will never forget...

Here's part one in square form, in colour...

 The lovely Ms Helena Rosengren started my journey off on the right foot, kindly picking me up from Skavsta Airport at 9am and treating me to a delish breakfast at Hellmanskagarden, a cosy cafe in her hometown of Nykoping... A couple of hours wasn't really enough time to catch up on the four years since we last saw each other, but we gave it a good shot! Hopefully it won't be so long between drinks this time around... x

 After a train journey from Nykoping to Norrkoping, I was again hooked up with another ride, as Lucy and some of the ladies had been getting their retail on in town. From there it was back to our idyllic accommodations at Slussen Rum where my my wedding preparations consisted of a sleep, a swim and a cider, in that order!

 We would get to know this canal A LOT better in the early hours of the following morning! The Gota Canal in picturesque Soderkoping...

 Friends and family had travelled from all over the globe to be a part of this wedding and everyone was styling in fine form... 

 A gathering of wonderful people, coming together to celebrate how much two people love each other, in truly beautiful natural surroundings... Vows in both Swedish and English... Song and spoken word expressing happiness and love... How a wedding should be... x

 Here comes the bride! And groom! x

 Sweet speeches...

 Smiles and laughs... 

 And maybe a few tears...

Husband and wife! Congratulations dream team! x

down the danube part 11... vienna

Despite the previous nights fun, we managed to adhere to our hotel checkout time and were soon out and about on the wet, wet, wet streets of Wien. Having visited before I had a couple of aces up my sleeve to share with the group, starting with the amazing Cafe Sperl, a delicious and historic example of Vienna cafe culture...
After a quick visit to St Stephen's tie dye chapel, our group split up, with us kids making our way to Prater fairgrounds. Though the rain didn't let up all day, we still embraced the fun of it all, the highlights being the dodgem cars and the ghost train... Good times...
Before we knew it, it was time to head towards the flughafen for our evening flight back to Old London town, and as we rose towards the clouds, (complimentary G&T in hand) we were gifted a final view the Danube, snaking its way north out of Vienna...  
What a holiday! 
Thanks to Team Danube for all the amazing memories.
Again, if you want to read more about the holiday, you can visit Lucy's blog here, and to see more images, you can visit Jack's blog here...
x

Breakfast of champions... Coffee, eggs and cake...

A Wien classic...

Whack those moles!

Lucy making friends while the kids creep out...

Speaking of creepy... Faceless female anyone?

It was a special time for everyone...

Yes, the rain does strange things to people...

Riesen RAD!

Our parting view of Wien and the Danube...

Thank you British Airways for soothing my holiday comedown...

vinyl voyage... pm dawn

So a couple o months back, I decided that I'd like to have a record player with which to enjoy my regularly increasing vinyl collection... Enter this lovely pair of Numark direct drives with a 2 channel mixer and speakers for under £100... I'll take it! 

Though both my brother and I used to be junkies for hip hop and dnb back at the start of the century, (we've still got a stack o crates down under, and i still buy bits of dnb from time to time...) my enjoyment for buying vinyl has shifted more towards digging through charity shops and small record stores in search of interesting cover art... My goodness there's some gold out there...

What's even more awesome about buying vinyl with this impetus is that you come across some epic tunes from time to time. At times it's a musical lucky dip that can end in tears (or bleeding ears) but i love it nonetheless...

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of this music and art on the regs from now on... I'll try and post online links to tunes, if they're available... Hope yall enjoy! x

Todays selection is an absolute classic and one I know my brother's going to fan out on... 

PM Dawn - Set adrift on memory bliss

down the danube part 10... the home stretch

Today was like a perfectly written book, from beginning, through middle, right to the end.
We began rising early at our campsite where a mobile cafe/bakery had posted up right next to us, incredibly convenient as it was an infamous hungry Sunday. After our morning fill (and a few games of pong for Jack and myself) we made our way to Aubad, a large lake near our campsite with all manner of recreational activities including water slides! The weather really turned it on and it was truly tough to drag ourselves away from the life of leisure to get back in the saddle...
With the best part of the holiday having been ridden at a leisurely pace, Jack and I decided to up the ante for the home stretch into Vienna breaking away from the peleton for a dnb fuelled 20km sprint. It was an awesome feeling and before we knew it, we were posted up on the outskirts of Vienna, Radlers in hand, awaiting the arrival of the rest of the group...
And so onwards into the city we ventured, finding ourselves both delighted and despondent that our journey was coming to an end. Still there wasn't much time for thought as we were all too soon due at Viennas Arena to watch the magnificence of M83. An appropriately amazing finale to a week of wonder...

The picturesque (though overexposed) Aubad...

Slippery Jig...

Splashdown in three, two, one...

So rad right now...

We did it! The end of the line...

The gloriousness of M83... Tick!

And the crowd goes wild...

down the danube part 9... krems to tulln

Bit of a slow day on the photographic front between Krems and Tulln... The cycling was as enjoyable as ever and the weather simply sensational... We spent the best part of the evening relaxing with a few drinks beside our campsite before heading into Tulln in search of a restaurant offering "Spargelzeit" (Asparagus time!) Though not everyone embraced the asparagus, it was an amazing Austrian meal; some Tiroler Groestl, some spargel and some spaetzl, alongside Gruner Veltliner and Weissbier... Thank you Tulln!

Geradeaus through green fields...

The obsession with electrical aliens continues...

Love shacks baby...

down the danube part 8... wachau wonder

Each day of our travels seemed to bring new, unexpected adventures but, for me at least, today was always going to be a highlight. I'd visited the Wachau before, during my time living in Austria, and i knew its combination of vineyards and vistas would make for an unforgettable part of the journey.

What I didn't for see was being welcomed into a village party for the opening of a local bank and being invited on a private tour of the church tower by the towns preist. Blessed...

Amazing weather, food and wine and one of the most memorable days of our holiday...

To read a more detailed description of the day, click here... 

 The vines of Winegut Hofstaetter above the town of Spitz set the scene for our day of indulgence with tables full of wine, cheese, meat and dips... 

 The team get amongst the grapes...

 A creepy ossiary in Woesendorf...

 Snicker making friends in Weissenkirchen...

 Band of Hor(n)ses...

 Mama steps in for a tune with twinkle toes Manfred...

The heavenly view over Weissenkirchen and down the Danube from the top of the church tower... Thanks for the tour Peter...