Winging it to Estonia + a German wedding + Iceland

My wife, Mary, and I traveled to Germany in September 2015, as we had been invited — as family — to attend the wedding of our former exchange student. The bride lived in Vechta, about an hour’s drive southwest of Bremen, so we booked a flight to Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the idea of (after a short adventure) renting a car and driving to Germany.

I deliberately scheduled seven days of unplanned time before we were expected at the bride’s home, with the idea that, once in Europe, we would go to a “last-minute-flight window” and fly to wherever. 

At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol there were at least 10 of these windows, which all had really cheap flights to places like Turkey, the Canary Islands, the Greek islands, etc. But my idea of a vacation in Europe wasn’t to sit on a sandy beach and sleep under a thatched roof at seaside.

Mary and I went back and forth between windows, comparing the various flights offered. We also checked online for bargain flights and after about two hours found one to Tallinn, Estonia, for about $240 each, round trip. What a great opportunity to explore! 

We flew out the next morning. At the Tallinn airport, we stopped at the tourist desk to see if they could book us a hotel and were told, “We don’t do that.”

We took a cab to the tourist information office in Tallinn, where we learned that they don’t really find hotel rooms for tourists, either. We were told that the Three Crowns Residence Hotel (Vene 8, Tallinn, 10123, Estonia; phone +372 668 7023, http://threecrowns.ee/three-crowns) was right around the corner. Its phone wasn’t working, but we walked there and booked a room for about $67 per night, including breakfast, for four nights.

In the center of the tourist area, the hotel was unpretentious, neat, clean and tidy, and it featured a fine restaurant.

We then discovered that our credit cards and ATM cards wouldn’t work because we hadn’t notified our banks that we’d be in Estonia (Hello!), but we had enough cash to survive. Next time, we’ll be sure to email our personal banker about our last-minute itinerary changes.

Tallinn was a fun place to visit, with plenty of old churches and fortifications, and the prices for everything were very reasonable.

For the return flight, we needed to print tickets. This really “ain’t my thing,” so Mary (the techie) went to the hotel’s front desk, and after several tries she was able to email the ticket confirmation from our home email address to the hotel’s email address. The hotel then was able to print the tickets for us. The staff was very helpful at all times but especially in this effort.

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Once back in Amsterdam, we got our car and drove to Vechta. We had a nice apartment within easy walking distance of the bride’s parents’ home.

The wedding would take place on Saturday, but the party started on Wednesday evening. As we walked to the house, we noticed that the other people arriving all were carrying different kinds of dishes and crockery, from flowerpots to fine china. 

There was an unending supply of schnapps and beer, and after a couple of drinks, everyone started smashing dishes in the driveway. This is a traditional pre-wedding event, Polterabend, intended to bring good luck to the happy couple. Together, the couple must sweep up all the shards, confirming cooperation.

My wife (who doesn’t speak German) and the groom’s mother (who doesn’t speak English) united to try to save a lovely gilded teapot, which a young woman said she had gotten from her grandmother’s pantry. They were unsuccessful, and the teapot, along with a matching serving platter, both were smashed.

Thursday, the bride and groom took us to see an exquisite hunting lodge, Schloss Clemenswerth, built in the 1700s. Three Russian weddings were taking place there at the time, and we were chased out of the main lodge. Evening included Wiener schnitzel at the bride’s home.

Friday, all the women went to get manicures and pedicures, and then we all went to decorate the 600-year-old reception hall. It was a huge converted barn that easily accommodated the 150-plus wedding guests.

The wedding was held in a small church, where the groom’s family had been members for generations. The ceremony was lovely and the bride, beautiful. We exited the church under an archway of soccer balls, each held by a member of the groom’s team.

We had our pictures taken with the family, then went back to the converted barn, where the party really started. We left early (2 a.m.) with the bride’s grandparents. My wife was the navigator using the GPS on granddad’s smartphone, which died of battery failure about 30 seconds out of the parking lot. Returning to our apartment was a grand adventure.

The next day, there was a brief period of “no party,” but by 11 a.m. the beer was flowing freely and there was bratwurst for all. We finally faded away about 3 p.m. and went back to our apartment to collapse.

The next day, one of the wedding guests took us to Papenburg, where giant oceangoing cruise ships are built. We saw the Norwegian Escape just after it was launched into the canal on its way to the sea.

We spent a couple of days on the northern coast of Germany. In the off-season, not much was going on. 

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Flying home, we had a stopover in Iceland. From the airport, Reykjavik was about an hour away through lava fields. We stayed in the center of town at the CenterHotel Skjaldbreid (Laugavegi 16, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland; phone +354 595 8510, www.centerhotels.com/our-hotels/hotel-skjaldbreid) for about $145 a night.

We had a room facing the main street, where the locals (or tourists?) whooped and hollered most of the night. We stayed four nights. The hotel was clean, the staff was most helpful and the breakfast (included), adequate.

In July, at the suggestion of our son and his wife, who had visited Iceland, we had booked the “Golden Circle” tour, an 8-hour minibus tour, with Reykjavik Excursions (BSÍ Bus Terminal 101, Reykjavík, Iceland; phone +354 580 5400, www.re.is/day-tours/the-golden-circle).

For  ISK12,900 (near $104) per person, the tour included hydroponic farms, geysers and giant and exquisite waterfalls and also took us to a place where you can cross from the European tectonic plate to the North American. This was a great and enjoyable tour.

Food in Iceland was very expensive, but the people were nice. 

All in all, it was a great trip and we had a grand time.

JIM KRONHOLM

Blandford, MA