A glamping wedding

Straight after my Berlin trip I was off to South Wales for a wedding. And given it was being held in a chapel in a village in the Brecon Beacons, there was no hotel to put up guests. Rather we were billeted in a field with glamping the option.

Now this was at, at 52, my first real experience of camping. (Well I had stayed in a tent in Botswana, but that had a fixed shower and toilet and someone came round in the morning with hot water to shave in. So that probably doesn't count.)

Now first off, I have to say fair play to the Welsh. I just do not know how humans can survive in a climate this wet. Basically we had rain from arriving on Friday until the wedding Saturday afternoon. We had been warned on numerous occasions to bring Wellington boots, but I ignored this, not having wellies and anyway, how wet can it be? By Saturday morning people were googling how long it takes to get trench foot. That wet. Several parties, me included, drove into Brecon and hit one outdoor equipment store to loot it of its Barbour Wellington boot stocks. That one shop would have taken many hundreds of pounds just from our wedding party. Nice to know we were a boost to the local economy.

Now the tents were actually perfectly comfortable, and watertight. And as dry as they can be when a very wet person person gets into one.I actually slept very well. Until dawn. When it became light, and the birds started. First one, then loads of the little buggers. Well they do call it the dawn chorus. And this is the countryside.

And the showers were warm. Although I didn't expect to share them with quite so much of the local insect life. But I shouldn't have been surprised - they were after all the driest place around. So I accept this s glamping. But not my idea of holiday accommodation. I can't believe people do this as a leisure activity, and worse still, take children. Sorry, en suite is  bare minimum requirement for me.

 That is not to say this is not a picturesque part of he country, or that its not atmospheric in the dark. As you can see.

And a special shout for the neighbours who set up their house next door to the farm as a breakfast cafe. God they were good.

So, off to the wedding in our best clothes, plus wellies and matching brollies.

A picturesque church in the valleys. although we had to have the quality of the views described to us.

Gareth clearly can scrub up quite well for a special occasion.

Oh, and if you are going to get married, having an internationally renowned singer definitely improves the hymn singing. Fair play to Rhyddian.

A very happy couple. The rain had even stopped by this stage.

Yeah, they do look a great couple don't they?

And quite a party afterwards in the marquee. Including a set from Rhyddian. He can knock out Delilah rather better than Mr Jones!

The German History Museum

My last day, so I went back into town to visit the German History Museum, and take a few more random photos in Central Berlin on a very sunny day.

I popped into Humboldt's Box, the modern structure just behind the fountain below, built largely to promote the reconstruction of the palace behind it.

 Model of Berlin with what the palace will look like when finished, making Museum Island even more impressive.

The top of the Box offers decent views across the "square".

 The German History Museum is well worth a visit. One can't get a decent view of it because the centre of the road is taken up with work on the Underground, but the contents of the Museum are really absorbing. I wish I had much more time in it - I had to rush the 20th century section.

If you are wondering, its a plague helmet - a sort of early gas mask.