Or, watching det kungliga bröllopet (the royal wedding) from South Florida via SVT on the Internet with almost no sleep whatsoever.
"What a glorious day for a wedding" was the the subject line for one of the emails I received from friends in Stockholm early Saturday morning, who were already making their way to favorite parade "spots" around town to watch the cortege after the wedding, even while I was trying to catch a few hours of sleep, so I could watch all the coverage on Sveriges Television (SVT) starting at 7 a.m. East Coast time in oppressively hot and humid Miami, where you can actually sweat going outside to pick up the newspaper.
SVT's coverage of everything was superb, so much better than I could've hoped, but as one scene after another fell on me, my biggest regret was that I couldn't be there in-person to share the moments with some good and loyal friends, many of whom had feared, as I had, that that day for Victoria and Daniel would never come.
Sometimes, there are no happy endings, even for real life princesses.
If you didn't take advantage of that invaluable SVT web information I shared with you on Friday, you missed one hell of a great wedding, as it was pitch-perfect, and the summer weather even cooperated, with no rain in Stockholm to douse everyone camped-out throughout the city to see the cortege.
Just mostly sunny skies and lots of smiles all around.
My screenshot, above, part of the royal procession in Stockholm on Saturday.
My screenshot, above, some of the throngs of happy people waiting to hear from the King and his daughter, Crown Princess Victoria, after her cortege around the city with new husband Daniel Westling.
The "True Love" balloon was a big hit among the ocean of Swedish flags, with one Danish and German flag also popping-up.
My screenshot, above, of a beaming Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling in their horse-drawn carriage, with Queen Silvia, Princess Madeleine, Prince Carl Philip and King Carl XVI Gustaf waiting to meet them.
I will have a lot more to say about the weekend's events in the days to follow, and I think you'll find what I have to say of interest, especially if you are someone who knows the full story behind Victoria and Daniel finally making it to the altar all these years later.
As impressed as I've always been with the Crown Princess, and for reasons that I've never really mentioned here before in any great detail, I believe she really outdid herself this weekend by handling things with such aplomb and good humor.
All of these qualities, along with her well-known warm, down-to-earth personality, are ones that the majority of people in Sweden know about and respect, almost instinctively, regardless of whatever their own individual political position may be on retaining a constitutional monarchy, or despite what know-it-all foreign reporters, dropping-in for the ceremony this weekend, may have to say about her or the country.
Trust me, those people are very happy for her personally, and proud that she was more than up to the task confronting her with millions of people watching her every move on a day that she once thought might never come to pass.
My favorite screenshot: Crown Princess Victoria, how about a smile for the folks overseas? Alongside Daniel and her parents just moments before she made her short but moving speech that had people laughing -and crying.
Victoria's comments:
Kära, kära vänner,
jag vill börja med att tacka svenska folket för att ni har gett mig min prins.
Vi, min make och jag, är så otroligt glada och väldigt tacksamma för att så många vill vara här och fira tillsammans med oss.
Det är en enorm upplevelse, det är vår absolut största dag hittills i vårt liv.
Att känna ert stöd betyder mer för oss än ni någonsin skulle kunna förstå.
Det är något otroligt.
Idag är en dag som vi kommer att bära med oss i våra hjärtan för resten av vårt liv.
Tack!
SVT video of Victoria's speech to the Swedish people is at
Victorias tal till svenska folketYou can watch this SVT video until Monday July 19, 2011.
Selected video summary from Daniel and Victoria's wedding day in Stockholm on Saturday and the happy scenes that were shared across Sweden. http://www.tv4play.se/nyheter/nyhetskanalen?videoId=1.1686444
See more excellent videos of the myriad wedding events as well as analysis at:
http://svt.se/2.132586/det_kungliga_brollopet_-_livesandningen and http://www.tv4play.se/
Based on what I've seen so far, the best photos and articles have, predictably, been at
http://www.aftonbladet.se/ and and http://www.expressen.se/
They never disappoint.
Now these two organizations know how to put together an interesting and attractive news website, something the Miami Herald could learn volumes from as their pathetic website remains a complete mish-mash and industry-wide embarrassment.
Seriously, I cringe almost every time I go to it, dumbfounded at both its ugliness and complete uselessness, a very bad combination, indeed.
Also be sure to see the great Love Stockholm 2010 3-D photo collage of the crowds outside the royal palace as Victoria spoke: http://lovestockholm2010.se/EN/About.aspx
An ingenious idea well-executed.
Would be nice to see something this clever done in South Florida once in a while. HINT!
And check out TV4 LOVE 2010 trailer!
http://www.tv4play.se/noje_och_humor/nojesklipp?videoId=1.1648320Wow!
As I said above, there's quite a lot more from me to come on the whole kungliga bröllopet, as well as my thoughts on a really fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary on Crown Princess Victoria that I recently saw which was almost like an eavesdropping C-SPAN TV camera, letting you see things you'd never otherwise never see.
I'll share my thoughts about it, but also give you information you need so that you can see it yourself and draw your own conclusions.
As always, seeing is believing.
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http://www.stockholm.se/
