Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Niko and Claudia's Wedding
Tiflis 1907
Alexandra finally swayed Claudia’s father to consent to the wedding. Nobody took this
religious ceremony overly seriously, she argued, it was part of Georgian tradition and should
be of ethnological interest to Mr. Dahl. The ritual was part of Georgian life, he should simply
consider it as a Georgian family celebration.
Alexandra’s dream to drive Niko and Claudia to church in the colorfully draped Benz,
had been preempted by the priest’s demand for a low-key wedding. The bridal couple, Claudia
bravely clothed in Alexandra’s wedding dress, with a serious Otto holding the train, rode in the
family phaeton. The guests left their hired carriages at a nearby square and walked the few
blocks to the church. By Georgian standards it was a modest wedding.
The hurried and perfunctory ministrations of the priest and his helpers, the pair’s
breathless run through the sanctum behind the iconostasis, and the sarcastic comments
among the guests made, in Alexandra’s opinion, an unholy farce of the wedding service. But it
helped to make the ceremony less oppressive to the ‘unbelievers’ than little Sophia’s solemn
dunking in the baptismal cauldron. The wedding guests arrived for the reception at the house in
the best of spirits, laughing and joking about the Georgian church and its clergy.
At the wedding reception the Bredows persuaded the Dahls to stay with them in
Constantinople on their way home. They would sail together from Batumi. At about the same
time the expedition to Svaneti was set to leave. Irakli invited all to spend of a few days as
guests of his half-brother David at the Dadiani mansion in Zugdidi, which lay conveniently on
the way to Batumi and Svaneti. Only Alexandra protested, she needed a volunteer who would
share her driving and learn quickly.
She had half-hoped that Konrad would take driving lessons from her. But he grinned, it
would probably not be a good idea to learn to drive from one’s wife. He would prefer instead to
continue riding with Otto.
The lot fell on Vladimir, who could barely hide his excitement of spending a couple of
hours a day alone with Alexandra. She was aware of providing the pretext.
Konrad laughed when she told him. He had foreseen the outcome of her campaigning.
Konrad felt good in this relaxed environment—his rides with Otto into the hills, conversations
with Leist, visits to Henri. Alexandra’s excursions with Vladimir did not disturb him. He had
become fond of this man.
Vladimir discovered the unexplored pleasure of handling the big machine. His father
would have considered driving an absurd proposition, why else did he have servants?
They would drive short distances out of town, drink a glass of tea or wine under the
plane-trees of a local chaihane, a teahouse, watch the colorful natives, and talk.
Vladimir was interested in everything, the bewildering mixture of races, languages, and
customs of Georgia. The life and times of her famous great-grandfather, Alexander
Chavchavadze. The story of the unhappy Griboyedov, who fell in love with Alexander
Chavchavadze’s sister and was horribly slaughtered by Islamic fanatics. Alexandra enjoyed
undermining Vladimir’s romantic Russian notions. Vladimir’s final driving test became a day-
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