Cocktails and spas
I was in Berlin last week. I stayed with friends and had a blast - covering all corners of the city by day and relaxing or going out by night. So often though I found myself yearning Liane's company. We'd such a simple routine and easy way about travelling together. Sure, it wasn't all roses - show me one couple who travels without a good row! - but we'd done it enough times to have it worked out.
By default I found myself falling back on our go-to things to visit in a new city, the age-old Pannie & MP travel approach. It went something like this:
- Find the best breakfast cafe within walking/short travel distance
- Sit there for ages reading books, playing on phones, planning day
- Pick out some odd things to see and some very touristy things to see - ALWAYS look for a spa/sauna
- Hit the trail
- Eat again - this time with a drink
- Hit the trail
- Home to chill out
- Dinner and the best cocktails we can find
In Berlin I followed this pattern utterly by accident until the third day of the touristy exploring. It hit me like a wave, the realisation of what I was doing, how I was doing it and who was missing. The messing, the warmth, the sharing, the confiding, the learning, the happiness, the intimacy, the sniping, the confidence, the content silence, the love. Not any more.
Holidays will be strange for a long while I imagine but I'll be damned if I leave a city without a very good cocktail recommendation and knowledge of the best spa resort in town...
* Berlin Cocktail: The Green Door
* Berlin Spa Resort: Vabali Spa