Lately, in the midst of month whatever, week million, day bajillion of Corona life, Ana and I have been trying to reframe our experiences, figure out how to be useful in the world towards what we believe in and also take mini holidays when travel seems limited.  In order to be in this new normal of a world we must also take care of ourselves.

In this spirit, we booked a hotel room in Berlin for Sunday night.  We wanted to feel as though we got to get away even when that is limited. A friend came over to our places to hang out with the pups and for them I think it felt like a mini holiday too.  They don’t have pups but love them and they live with other people…so at our place they got the whole place to themselves for a night, two cute pups, Netflix and we stocked the kitchen with treats. A win win for everyone involved. The pups loved having our friend and were well cuddled.

We had booked a fancy schmancy hotel overlooking the East Side Gallery and the river. We stayed on the top floor in a really great room with an amazing view.  We treated ourselves to drinks on the rooftop bar and talked deeply and intentionally. We found yummy food and felt like tourists in this area just a little bit.  When I handed the hotel front desk my passport to call up our reservation she looked up and said, “You are American?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“But…we haven’t had any Americans yet this season…*pause*…How did you get in?”

I smiled big, “I live here…we just wanted to pretend to get away for a night.” She smiled back.

We had amazing breakfast in the morning and tried not to talk about real world things and then we went back to our real world Monday afternoon but it made all the difference.

In this spirit of exploring parts of the city and finding wonder in them, mini holiday to some extent, I have been finding new places  mostly on Tuesdays.  This past Tuesday was a place called, “Gardens of the World.” It is a ways east from us but it was incredible. The Gardens span cultures and ideas and space and time.  I went with my friend Sam and we oooed and awwwed all over the Gardens.  Plus you get to take a cable car down to the entrance and back over the natural areas below.

It did feel as though we escaped the city a bit into a different time and place, an escape for a few hours and added to our “we found it in Berlin” category.  The Gardens were laid out with chairs and spaces all over to enjoy.

These mini holidays with limited openings of places and with boundaries in place, masks enforced, have made the weekly pace here alright. They are spaces that embrace summer and allow me to forget what all is happening outside of this space and the cancellations, limitations, protests and virus for a bit.

How are you dealing with the week to week pace?