As I watch the rain pour today and the temps just start to get to a mid sixties level (18-19 in C), I am so glad that we played tourist yesterday. It is just about fully Autumn around here and it feels early to me. I am used to this kind of temperate climate turning into a long and lazy summer around this time. I am used to the last few days of August and beginning of September producing warmer temps just in time for the last tomatoes to burst with color. But instead, Berlin has given us not much heat and little bits of sun that don’t make me look forward to a longer fall and winter.

But yesterday, the sun came out and hit a nice 75 degrees, hotter if you stood directly in the sun for some time. I had an idea a few weeks ago to book yesterday as a surprise date for Ana, praying that it would be a perfect day to be outside all day. I booked a boat ride that was longer down the Spree than the quicker touristy-ier boat rides in Mitte. This boat was a solar catamaran and would greet us aboard with a glass of bubbly. I bought the tickets and put the time frame in our shared Google calendar. A few days before I told her what we were up to so that we could prepare.

I needed to tell her so that the COVID test before we went on board would not be surprising and so she could dress appropriately and selfishly so that she would get pretty excited for what was to come.

We got our negative tests and were ready to get on board. The boat sold out at 20 tickets and had nice seats for all of us around the boat. The weather was perfect and felt somewhat summery. It was awesome. It was chill and relaxed. The views were great and the bubbly good.

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We had the best time and afterward we weren’t finished being tourists for the day so we walked to a neighborhood we are never in but wasn’t too far away from port. We found a restaurant that had excellent seating and ok food. The food did the job of feeding our hungry bellies and giving us a reason to linger over the table and talk even more with each other. It is amazing to me that even after all of lockdown and life lately, we still want to linger with each other and talk deeply. I guess its a good sign with the person you choose to marry.

When we finally had to leave we went walking through this hood. We wandered and looked intently and commented on this part of town. We found this sign even…

Love is good for the soul, it says to us. We agreed and headed home to our pups.

It was a good day to play tourist. Some days you just must. Especially as you get ready to take off for another adventure.