I spent a couple of days doing laundry, filled our hotel room fridge with groceries, cuddled my boyfriend, kissed him goodbye, and left on a foray into two countries. I purchased train tickets to the cities of Prague and Olomouc in the Czech Republic. These would be followed by visits to Krakow and Auschwitz in Poland.
The train pulled away from the modern landscape of Berlin and... here it was, the Europe of pure fantasy. Mountains in autumn light rose high and I pressed my cheek against the train window to see...to see...trees abundant in red and gold.
The train sped over trestles across winding rivers and we rolled straight into the picture books of Hans Christian Anderson...castles. Also embedded into the green hillsides were homes cut in gingerbread patterns and villas like small palaces with turrets. Their shuttered windows opened wide to inhale the clear October air.
A tiny crumpled woman sat across from me in the train compartment and smiled. I nodded a silent greeting and she proffered a wicker basket. I looked inside at the apples she was offering. I chose one and bit into the fresh-picked sweet-and-tart fruit. Without a word, we shared. The trip to Prague lasted four-and-a-half hours. I could have skimmed through the countryside for days.
Doesn't he miss doing this? Isn't he curious?
With me away from Berlin, William worked, ate the food in the fridge, worked, watched television, worked, read, worked, and slept. We would exchange brief phone calls. I felt slightly guilty gallivanting around the Czech Republic, but he assured me he was fine and not missing traveling.
Is it possible to be so different and be a couple?
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