December
Stephen
Farnsworth and Verity Virtue had been a couple since June and by December they
were more in love than ever.
The only fly in
the ointment for Verity were the Wedding plans, not that she wasn’t thrilled
for her Uncle Charlie and Toddy, it was just that Verity’s mum Chloe was like a
thing possessed it had become all consuming, and it had been going on for two
months.
They were both
sitting in the lounge at his cottage, Starlings, when he said
“Why don’t we
get away?”
“Get away?” Verity
replied
“Yes, let’s get
away for a week and escape the madness”
“Get away?” she
repeated
“We’ll be back
in time for the Wedding” he continued, and she said nothing for a full minute
and then suddenly she excitedly responded
“Let’s go online
and see what’s available”
He switched on
the laptop, and she sat next to him as he opened the browser
“Do you want
sun?” he asked
“Are you
kidding? I’m redhaired and pasty” she said
“Ok, no sun, do
you want activity?”
“Nah”
“America?”
“No to America
and nowhere that’s more than two hours flying time” she said decisively
“So, Europe
then” he said
“I think so”
“So how about nature?”
“Nah”
“History?”
“Hmm”
“Romantic?” he
asked
“Definitely”
“City break
then”
“Oh yes a city
break” she said excitedly
“How about….” he
pondered “Paris? Amsterdam? Brussels?”
Verity shook
her head, so he cast his net a bit further.
“Berlin” he
suggested
“Berlin?” she
repeated “Oooh I like the sound of that”
“It has
history, romance and a Christmas market to boot” he added
“Oooh a
Christmas market” she said enthusiastically
“Ok then Berlin
it is” Stephen said
“Let’s find
somewhere to stay” Verity added
An hour later they
had a 7-night booking at the Regent Hotel and flights booked for the following
Friday, St Nichols Day, 6th December and a return flight on the 13th, St Lucy’s
Day, which would give them a full week to do all the last-minute stuff and
enjoy the run into the Wedding and their first Christmas together.
So, the next
morning she notified her mum of their plans which Chloe took in her stride,
“Good for you”
she said “Have a great time while you’re away”
But she did
have one proviso, and that was that she went with her to Abbottsford to get her
bridesmaids dress, so she and Stephen went with the Wedding party and went
directly to the airport on Friday morning and flew into Berlin Brandenburg
Airport just after 11.00am.
They arrived at
the Hotel Regent about an hour and a half later and they were not disappointed
by their choice, it was absolutely beautiful, very luxurious and they had a
beautiful room and from the main window there was a wonderful view of the
imposing dome of what they found out later was the French Cathedral.
They were so
very pleased with their lovely room that they didn’t leave it all afternoon, in
fact they only left it in order to go and eat, then they went back to the room
and had an early night.
They began their
holiday properly on Saturday morning after an early breakfast and crammed in a
lot on their first full day.
They took full
advantage of the unseasonably mild weather and did the Reichstag, the
Brandenburg Gate, the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Glienicke Bridge in the
morning and the Christmas Market at Charlottenburg Palace after lunch and into
the evening.
When they woke
on Sunday morning they were exhausted after packing so much into their first
day, so they decided that they should perhaps have a more relaxing day
beginning with breakfast to be followed by Church.
After speaking
to the waiter, they took his advice and got a taxi to the Kaiser Wilhelm
Memorial Church on the Kurfürstendamm and when the driver turned onto the very
broad, long boulevard full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants he said
proudly
“This is the
Champs-Élysées of Berlin”
“Oh look” Verity
said excitedly as they pulled up outside the beautiful blue Church “they have a
Christmas market here too”
As Stephen
handed the driver his money he said
“They have
Christmas markets everywhere”
“Oh goody” she responded,
and he laughed
The service was
lovely and the new part of the Church with the blue glass was spectacular with
the winter sun shining through.
Afterwards they
ate lunch of Frickadellen with fries and mayo from a “Schnellie” at the
roadside, then after lunch they went to Wannsee and walked around the lakes in
the sunshine enjoying the scenery until the evening fell and so did the
temperature.
No comments:
Post a Comment