nice moments from europe only!

we walk back from the outdoor club under the bridge near midnight on the longest night of the year, with the sun dipping just barely under the horizon as if the night was only beginning. in the twilight we walk to the top of the hill to see the entire city, and are met by two drunk men doing squats, shouting at us incomprehensibly but probably to say that there's enough room for all of us on their bench. we sit and have a picnic in the lush, quiet park just outside the city. we stop at the dock jutting into the cove along the river, strewn with people our age laying and chatting in the afternoon sun. the dock is too high to test the still water, so we jump in without knowing how crisp and refreshing it will feel. a man on the train in front of us watches videos of a train on his phone for much of the ride; a girl at the station has "sufjan" and "stevens" tattooed above her knees. we wander unexpectedly into the backyard of a bar in the "cool" part of town. i feel transported to a brooklyn with no stakes. full of the stylish attractive crowd and tasteful dj sets but without the intimidation and pressure i normally feel. the bartender, smiling and leisurely, usually the graphic designer but filling in today, makes our pitcher of paloma and gives us towels when we spill. we sit and talk about our butts without fear. we run into friends from nyc, not knowing they'd be in the same place at the same time as us, on the street, and make plans for the next night. at four or five in the morning we enter tresor and dance and drink and explore. the shot we aren't sure we wanted turns out to be the schnapps we never got. we eat kebab in the park not long after the sunrise while waiting for the flea market to open. we stop to get ice cream while waiting for others to finish browsing the thrift store and split four scoops. they are cheap and all are incredible. the whiskey sour sorbet (alcoholic!) impresses us the most. the last place we stay has chickens and big dogs that pretend to act curious about us before flopping over expectantly. we cook dinner and watch movies in bed. it feels like we all regain consciousness on a bench in a beautiful park at the end of an exhausting day, and look at each other and laugh.