Philipp's nose and cheeks are already red from the cold, but his eyes are shining with enthusiasm. "Shall we?" He stands expectantly on the bridge.
"Absolutely!"
After just a few meters, we are in a world of its own. The path is narrow and uneven. There are trees lying across or branches hanging low all along the path and we have to climb over or crawl under them to get any further. This is so much fun.
"Have you been here before?"
A brief shadow passes over Philipp's eyes as he shakes his head quickly.
"Then how do you know about this?"
His gaze is uncertain again as he answers. "The path is very popular around here, I've wanted to walk it for a long time, but... Ah, look! There's a viewing platform!"
The platform came into view just in time for Philipp to escape talking. I smile to myself, it's so typical for him. But we still have plenty of time today.
The view from the platform is impressive. All untouched nature, trees, reeds and a small river covered in a thin layer of ice. We stand there for a moment, but Philipp can hardly keep still, he is vibrating with energy that needs to get out.
"You want to go on, don't you?" Grinning, I take a step towards him and pull his cap back over his ears. Even though Philipp and I are actually almost the same height, his head is always lowered when he looks at me. It feels like I'm towering over him and he's tiny and has to look up at me. Sometimes I get the feeling, it has something to do with submissiveness, as if he's deliberately putting himself one step below me. Creating a hierarchy.
I gently pull his chin up with two fingers so that he looks me straight in the eye. "That's better. Do you want to go on?"
"We can stay here a little longer, I..." Philipp's voice is nervous, he barely manages to maintain eye contact.
"That wasn't the question. What do you want?"
"I... shit... uh... okay... I'm so nervous, walking is easier than standing." A storm is raging in Philipp's head, I can see it in his eyes.
"Okay, come on then. We'll go on."
"No, we can still... if you'd rather still be here..."
I lean forward a little, my mouth on his ear. "We'll do as you wish." Then I give him a kiss on the temple and push past him to the stairs and back to the path. Philipp stands rooted to the spot. There's something bewildered in his expression as I turn back to him. "Are you coming?" Grinning, I hold out my hand to him.
With his typical shake of the head, a smile flits across his face. As he passes, he grabs my hand and pulls me along. "Come on then!"
"Wow... this is beautiful here..." We are standing on a narrow but high wooden bridge, below us a small stream flows intoa wider arm of the Old Rhine. As I learned today, the river Rhine was not always so straight, but was straightened for traffic reasons and there are still remnants of the original course of the river here in the Rhine floodplains.
It is quiet and cold, you can't hear much more than our breathing and the sound of the water. Nature is still asleep. "It must be great in summer when everything is green."
"In theory, yes, but the gnats eat you up here as soon as it gets warm. There are also a lot more people here then." Neither sounds very appealing, but maybe in spring or something.
"Do you need something to warm you up?" Philipp points questioningly at my hands. I hadn't even noticed that I was rubbing them together.
"Uh... no, I'm fine. It’s not that bad." I don’t want him to think he's done anything wrong, or that I don’t like the date.
"We could sit up there on the tree trunk and drink some hot tea." Philipp's voice is cautious and quiet.
"That sounds good, I’d love to." Good is the understatement of the year. Best idea ever!
We sit opposite each other, the tree trunk between our legs and a mug of hot tea in our hands. "I have puff pastry buns, too. With bacon and cheese. Freshly baked this morning..."
Philipp speaks quietly and more to his cup than to me, almost as if he's embarrassed.
"Wow. You're really spoiling me." I take a hearty bite of one of the buns and damn, they’re delicious. Philipp watches me chew with an uncertain look. I don't really want to speak with my mouth full, but I can't stop myself. "Mmmh... they're amazing!"
"Yeah?" His cheeks turn pink and Philipp bites his lower lip nervously.
"Yeah. Thank you! For everything, for this great date!"
