Hye-jae - Book 1: New Beginnings

Sweet Reunion Part 7

Mellow evening sunlight and blue skies framed them as they strolled hand-in-hand around the centre of Freiburg.  Having walked under high medieval gates through whose arches modern trams rolled, Seon-jae brought Hye-won to Munsterplatz, a cobbled square with crowded, medieval buildings leaning into a gothic cathedral, with a high, red-brick spire.  

Seon-jae squinted up to the top: 'a German student told me that this is reputed to be the most beautiful tower in Christianity.  What do you think?'

Hye-won looked upwards too, then arched her eye-brows comically and raised her shoulders to hold them under her ears with her palms held upwards, as if to say: what would I know?  Seon-jae laughed out loud.  

'Yeah right, what would we know?  Ok,' before lacing his fingers through hers and walking onwards.

The mood in the centre seemed very relaxed.  On this warm, July evening, lots of groups sat outdoors, drinking coffee and eating ice-creams.  Every street had picturesque shopfronts and street performers in costume played traditional tunes on accordions.  Channels with running water edged the streets and these were a favourite with the kids, who jumped in to wet their feet (and it seemed as much of the rest of themselves as they could) with no interference from mums and dads who all seemed quite content with this game.  Many of the kids wore rubber boots as if they had planned this evening outing; some even ran little paper boats and rubber ducks along the stream.  

Hye-won gently watched the children laughing and chatting excitedly in German as they jumped up and down splashily - such a simple moment but so warm and wholesome.  The sunlit fun and laughing squeals of the children with their relaxed parents chatting among themselves soothed her spirit, after all the traumas of the past year.  She could feel the deep relaxation flow upwards from her stomach.  She breathed out slowly and reached up to wrap her hands around Seon-jae's upper arm and leaned her head against his shoulder.  Seon-jae peered down at her wistful smile and leaned his head to hers, smiling now too.  Neither spoke as they soaked in the sweet scene before strolling on again.

They walked and chatted contentedly.  Hye-won mused that everywhere seemed tidy and pretty, like a postcard of a medieval town centre.  Seon-jae pointed out a tall imposing building in another square they walked through.  

'That's the pub where the university orientation tour ended - it's the oldest brewery in Europe or something,' he told her.  'It's got 3 floors, though we sat in the beer garden outside.  Would you like to see?'  

'Sounds good to me.'  

Placing his arm around her shoulders, Seon-jae led her inside past 2 enormous copper vats - obviously old, brewing equipment which had been polished to gleam brightly - and out of the noisy, crowded interior to the busy, beer garden, filled with small, circular tables under old trees.  

They took seats at a free table as all around, groups laughed and chatted, clinking beer glasses of all shapes and sizes with noisy calls of prost -  cheers.  A young German waitress approached and Seon-jae said carefully: 'zwei weissbieren bitte - 2 white beers please,'  and the waitress nodded and moved to the next table.  

'Very impressive.'

Hye-won laughed as she teased and Seon-jae grinned.  

'You don't know how much I have practised to be able to say that.  German is nearly as hard as English.'  

'And have you been drinking a lot of weissbier then?' Hye-won continued to tease and Seon-jae paused - obviously mentally calculating - and then answered: 

'I think I have been to the pub with the other international students about twice and the Professor took me out to eat a few times while he was visiting.   That's about it.  Why?'