Wanderlust.

1: Welcome to Neuhaus.

Benito

For three months I had already been hiking through Europe. My journey had began in Portugal and I had made my way through Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria; now I was following a trail through the middle of nowhere in Germany. I had only been there once but I hadn't really seen anything of the country itself during that short stay. Breathing in the incredibly fresh air, I prepared myself for a rather steep hill that would lead me into the next town. For the past week, I had been hiking up north from Munich, stopping anywhere I could because I wanted to take my time. My cardio had increased a lot during these three months and so the steep hill was almost too easy to climb. Two small houses - a green one and a white one on each side of the path that had turned into an actual street came to my view. There was a hiking sign that pointed straight ahead, so I just kept walking. My hotel had a name I didn't even try to pronounce, all I new was that it was named after the valley I had just walked out of and that it had something to do with the river I had followed. I kept on following the street until it crossed the main road - the email the hotel had sent me, had given me directions, so I would definitely find it. A smile crossed my face, when I could see the first tavern directly across from me. The beer garden was completely full - not that I was surprised, it was a rather warm afternoon but I had not expected to see so many people. Slowly walking past it, I looked around. The houses were all standing right next to each other and I could see a small fountain pretty much in the center of the main road, two big chestnut trees on each side of it. An elder man greeted me when I past him and I simply smiled and nodded at him in return. The picture I had seen of the hotel had shown a green house right across from another fountain and I was walking directly towards this fountain. 

The house looked like it had been renovated very recently. As I was walking up to the front door, I noticed that there were already guests sitting in the beer garden in the front yard of the hotel. The food on their plates looked amazing, causing me to feel how hungry I actually was. A young woman in a black dress with two plates in her hands nearly ran into me on her way out of the front door. 

"Sorry!" I heard her shout in an odd way as she was making her way through the tables. She was blonde, had a bob cut and was wearing a pair of glasses. 

"No problem." I mumbled to myself, opening the door. There was a lot of people inside the restaurant. It was divided into two rooms, only one of them being used for dinner, the other one looked like it was already prepared for breakfast. There was another blonde woman behind the bar, preparing drinks, she looked incredibly familiar to the other woman I had almost bumped into just seconds earlier. Since I didn't think I would get my key at the bar, I scanned the wall next to the bar. There was a big door that had Rezeption written on it in golden letters, so I just pulled it and walked through. A staircase led up and down to my right, to my left I could see picture frames with what seemed musicians and actors that had stayed there. I knew exactly one of them and that was a country singer from Texas. While I was looking at the pictures, I could hear someone quickly type around on the keyboard of a computer, so I followed that noise until I was standing in front of a reception desk. The woman behind it was so focused on typing that she didn't notice me. I cleared my throat, causing her to look up. A warm smile spread across her face. That face was by far one of the prettiest I had ever seen. She had striking blue eyes, dark brown hair put into a messy bun and a smile that made me want to melt. 

"Hallo! Willkommen in Neuhaus, wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?" (Hello! Welcome to Neuhaus, how can I help you?) she asked friendly. I again cleared my throat because I was still too stunned to say anything. I quickly shook my head and returned her smile. 

"I'm sorry, I don't speak German." I told her a little nervous. Since the town I had chosen was so small, I had not expected anyone to speak perfectly fine English there. 

"Oh, my bad. I said: Welcome to Neuhaus, how can I help you?" she repeated with not a single bit of an accent. 

"I booked a room. The Suite, if I'm not mistaken." I responded slowly. I had a very strong accent and I wanted her to understand me. 

"Ah, yes. Mr. Martinez, right?" she then said and grabbed a key card from a stack. I nodded in response and then I watched her let something come out of the printer. Shortly after, she placed the paper and a pen in front of me.

"Please, check the information and sign it." she said and started looking for a small case where she could put the key card in. I nodded again and read over the information sheet. I filled out what was missing - I really hated doing that because I had to give out my address - but I had gotten used to it within my three months in Europe. 

"Here you go." I said, when I was finished. The woman smiled at me and put the key card onto the desk for me to take. 

"The Suite is one level above us, I believe you already passed the stairs. Breakfast starts at 7:00am and ends at 9:30am. You can find the WiFi password on the desk in your room. If you would like to eat in our restaurant, I can make a reservation for you." she then told me slowly, so I would get everything. 

"Yeah, I would like to do that. Let's say in an hour?" I replied and looked at the massive clock behind her that said 6:30pm. 

"Alright, are you expecting anyone or are you gonna come alone?" she then asked, grabbing a reservation book from next to her. 

"I'll be alone." I gave back and she nodded and scribbled something down. 

"Okay, Mr. Martinez, then I'll see you in an hour. Oh, and before I forget: your key card works for our side entrance, so if you'd like to go outside later, you have a way to come back inside." she then told me and gave me another breathtakingly beautiful smile.

"Thanks! See you!" I said before, turning around and grabbing the card in the process. I had to get out of there because if I had stayed any second longer, I wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to flirt with her any longer. In any other situation, I would've definitely shot my shot but I wasn't on this journey to have sex or to hang around women, I was there for inspiration.