“What should we do?”
“We could go for a walk.”
For a long time, I thought that sentence was simply the beginning of a plan.
In Germany, I slowly realized it often was the plan.
Not a walk before lunch.
Not a walk on the way somewhere.
Not a walk because there was nothing else to do.
Just a walk.
At first, I found this slightly confusing.
If somebody suggested meeting up, I automatically expected an activity to follow.
Coffee.
Dinner.
A museum.
A destination.
Instead, many conversations seemed to end after the word walk.
And somehow, everyone was satisfied with that answer.
The more time I spent in Germany, the more I noticed it happening everywhere.
Friends went for walks.
Couples went for walks.
Families went for walks.
People walked around lakes, through forests, across neighborhoods, and along rivers.
Sometimes there was a route.
Sometimes there wasn’t.
Sometimes people walked for an hour and went home.
Nobody seemed particularly concerned about what had been accomplished.
That was the part that surprised me.
Modern life often demands that every activity justify itself.
Exercise should improve fitness.
Travel should be productive.
Free time should become a memorable experience.
A walk, on the other hand, is difficult to explain.
Nothing happens.
And yet, somehow, something does.
Some of my favorite conversations in Germany happened while walking.
Not because the discussions were extraordinary.
Because there was no pressure for them to be.
Silences felt normal.
People could talk, stop talking, and start again without anyone feeling uncomfortable.
The walk carried the conversation forward.
Not the other way around.
Over time, I stopped asking where we were going.
The answer was usually not very important.
A lake.
A park.
A trail.
The city itself.
Sometimes the destination seemed almost accidental.
What mattered was spending time together as we moved through a place.
There is something refreshing about that.
No reservations.
No tickets.
No schedule.
No expectation that the day has to become a story worth telling later.
Just a walk.
The longer I live in Germany, the more normal this feels.
Now, when somebody suggests going for a walk, I no longer wait for the rest of the plan.
I know there probably isn’t one.
And perhaps that is the point.
Some activities exist to get us somewhere else.
A walk seems content to be exactly what it is.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
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