For everything there is a season...

...this, evidently, is my season for sloth.

All of a sudden, I am tired all the time. Here I am in Berlin, the cradle of German history and culture, and all I want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep another 2 hours. What is wrong with me?

Some of it, I have to say, needs to be blamed on this hotel. We of the tour are staying at a lovely place, called the Adina Aparthotel Checkpoint Charlie(even the name of my hotel is historic!). Anyway, it's lovely. I have a ground floor apartment with a small kitchenette. There is a door leading out to a lovely terrace where I can sit and drink the iced tea that I made for myself, in a glass crowded with ice cubes. There is a grocery store right across the street. All my bases are covered. But that's not my biggest hindrance against sightseeing.

My bed, dear readers, is a revelation. I just can't seem to get out of it--at least, not for long! I managed to do the show last night, but I'll be honest, it was difficult to stay away. Luckily, this bed didn't hold my absence against me, and welcomed me back for a full 12 hours last night! It's wonderful to be loved unconditionally.

As some of you know, Europe in general believes in the no-fuss, no-muss bed-making technique. A made bed here consists of one fitted sheet (or a flat sheet folded under and used as a fitted sheet), and a down comforter (or duvet) housed in a comforter cover. That's it. No blanket. No top sheet. No beadspread. It's a dream...especially if you're working with a superior mattress!

I became an aficionada of the European bed dress the very first time I visited, when I was 13 years old. I came home and badgered my parents into buying me a down comforter, and I slept only under that (and have done so ever since). My parents were happy, because I finally started "making" my bed in the morning. I was happy because I didn't wake up tangled in my sheets with the bedspread on the floor and the blanket up around my ears (I'm an...ahem...active sleeper).

Now, on this providential trip, the next phase of my perfect sleeping experience has been realized! Here, on a king-sized bed, instead of one big down comforter (which is, trust me, a PAIN in the rear end to stuff into a comforter cover), they use two twin comforters! It's genius! Sometimes, on the same bed, they have two different weights of comforter, since some people run hotter or colder than others.

I know it seems like a small thing, but I think this revelation has the capacity to save my future marriage. I have never been a sharer. On the few occasions, LONG AGO, that I have been fortunate enough to share my bed, I must confess that sharing my duvet was not an easy thing. I like to tuck myself in, sort of like an apple turnover, in my comforter. When someone (whom you are supposed to like...love, even!) is tugging on one end and exposing you to the elements, it's a hard thing to take. Night after night. Letting in drafts!

Now that I know that I don't HAVE to share, this changes everything!

Thank you, Berlin.