Day 94
Location 7: Berlin
Feb. 2, 2023
A year ago, on a Wednesday at 2am in a Boston bar, I ordered a drink. What drink?
Inspired by my recent rewatch of The Big Lebowski–a movie whose protagonist, The Dude, is constantly drinking White Russians (the drink, not the demographic)–I ordered myself a White Russian (the drink, not how every 80s action movie villain could describe themselves). For non-movie goers, the relentlessness with which The Dude drinks White Russians can be compared to the amount of food Brad Pitt is eating in the Ocean's trilogy. Oh, sorry.
The Boston bartender's reaction told me it was an order they didn't often hear, but they made it work: she leaned down to grab something from under the bar, hidden from public view. I assumed she was unlocking a double-steel safe, complying with fingerprint and retinal scans to reach the secret contents inside, the ingredients for my drink.
She stood back up and poured into my drink two little coffee creamers, the ones kept in a little dish at diners along with pink sugar packets and butter squares wrapped in gold foil. It was delicious.
Some photos of Berlin
Hooked on that sweet sweet cream and vodka, I ordered it again a few days later. This time was at 12pm before a Red Sox game at a different Boston bar. "Can I have a White Russian?". The bartender's reaction told me it was an order they didn't often hear, but they didn't make it work: "No" the bartender said flatly, before turning to walk away. It was sad.
Anyway, all that is to say I reunited with my best friend from when I was 12, Nick Caldari. His favorite movie is The Big Lebowski, so today when we went to a pool hall, I ordered and promptly received a White Russian.
Left: Nick with me at a pool hall, Long Island, 2014 | Right: Nick with me at a pool hall, Berlin, 2023
Meeting up with Nick wasn't the sole reunion of the day. Vanessa, my roommate from back in Lisbon had coincidentally just moved to Berlin and met us at the pool hall. We commemorated our reunion with a photo. I guess the 80s action movie villains were offended by my "White Russian" joke earlier because when we took the photo, there were tons of snipers with their over-the-top, tropey, red-dot-sight-equipped snipers set on us:
