Andreas thinks we adults should go out and have some time to ourselves; the kids are old enough to manage on their own for an evening, and we’ve spotted a few cool places that are must-visits. Andreas says it’s time to ”party away”! Sabina is skeptical—after all, we’re turning 40 soon 🫣. But after some back-and-forth, we decide to book a dinner at a restaurant for around 7 PM, followed by a night of partying!

The dinner we enjoyed at The Riverside Bar & Restaurant was delicious, as was the bottle of wine we ordered to go with the meal. Incidentally, wine doesn’t seem to be a common drink here; menus rarely feature a wine list, and while you might spot a few dusty bottles in some shops, beer is what’s usually served in restaurants.

After dinner, we take a Grab to a cool bar we’d noticed while out walking. It has a ghost/horror theme with plenty of spooky decor, and we’d seen them making awesome cocktails on their social media. As we step through the door, we’re hit by a stinging stench of sewage. We are all alone except for three of the staff standing behind the bar, listening to some pop song. Carefully, with stinging eyes, we swim through the sewer fumes to order something to drink. Neither of us wants to give up and leave—that would prove we’re too old for this sort of thing. Sabina whispers to Andreas, ”I can see why there aren’t any other customers here.” Andreas nods in agreement while thinking, hoping the stench doesn’t cling to our clothes, or we won’t get into a single place tonight.
We down our drinks while playing a quick round of pool, then just as quickly head out.

Since we don’t know where we’re going, we just pick a direction. We head toward the Old Town; surely there’s something fun to do there. After walking for nearly half an hour, we arrive at a small joint with about ten people in their twenties. It’s a nice spot with friendly staff, but not quite what we were looking for. We have a drink and move on. Andreas has spotted a club of some sort down by the river, but it’s about a 40-minute walk… We set off, asking the restaurants we pass along the way if they serve cocktails, but it seems the selection is mostly beer and whisky. Eventually, we reach the club. It turns out to be a nightclub with a sort of rap-techno vibe. We walk in, full of high spirits! Fifteen seconds later, we’re back out on the street. We look at each other and realize that age might have caught up with us after all. The music was way too loud (and terrible) and the place was too bright and too dark at the same time.

We press on with a new vision of what we want to find: a bar, perhaps with live music or some kind of performance. Or why not karaoke? Nah, we can’t sing—no karaoke! 😅

Finally, we find a small spot where we get a caipirinha each and enjoy some live music—the night is saved! On top of that, we’ve also managed to get quite a bit of exercise, having walked over 15,000 steps in our search for the right spot. After all, exercise is important at our age😉.

//Sabdreasworld