Last weekend, I was in Dresden for a weekend trip. Dresden is less than 3 hours away from where we live, and my husband and I thought it would be a nice weekend getaway.

We spent the day walking around the city and I clicked a lot of photographs. It’s a beautiful and charming old city.

After lunch, we took a walk around the old Baroque quarters. It was quite cold and so we decided to pop into a nearby cafe for a cup of hot coffee and some respite from the cold.

My husband went to order at the counter while I found a cosy table in the corner.

A minute late, a middle-aged couple came in and while the man went to order, the lady came and sat at the table next to mine.

I was busy taking off my cap, my gloves, the camera that was hanging around my neck, putting the lens cap on and putting it away.

The lady said something to me in German and smiled the warmest smile. I didn’t understand what she said, but I smiled back.

She continued to speak to me with such a warm smile on her face.

Oh! How I wish I understood German!

I am learning German, it’s been a few weeks but I have a long way to go still before I can speak or understand it fluently.

I finally said, “Sorry, I speak only a little German”, in whatever little broken German I could muster.

She smiled and switched to broken English. She asked if we were guests in the city. Then she said good choice on picking this cafe, their coffee is the best.

Both our men came back with our respective orders and conversation ceased.

She looked so happy to receive her steaming mug of coffee. She took a sip and exclaimed, “Ah! Lecker!” 

Which means, “Delicious!”

She proceeded to enjoy her coffee and chatted away merrily with her partner while my husband and I enjoyed our coffee. She was right, the coffee was definitely lecker!

As we were leaving, I smiled and said goodbye to her in German. She smiled back and wished me a good day.

It felt so nice to have met a stranger who was so friendly. It was a pleasant interaction with a cheerful stranger that left me feeling cheerful too.

William Arthur Ward once said, “A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.”

As I walked out of the cafe and went on my way, I thought to myself what a beautiful place the world would be if we were all cheerful and pleasant people, and gave warm smiles away to strangers!