The flight from Berlin to Palma de Mallorca, Spain went smoothly and after a short period of time wandering the Palma airport we met up with our friends - Milly and Tim, from the UK.

A great wave of relief washed over Em and I when we stepped through the door of Tim's parents' seaside apartment, the dramas of Em's accident in Prague, that had dominated our past week were behind us. What was before us was good times with some special friends of ours in an apartment with views of the Mediterranean Sea and our salt-water swimming pool - destiny has a funny way of maintaining equilibrium (this week of bliss after the pains of the week prior, ironic).

Milly and Em started scheming grand plans from the minute the two of them got together. Within the first few hours, whilst sipping Mojitos on the balcony, they had planned a Spanish themed night, a Mexican themed night and so on and so forth - Tim and I looked ominously at each other, shrugged and agreed.

Its hard to write a journal for a week that consisted mostly of:

• Getting up far too late
• Going to bed far too late
• Lazing all day by the salt water pool/seaside
• Drinking Mojitos, Sangria etc…
• Eating too much food.

That's pretty much all we did, and we all loved the time for it. I would often by the International Herald Tribune to read and entertain myself during the hottest hours under the Spanish sun, whilst Em and Milly fried. But sitting up on the balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea with a beautiful sea breeze keeping me cool, it was such a great place to ponder all things philosophical and be thankful for all the world has blessed Em and I with.

Another day of note was our visit to Palma, which is the major city on this Spanish island. It is a really beautiful city, with a grand old church and excellent thoroughfares for espresso sipping, and as Em would add, it has plenty of good shopping. The steeped and narrowly paved streets in Palma near the Cathedral also hid a wonderful gem that we stumbled upon in our aimless wandering - a beautiful old English bookshop. According to the owner it is the biggest English bookshop on the European continent. I didn't really care about that too much; it wasn't the size that made it memorable it was the character of the shop that pleased - it made me think of a what Professor Dumbledore's personal library/study might resemble, that probably doesn't conjure and image for most people but trust me it was a classically muddled collection of books but an excellent find.

Together the four of us also shared a 'grand night our' in Santa Ponsa, which we all enjoyed a little too much. But no problems, to combat the weary eyes and sore heads the next day we had that wonderful piece of paradise just beyond our balcony.

A splendid week.