today is Monday and its a public holiday here in Germany, otherwise known as Pfingstmontag. public holiday is a day for them to rest at home, spend time with their families and as such, all shops are closed on public holidays. on sundays too. dont ever think of going to the mall, or purchase groceries, or even step out of your house since they reduce bus frequencies to one per hour (on sundays and public holidays).

imagine a Sunday when all your NTUCs, shopping malls in town are all closed; your MRTs and buses only arrive only once every hour. yeah.

thank goodness i managed to find activities to do in this long weekend.

on Saturday i went back to Köln again! 2-hour train ride to the 4th largest city in Germany. all i remembered was that the crowd was crazy (imagine the whole shopping street is as packed as bugis street) nonetheless it was a pleasant shopping experience as the things i wanted were all cheaper than in Singapore heh heh

famous Köln Cathedral. more pictures on Facebook.

camwhoring in front of the cathedral. judged. 

we were delighted to find Chinese food! you can actually spot many PRCs in Köln. i sincerely hope the locals dont think we are part of them. by the way, i have been asked 3 times if i come from Japan. errr, no.

yesterday was a trip to the Zoo! there were only two or three of each species of animals. kinda feel sad for the lonely animals. they appear to be either sleeping or lazing around, rather inactive, due to the hot weather i suppose.

show you a giraffe. if you havent seen one, here it is.

when i got home last evening, i was delighted with a pleasant view at the balcony! hot air balloons flying around!this is something that we can never see on top of our HDB flats.

today was a short strawberry picking trip! being sua kus, we were actually quite excited.

fresh, organic, and yours to pick!

they also grow their own potatoes and asparagus. i never knew i love asparagus until today. the lunch was awesome. asparagus cream soup, boiled asparagus and potatoes with hollandaise sauce, and a slice chicken cutlet (Hanchenschnitzel). amazing chicken cutlet too, juicy and succulent. the asparagus tastes so fresh, you feel like they harvested them just this morning for you.

 fresh strawberry cake and prune tart. heavenly. let the pictures do the talking.

best strawberry milk that i've had. no preservatives, no colorings nor strawberry essence. just pure strawberry goodness. every drop of it.

then it was paddle-boating at Aasee! Muenster is surrounded by land so this is the only place where they can carry out water activities, picnic along the river or just suntan! while us asians are busy avoiding the sun, they cant get more of it. the place was packed, as if the whole of Muenster gathered there to spend family time together.

its 8.45pm now and the sun is still shining brightly. definitely gonna miss the long days in summer!

on a happy note, i am very pleased with my results :D

this is my last week in Germany! just as when i get used to the pace of life here, i am scheduled to leave. this time next week, i'll be in Paris! living like a pauper cause everything is so expensive lol.

Hope all your weekend was great too!