Mannheim Fastnacht (24 Feb 2009)

Today was my last Festtag in Lu/Ma.
Fastnacht, Fasching, Shrove Tuesday, is the last day of Berliners & Bier bingeing, before a hrrmp, Ash Wednesday for Roman Catholics....and these few days in Rheinland-Pfalz had been very exciting, with the young & old all dressed up in ridiculous clothes, painted faces and cute hats!
Today, no need to work, & lots of people also don't work, and shops are open only till 1pm. So, went for last min shopping in the morning, and head home to put down my bags, then went out again, when the fest celebrations started in Mannheim!!!
Had too much Berliners (a typical Fastnacht foodie, like doughnuts, with jam or cream inside)....Bought 6 for 3€, with different fillings, and ate till I was very full, coz the cream was really too much!!! Then, with a final round of Pecans, Crepes and Bratwursts, I said goodbye to Paradaplatz & Strohmarkt.
Tmr will be my last day in the company, and then I will say goodbye to Deutschland, my home for 8.5mths.

Stuttgart (21 Feb 2009)

Visited the newly opened Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. Nothing really impressive, since only old cars were showcased, I only fancy new sports cars!!!

Also went to the Mercedes Museum, but it looked deserted, so didnt go in (plus, if I see more old cranky cars, I will be angry...)

But the nearby Mercedez-Benz Arena was flooded with people waiting for the Stuttgart : Hoffenheim match (I went to the ticket office, but they told me the seats were sold out, only have the standplaces left, boo hoo, so disappointed that I couldnt watch a live Bundesliga match). Reports of the match later said that it was a thriller game, with a score of 3:3 (Draw). Poor Bayern Munich lost to Köln, so Hoffenheim remains at 1st position!!!

Stuttgart city ctr was a boring place, with dead gardens and nothing else.... so went back to my soon-to-missed Ludwigshafen, in time for some Fastnacht party...

München (15-16 Feb 2009)

Last visit to TUM, marred by numerous trains delays and poor weather.

Fetched by Kahai at the Hbf, and spent the evening with Serina & Vin at KFC & MacDonald's.

Monday morning went by slowly, waking up early to the tooting of the trains, went downstairs for breakfast & went back to watch ZDF TV till 11am. Then went to Marienplatz to my favorite choco-shop Dallmayr for 2 cakes(Schololaden & Obstkuchen) and a bag of cheeze pastries & some nutty chocolates...., then went to Nordsee for a hot Seelach lunch.

Took U3 to BMW Welt, since the museum was closed on Montag. Ok place, filled with many nice cars, and a eco-friendlier V6 BMW that my big boss drives. Then went to OEZ for ice-cream and to kill more time b4 heading off to Garching.

Left late from TUM, so had to take grab dinner at the Hbf & take a longer connecting train home(4 h bleh!). Was skeptical when I reached this ulu station to transfer to an S-bahn....the snow was pouring like mad there...and it made me more furious when the S-bahn turned up late, and I reached home even later, coz the train stopped at MA for 30 min. LU was soaked with rain when I reached the Hbf.

Guess when the weather sucks, DB cannot cope.

Anyway, gonna say goodbye to Deutschland soon. Will go Stuttgart this wk ba, to complete the 4 car-museums tour.

Might cry next Wed/Fri (somebody pls pass me some Tempo!)

Sunday, Basking in Winter Sun (8 Feb 2009)

I have grown to appreciate Sundays in Deutschland, no noise from cars, trams and postmen, no need to rush to work or shopping, and even the traffic lights are taking a day off ...
just the quietness to sleep in till late morning...... and remembering to wake up before 11am to go to the bakery for my food supplies for the day.

In summer, people spend their time in the woods and swimming pools on Sundays,
In winter, people spend their time in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot tea.

But in sg, why must everyone go out & make so much traffic/people jams and noise on Sundays?

Flomborn (3 Feb 2009)

Visit to Weingut Bernhard-Räder, my wein family in Germany to taste the wein I have helped to make. The weissweins were very cold and tangy, but the rotweins were still, ah, fermenting and not ready yet.

A pity that I could not bring home the weins to share with my family in sg, coz bottling only starts in end March......

If anyone is interested in 'my' homemade weins:

Familie Bernhard-Räder
Deutschland 55234 Flomborn
Telefon: +49-6735 960085

Suddenly realized my alkoholic tolerence have maintained fairly good even I have not been drinking that much lately, no headaches and can still wake up sober at 5am the next morning to report to work, ah......

PS: forgot to take fotos with Philip, coz I was too happily enjoying the weins.

Körperwelten im Heidelberg (1 Feb 2009)

Gunther von Hagens' Körperwelten exhibition: Der Zyklus des Lebens (The cycle of life), Real men, women and foetus in Plastination. Went with Mun & her London freundin, Lyna.

It was an eyeopening experience, to be able to witness a world class exhibition on well, preserved bodies and body parts. Too bad no cameras were allowed inside the exhibition hall, so ja, got the souvenior book to remind myself of how complicated my body is, and of course, got to start taking very good care of it from tomorrow......

Ling's goodbye (30 Jan 2009)

SL's farewell party in the only Karaoke lounge in Ludwigshafen. Well, a proper K-box gathering in Sg is in the pipeline......