I am getting homesick as my return date is nearing by. I don’t feel like going anywhere on weekends anymore. Probably it’s becoming monotonous. I think I need a break.
Anyway, as expected, we decided to stay in the hotel itself during the weekend and watch movies. Getting short of movie supplies, we watched the old movies – once again: Madagascar, Da Vinci Code, Jodi No.1, and Gangster. I have some 30GB of Simpson’s in my hard-disk too that will definitely be enough to ward off my boredom for quite some time.

The last two weeks were the ones with a range of happenings. I will go through them quite briefly and chronologically. On Friday we were invited by a German Family to their after-wedding party. Since it was the first time I was to this sort of party, I was quite excited. Anyway, it didn’t take long when we were finished with the party and came back to check out the local fest. Unfortunately the light drizzle downed my spirit and we went back to our hotel. On Saturday with Kashif (my colleague) we went to a big mall and eventually to a small but interesting leisure park – Aqua Magica. Later in the evening we went to pick up Ashish (another colleague) from the airport. On the way back to our hotel, Ashish told that in New Delhi he had to check-in his Laptop because in the wake of terror alert in London, Lufthansa officials didn’t allow him to carry any hand-baggage into the aircraft and therefore he was continuously foreboding something bad. It didn’t take long and soon after opening the case we saw that the laptop screen was damaged. Incidentally, we were at least able to recover his data.
On Sunday we went to a nearby town, Borgloh, to watch the mountain car racing after one of my colleagues advised me to experience this. Let me say at the very onset that this was the worst advice anybody ever gave me (except of course few nice advices from Owais to watch certain movies in Aligarh!!). At first we had to park our car in the middle of nowhere and then walk few miles to catch the event but only after doling out 12 euros as entry fee. As if this was not enough, there was nothing to watch. There were some cars backfiring like Indian trucks uphill an acclivity and waiting for their turn to give some acceleration and the rest were already gone – with the noise and smoke billowing out of them. We returned within half an hour cursing our fate.
Monday morning I took a flight to Barcelona via Palma de Mallorca for a one week official visit. I was very excited because I was never before in Spain. Although it was an official visit, I had already made up my mind to sight-see Barcelona and its surroundings. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to take time off my schedule because for some reasons I couldn’t start my work before Wednesday morning and therefore I had more than one whole day to see Barcelona – paid officially!!! What else to ask for. I quickly rented a car – Citroen C4 – and proceeded to the city centre. Unfortunately with all the traffic I wasn’t able to see much on Monday. Moreover I had to search my hotel too. Anyway next morning after having a wholesome breakfast, I went to Barcelona. This magnificent and big city has many interesting things to offer. Although one day is perhaps too short to see all that is worth seeing, I tried to take a glimpse of the major of them viz. - Placa de les Glories Catalanes, Olympic and Baseball stadium, Mont Juic, Museu d Historia de Catalunya, FC Barcelona Football Stadium, etc.
On Thursday after finishing in Barcelona, I drove some 300 kms westward to Zaragoza. I was there till Sunday with three other colleagues. Although I was short of time, I did manage to see its city centre – an array of cathedrals and churches lined up everywhere.
On Sunday afternoon I bid goodbye to Spain and returned to Germany hoping to return back someday again.

Of late, this blog has been concentrating only on my weekends. There are two reasons for this. First, except for the stupid work, there is nothing to write about that happens in the weekdays. Second, no matter how the weekend is, there can always be a reason to write something. If it’s a good one, I can eagerly write about it with all the minute details and anecdotes. Otherwise too it’s fun scribbling all (almost all…) the craps my mind can think about during those two boring days. After all, empty mind is devil’s workshop!

Anyhow, this weekend was a concoction of both in that although most of the time I was in my room assaulting my computer with my weirdest of ideas or solving Sudoku, the rest of the time I was watching movies with Kashif – Three in all, viz.: Matrix, KKHH, and Bad Boys2. Apropos the former two, my opinion changed drastically since I watched them some years back. As much as I liked Matrix more than ever, I loathed KKHH from the beginning till the end. Bad Boys2, on the other hand, was quite a good blend of all the ingredients necessary to make a nice movie. Anyway its time I stopped typing and took a siesta in this lovely Sunday afternoon in Germany.

It was supposed to be yet another normal boring weekend until as late as Thursday. Then it changed suddenly and drastically. Kashif excitedly suggested that we go to Amsterdam on Saturday and come back on Sunday. I found this a superb idea for none of us were in Amsterdam before. But on Thursday I got an invitation from my friend, Hans-Gerd to experience the Jungfrauenschuetzenfest (a local fete quite common in North Germany) in his native Place, Ohne. I was not sure how to handle this situation. On one hand, I didn’t want to miss the once-in-a-blue-moon chance of experiencing this fest. On the other, I was mentally prepared for Amsterdam. Finally I decided to visit Ohne on Saturday and Amsterdam on Sunday forgoing our idea of overnight stay in Amsterdam. On Saturday afternoon I went to Ohne. The party started at 03:00pm and went on till the wee hours of Sunday morning during which I had some really good time with Hans-Gerd and his family and friends. Later in the night, although the party was going on in full swing and I got to know many interesting people, I had to leave for my hotel at around 01:00am to catch some Z’s before we kickoff towards Amsterdam. The next day at around 11:00am we were in Amsterdam. After a breathtaking tour of Madam Tussaud, we kept on hanging around the Amsterdam streets for the rest of the day (I am leaving the details for you to guess….)

Amsterdam, apart from being famous for some well-known reasons, is a very beautiful city with people from all ethnicity and background. Even on Sunday it was more lively and bouncy than many other major cities. The canals are everywhere and add multitude of beauty and open space to the otherwise congested city. The only minus point vis-à-vis Germany – you can’t drive faster than 120kmph on express highways.