Greetings ......! I'm home from my holidays in Germany and Norway. It has been fun despite the weather !
We took a long-haul KLM flight from Singapore to Paderborn in Germany (via Amsterdam and Frankfurt). We had a 3 hour stopover in Amsterdam - crossing the custom takes a long time as there were only one counter for "other passports" (other than the EU countries). In Frankfurt, we had about an hour and a half to get ourselves to the next Terminal since we were on a different airlines. It was rather stressful as we had to locate the other Terminal which was a distance away. Our luggages were offloaded in Frankfurt Main Airport and we had to lug them to the Lufthansa counter in the other Terminal and check-in again (within an hour) before our flight to Paderborn. Glad that all went smooth. It was an unforgettable experience! The people we asked for directions were quite helpful.
Kim & Mathias picked us up from Paderborn airport - a small airport. We had less than 15 people on the plane. Paderborn is a nice interesting city. We managed to explore the city during our few days there.
After the weekend in Paderborn, we rented a car (driven by Kim) and our journey to Berlin starts. We spent 3 nights in Berlin exploring the beautiful city. We explore the city on foot, taking the underground. We visited the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium - hoping to catch a glimpse of Knut (the famous orphaned Polar Bear). We queued for an hour before giving up. The queue never moved! Gosh, it wasn't a well-organised event (to see Knut). The Aquarium has fishes and reptiles as well. There weren't much information given on the fishes except their names and species. I saw the tank of big Arowanas (these fishes are very popular in Singapore and Malaysia - as the fishes brings good luck to the owners).
We also spent a few hours visiting the Concentration Camp and Museum. It was full of students on study trips.
After Berlin, we drove over 6 hours to Frankfurt Hahn Airport to pick up Mary (who travelled from Norway to join us). The B&B (in Frankfurt) was just across the road from the Airport Arrival Hall. The hotel room was tiny but very cosy - equipped with a flat-screen LCD TV. The hotel shower though small, was superb.
We woke up early the next day. After breakfast in the B&B - we travelled towards Trier, Moselle Valley, Koblenz. We stayed one night in Koblenz.
Mathias and his parents were our hosts for the weekend in Detmold. We had a BBQ dinner and a BBQ lunch the next day. We returned to Paderborn for 2 nights stay before leaving for Hamburg and Bremen. We explored the city of Hamburg for a few hours. We spent a night in Bremen. During our walk in the city centre, we saw the "Musicians of Bremen" statues. Yep, I took a lot of photos!! :o)
On 6 June, we left for Norway from Bremen airport. We had a relaxing stay in Larvik (home of Mary, Kim and Belinda). We had a few mahjong sessions too ! It was fun.
We celebrated Mary's 60th birthday with 30 of her friends (all ladies). There were about 15 nationalities - from Singapore, Norway, Canada, New Calendonia, Trinidad, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Denmark, England, etc. Everyone had fun. There were different variety of food cooked by Mary and friends - Ngoh Hiang, prawns, chicken drumsticks, curry, fish, potato salad, Norwegien cakes & delicacies. Line-dancing was the popular dance item. Mary's friends performed a hawaiian hula dance, a flamenco and a samba dance. We were treated to songs, dance and jokes as well. Everyone had a great time.
It's a pity the holiday has ended. Now it's back to Singapore and work work work !!!
