Roughly one weekend per month, M. has to work, which makes the idea of a traditional weekend a bit of a bust. Last weekend was one of those, so I was excited to spend today with the fellow, doing whatever – particularly since we are both no longer sick.
It began like the best days always seem to: sleeping in. After brötchen and cake for breakfast, then it was time to veg, which meant he watched some television while I finished “American Dervish.” Finally, around 2 p.m., we got ready to head out, with no particular destination in mind.
As we live a few hundred meters from a gigantic 35-acre park, we decided to journey through there. I walk or ride my bike through this park nearly every day, but have not explored all of it, so we headed down a new path, which led to a pond I didn’t even know existed, where I learned some new German bird names, such as der Spatz (sparrow) and das Blesshuhn (coot).
Continuing on, we headed to the little mini zoo within the park, which, again, I’ve passed by plenty of times but never actually been to. It was naturally full of children with their parents, but we were able to see all the animals… there were bunny rabbits, guinea pigs, normal (giant) pigs, lots of chickens and roosters, ducks and geese, donkeys, sheep, rams and goats. My favourite was this little black ram who was noisy and overeager.
Seeing as the weather was warm (and the high around 24 degrees C), there were plenty of families and groups of friends out enjoying the sun and getting their BBQs on, which made the people-watching lots of fun. It was also nice to walk around the park without the only other people being the resident weed dealers, as is often the case in evenings and during the colder months.
Next, we headed down to the local ice cream shop that sells vegan scoops. We got our usual orders: limetta sorbet for M. and soy chocolate for me. All the outside seating was taken, so we opted to walk with our treats, slowly heading in the direction of home. We stopped off at a few shops to pick up weekend essentials, and also meandered by plenty of bars and cafes setting up their televisions for the games, the first of which in our group (the Netherlands vs. Denmark) was beginning.
Once home, we did some food prep, then sat down to watch the Germany vs. Portugal game with some blankets and the cats. I admit I have a pretty awesome boyfriend, because he doesn’t like soccer, but will still watch part of the game with me AND prepare dinner while I watch. And of course, the best part is that Germany won.
Now it’s time to curl up in bed with a new book.