It was good to be back in familiar environs.
It’s been a while since we’d done anything spontaneous and, maybe out of sheer boredom, my partner suggested we go to CentrO in Oberhausen last Sunday. Since my first experience with Europe’s largest shopping center was nothing but good, naturally, I said yes. The thought of eating some cheap, decent food was really all the reason I needed.
We got up quite early and must’ve been so excited that when we got there, we practically had the whole place all to ourselves. It was so nice to just pass the time away walking up and around the mall that after a while it felt like I was back in Pentagon City in Virginia. After passing by more than a few stores, though, we realized that something didn’t seem right.
I complain a lot about how things are in Holland but it seems that some quirks don’t stop at the border. After two hours of driving over well-maintained Dutch highways followed by unbelievably bad German roads, the mall, incredibly and inexplicably, ended up being closed – on a Sunday of all days. I didn’t leave disappointed though as I did get my share of exercise and nostalgia – and didn’t needlessly spend any money. A simple, American-style mall food court meal was enough to make me happy.
filamornl | an Asian-American’s European life 