Here we go — An Elegant Sufficiency

With the best part of a day to spare before the real work begins, we took ourselves off after breakfast and with a couple of friends, we crossed the border into Germany.

It’s not very far. In fact, we’d crossed the border several times on our way here and there are a few small German towns within striking distance of Venray. We had earmarked Kleve (maybe more familiar as Cleves?) as somewhere large enough to be interesting yet not too big to overwhelm us.

The town claims fame from a well known German folk tale and a bit of research answered the query about why there were so many Lohengrin references here and there.

We had a small mission: to buy plastic sleeves to protect the music from possible rain tomorrow, when the choir will sing in the cemetery. Finding them was easier than we could have hoped for - they were there outside one of the first shops we passed. On special offer, too.

I always appreciate how small shops and businesses reflect the changing seasons over here, with arrangements by their entrance. Here, a few pretty heathers were set off beautifully with some bark and a few bits of foliage. Sounds easy…but it takes a good eye and some skill to choose just the right bowl, the right colours and get it looking so lovely.

I had already ticked off quite a few things from my list in DM and found some pretty advent things in the bookshop. I didn’t plan to make any further significant purchases. But here in the shoe shop was a display of Giesswein Merino shoes, the same ones I’d looked at online several times. Here was the chance to try them on, to see the colours for real and to be really tempted. Yes, I chose a pair of bright red shoes, really comfortable (like slippers) and gladly brought them home with me.

The rain began to fall pretty seriously and we took refuge in the bakery-cafe and had a text conversation with our friends, who were making a purchase in the nearby department store. Vicks had found a coat!