Tuesday 29 March 2022

If you go down to the woods in Spring

By the time this post is published, by way of the magical invention they call scheduled posting, we'll be comfortably ensconced in our B&B in Beernem; By then, we hope to have been for a wander around Bruges, sampled some of Veronique's delicious tapas and enjoyed a relaxing half-hour or so in our en-suite's Jacuzzi.

Never mind that the weather forecast dictated us to pack warm Winter clothes rather than Spring attire,  we won't let a minor detail like that spoil all the fun!

Although we have barely made a start with our trip, I can't wait to write its travelogue, but for now let's make a quick return to the weekend before last.



On the 18th of March, our usual Friday charity shopping schedule was slightly disrupted, as we had an appointment at the village hall to apply for our travel passports. Post-Brexit, we will need these if we are to travel to the UK, where before our Belgian id cards sufficed. 

After a struggle with an uncooperative photo booth resulting in my worst photo ever (oh my do I look a fright without glasses and with my hair out of my face!) the deed was done within minutes and the passports were ready for pick-up in a mere four working days.



It was a gorgeously sunny day on which a brilliant blue sky reigned, and by the time we'd had lunch the temperature had reached the heady heights of 14°C. 

We both ditched our cumbersome heavy Winter coats in favour of some lighter weight ones. Then we drove to the charity shops in Mechelen and Duffel, expecting them to be a lot busier in the afternoon than during our usual morning visits. Much to our surprise, however, they were both oases of quiet. Sadly enough, they were also quite devoid of interesting finds! 




Rather than return home immediately after leaving our final shop, we decided to go for our usual stroll in the park. Surely, it would have been downright silly not to make the most of the favourable weather conditions. 

The sweet scents of Spring were carried by a gentle breeze and made me feel all giddy!

The first of the trees were veiled in a haze of green and Spring flowering shrubs were proudly presenting us with their blooms. The clumps of yellow daffodils we'd spotted on our last visit had been joined by a handful of paper white ones wearing frilly pale yellow petticoats.



I was wearing a favourite colour combo of cobalt blue and green, the exuberant floral pattern of my vintage dress effortlessly upstaging the park's offerings.

The cardigan, belt and necklace, all in matching shade of green, were charity shopped, while the butterfly brooch was a flea market find. My ring of many colours was a high street buy, as were my opaques and moc-croc ankle boots.



I needed my sunglasses to combat the sun's low-slanting glare. They are € 0,50 charity shopped Rodenstock frames with eye-wateringly expensive prescription lenses.



We might have returned empty-handed from Friday's shopping trip, but my visit to Think Twice earlier that week more than made up for it. I went for a rummage in my lunch break on their € 4 day, ending up with the grey, white and green vintage dress on the left, as well as two Summer skirts.

The dress with its cheerful sailing boat print on the right was a gift from my friend Inneke, who had been having a wardrobe clear out. It's modern, from the Flair goes Retro label. Flair, by the way, is a weekly women's magazine founded in 1980. I already have a lobster patterned top from the same label, charity shopped with tags in May 2019.




On our way home, we passed Hessepoelbos, the woods we walked in back in January. I squealed in delight when I saw the woods were now carpeted by those harbingers of Spring, wood anemones (Anemone nemerosa). So, that was our destination for Saturday's outing settled.



The wood anemone grows in dappled shade and they are one of the first Spring blooms. Don't be fooled by their innocent and fragile appearance, though, they are quite poisonous. 

That aside, it is magical to see them spread out like a veritable galaxy across the woodland floor.

The presence of wood anemones usually indicates ancient woodland as it is a slow-growing species which spreads via rhizomes – horizontal underground stems.




Another sun-drenched Spring day, its 14°C was somewhat tempered by a blustery wind. 

Tired of my long Winter coats, I browsed my collection of short woollen jackets and stumbled across this yellow one I charity shopped in February 2021. It's from the Spanish Cortefiel brand and apart from its colour I was drawn by its double collar and cuffs. I redeemed its boxy shape by adding a burgundy leather belt.



Leaving the sheltered woods behind for the open fields, I was glad of its warmth and the fact that I was wearing my frilly turquoise scarf and sage green beret.

Here, the wood anemones made way for the cheerful yellow flowers of the lesser Celandine growing in the shade of a row of pollarded willows.



Where the fields end, the path veered off and narrowed, finding shelter between the pollarded willows and a wind-breaking thicket of shrubs.  The perfect place for outfit photos, showing you what was going on beneath my yellow jacket.

I'm sure you've already spotted my green and white plaid skirt, which was a vintage find from Think Twice many years ago, its fabric a thick polyester jersey. My midnight blue Diolen blouse with its flower and circle pattern of many colours was picked up at Think Twice as well. At my waist, one of my stretchy belts, with a round, multi-coloured plastic buckle.

My turquoise cardigan, green beaded necklace and cat brooch were all charity shop finds.



Arriving at the elongated nature reserved, the Old Railway Embankment, we instantly noticed the difference with our last visit: a distinct lack of mud!  Indeed, the dry weather of the last month or so made the soil look more than just a bit parched!



There may not have been muddy patches to tackle, other obstacles in the form of fallen trees courtesy of the storms had taken their place.

The rickety wooden bridge now crossed only a trickle of water, but even in the glorious Spring sunshine the abandoned greenhouses looked as spooky as before.



Before emerging from the low-lying path, we passed a picturesque, yellow pond-lily strewn stretch of water which reminded me of the river Ophelia is floating towards her death in captured by Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. And I wasn't even in a morbid mood that day ...



Sunday was a bit of a weird day, weather-wise. The temperature had dropped to 8°C, and much to our dismay it started snowing for all of 10 minutes while we were having breakfast. We had a mixture of sunny spells and cloudy ones throughout the day, which we spent pottering, reading and - in my case - catching up with blogland.

In fact, we only ventured outside to take outfit photos!




I was wearing the groovily patterned dress I went back to Think Twice for the other week, picking up the bits of yellow in its pattern with my necklace, cardigan, opaques and ankle boots. All items bought second-hand apart from the tights.

Meanwhile, the Snakeshead Fritillary (bottom left) I planted the week before seems to be thriving and look what's popped up quite unexpectedly: it's the Primula acaulis (top right) I planted out after it had finished flowering in its pot last year!



I'm leaving you now with a photo of our lovely Bess soaking up some sunshine. I do hope she isn't missing us too much ...



Friday 25 March 2022

How does your garden grow?

March has been marching along relentlessly and here we are, on the cusp of its final week. I've got next week off which means that, hurray, I'm actually on holiday now, and in just a matter of days, we'll be off for a short but well-needed break.

Not that my blog has made it this far, obviously, so I'm picking up where I left off, which was at the end of the month's first week.

As if to make up for lost time, the sun has been regaling us with her presence for a while now and it has been a joy to leave the house in the morning and come home again in the daylight. Making outfit photos after work, however, still hasn't been happening. Work continues to be hectic and chaotic, leaving me with little or no energy to spare, so for now, it's still weekend outfits and escapades only.



There wasn't much to show and tell that week anyway, although I did make it to Think Twice and may even have made a purchase. But more about that later! Oh, and plans are afoot for a blogger meet-up in June as - fingers and everything else firmly crossed - it looks like we might finally make it to the UK this year. 

But let's not be too hasty and stick to the matter at hand, which is Friday the 11th of March. 



It was a joy to wake up to another sunny day, yet again with a frosty start but with forecasted highs of 16°C. 

After our customary fruit & yoghurt breakfast, I washed my hair and then I stood myself in front of my wardrobe for the pleasurable pastime of choosing the day's outfit.  Among the dresses airing in the spare room was this plaid Diolen dress I'd recently wore to work, so I decided to give it another outing before chucking in into the laundry basket. An ancient Think Twice find, it originally came with a lining which had seen better days and as it had further deteriorated over the years, I'd recently removed it completely.




I took my lead from the red stripe in the plaid, adding a red vinyl belt and my red tie-neck cardi, taming its tie with the pansy patterned scarf ring I charity shopped the other week. Green was the colour of choice for my jewellery, which consisted of a butterfly brooch, beaded necklace and perspex ring.

My legs were clad in a pair of moss green opaques and my feet were happy in my low-healed fiery red boots, which were a flea market find back in November 2018.



It shouldn't come as a surprise that we were off on our weekly trip to the charity shops, but first let me tell you about my visit to Think Twice earlier that week. 

I spotted this groovily patterned long-sleeved dress with its cowl neck, pleated skirt and self-fabric belt on Wednesday, but after some umming and ahing I decided to leave it behind, telling myself I'd go back for it the next day in case of regret. Imagine my delight when on Thursday morning I scrolled through my Instagram and saw a Think Twice post announcing the start of another one of their sales that very day. Needless to say, I went back during lunch break and snaffled the dress at 30% off!




Arriving at the first of our chosen shops on Friday, we were initially put off by the fact that whole sections of the shop seemed to be cordoned off. Then it dawned on us that on Saturday that infamous yearly charity shop event they call Retro Day would be upon us and that the overpriced vintage and retro stuff behind the barrier was out of bounds until then. Not that we cared, as we weren't going anyway.

After fruitlessly trawling the clothing aisles, I was about to join Jos who was having a coffee at the cafeteria, when my eye spied a pair of delicious red clog shoes in my size. They are by the French Bosabo brand and one of them still had its original € 115 price sticker inside. I paid a mere € 4,50.

However, I absolutely hated its original laces, which I replaced with leather ones in exactly the same shade of red, belonging to a pair of shoes I never wore.



Before taking them to the till, I had a look at the nearby jewellery display, finding three more necklaces for my collection. 

Same Retro Day scenario at the second shop and at first sight the clothing aisles were uninspiring. But then I spotted the funky bell-sleeved blouse by JBC - a Belgian high street label - and the skirt in quick succession. Having a gut feeling, I totally ignored the skirt's size which normally wouldn't fit my generous hips, and took it to the changing rooms. And hey presto: instant outfit. Doesn't it look fab with my red boots?



And look, Sheila: it's by Essentiel Antwerp!



Back at home, the afternoon was spent catching up on some long-overdue chores. I dusted the upstairs rooms, swept the staircase, cleaned the banister and re-glued a piece of torn wallpaper in the stairwell.

No prices for guessing who was responsible for the latter!




In spite of the sunny weather, I was in a bit of a black mood on Saturday, which wasn't in any way helped by the fact that the outfit I'd originally earmarked wasn't working at all.

When I finally got dressed, we booked our yearly sojourn in Belgium's west country in September, and then decided to drive down to the garden centre after lunch. 

I based my outfit around the burnt orange faux suede skirt I bought in the January sales and added a vintage Tweed jacket I hadn't worn in ages and which is part of a skirt suit.




We wanted to check out a fairly new garden centre we'd passed a couple of times on our way to the charity shop in Mechelen. I think it's fair to say that it was a bit of a disappointment, but we still picked up a pot of budding Bridal Crown daffs, a couple of Primulas and a pot of red double daisies (Bellis perennis) with an unusual shaggy haircut.

Then we made a U-turn and drove to our usual garden centre, which is spacious and has lots of choice. Walking among the tables of plants on offer always makes me feel better. Obviously we made a couple of purchases here as well, including some Ranunculus, Anemones, Muscari and the ubiquitous Tête-à-Tête daffs.


 
I couldn't wait to get stuck into the garden, starting with the window box in front of the dining room window. The eagle-eyed among you may even spot some cockle shells!

Bess was supervising my efforts from her perch on top of her scratching post. She was soon bored, though, and took a catnap, leaving the supervising to her stone counterpart who lives on the corner étagère!




I'd managed to contain myself and refrained from enthusiastically loading our trolley with all kinds of perennials. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist bringing home a pot of Fritillaries which I planted next to the only one which had deemed to grow from the bulbs I planted in the Autumn of 2020, just to keep it company.



All these pots of colour provide some welcome cheer when looking out of our kitchen windows!

I continued my gardening chores on Sunday by clearing up some more of last year's perennials, marvelling at the fact that there's so much new growth already. Dove Cottage's garden is very sheltered and we haven't had much of a Winter.




Clockwise from top left, there's our Oriental Poppy, Dicentra formosa a.k.a. Pacific Bleeding Heart, Delphinium and a host of Alliums watched over by our garden angel.



I'm leaving you now with closer look at Saturday's outfit.

The blouse I was wearing is King Louie, picked up in a charity shop in Poperinge during last September's holiday. Pinned to it was one of my Cameo brooches which, same as my pendant, was a a flea market find.



The charity shops provided my turquoise King Louie cardigan and burnt orange beret. Both my opaques, in a slightly darker colour than my skirt, and my moc croc ankle boots were retail buys.

I might try to squeeze in another post before our little trip in order not to get even further behind but if not, I'll see you on the other side!



Sunday 20 March 2022

Impossible Spring

Having arrived at the Spring Equinox, we can safely assume that Spring - however impossible - has finally sprung!

What's more, we certainly have no reason to complain about the weather lately! Although most days still have a frosty start to them, the sun has been working overtime to crank up the thermostat to double digits by lunchtime. Rain, on the other hand, has been virtually non-existent, which is a blessing after all the precipitation we had to contend with in the past couple of months! 

As usual, my blog hasn't caught up with the times, so that once again this post involves a tiny hop and a skip down memory lane. This brings us to Saturday the 5th of March, which insisted on a repeat of Friday's sunshine and balmy 12°C.




We were raring to go outside and have our faces kissed by the sun once more, and what better way to do so than by going for a walk among nature's soul soothing splendour?

Creatures of habit that we are, we once again set off into the direction of Blaasveldbroek, home of the marsh spirits. 

I was giving Friday's green vintage jacket with its furry collar a repeat outing. In fact, it has been a joy to wear shorter jackets instead of my long Winter coats. As much as I love the latter, I'm starting to get a bit bored of them by now. My weekend bag, walking boots and floral walking stick are all the same as before, but I did wear a different beret and scarf. We'll have a look at the rest of my outfit in a bit.



The sun was shining brightly and it had started warming up considerably by the time we arrived at our destination after a twenty-minute drive. Instead of parking at the main car park, though, we opted for a small car park reached by way of a narrow country lane, the final part bumpy and unsurfaced and ending in a clearing in the woods. As a rule, not many cars are parked here, which makes it feel like a well kept secret.

The wooden gate posts give access to the domain itself. Immediately beyond it lies the first of the reserve's many ponds (top right), the water level of which was higher than we'd ever seen it before.

Instead of walking through the gate, we turned immediately right to walk along a broad tree-lined path (bottom right), with a smaller, dark and mysterious pond to our right.




To the left, a vista of watery reflections opened up, the expanse of blue sky meeting its twin in the looking glass lake. In the Summer months and well into Autumn only glimpses of the lake with its islets and peninsulas are on offer, and it's only in Winter and early Spring that its captivating beauty is fully revealed. 



From the path, a wooden boardwalk leads down to a small platform jutting out into the lake, on which I'm standing in the opening photo of this post. More than once, we've either picnicked or just sat and stared on the bench to the right of the boardwalk just before the platform is reached, but it would have been impossible to do so now without getting our feet thoroughly wet.



There's a second boardwalk a little further on, leading down to a larger platform ending in a railing erected for fishermen to rest their rods on. It's usually occupied, but much to our surprise there wasn't a soul in sight, which must have been a first.

We were admiring the view of the placid lake with its reed bordered edges, when I suddenly spotted the giant sun lounger we sunbathed on during one of our previous visits. It's hidden about half-way among the reeds in the photo on the top right, but I've zoomed in on it in the one on the bottom left.



Soon afterwards, we turned right at a T-junction and skirted the lake until the sun lounger was reached.

Immediately behind it is a closed off path, which used to be our favourite. Nowadays, it's the habitat of a beaver family, which is the reason it has been out of bounds for us humans since early 2019.




We spent 15 minutes or so reclining on the lounger, soaking up sunshine and replenishing our Vitamin D levels. The perfect opportunity to offer you a view of my curry-coloured opaques and the hem of my dress.

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Arriving at another junction, we veered off to the left again. However lovely, the path to the right would eventually end at a stretch of water used for water sports, which would mean a boring walk along its tarmacked edge before another entry point into the reserve is reached.

To the left it was then, negotiating some muddy stretches, with seriously waterlogged meadows to our left. I think I may have mentioned before that huge chunks of this area are barely above sea level!



Eventually we reached the reserve's visitor centre, which has a choice of picnic benches as well as an adventurous play area for children. Much to our delight, there weren't too many people about, so that we had the pick of the benches for once.

But first, let me sit down on a log and show you what I was wearing. This brown, rust and cream vintage dress had been waiting in the wings for a while. Apparently, I last wore it in November 2020, funnily enough combined with the same tights, and with the same brooch pinned to its tie collar. 




At least I wore a different cardigan and belt, both in a contrasting shade of chartreuse, this time!




We sat ourselves down on our favourite bench made from the trunk of a fallen tree and guarded by a pair of bronze beavers. One of them was so kind to keep hold of my scarf and beret while we were taking photos. 

Our sandwiches, meanwhile, attracted the attention of the resident cat who is always lurking around the picnic area looking for people to pester for tidbits. We used to call her a slimmer version of Phoebe, but now she seems quite big compared to petite, small-boned Bess.



After bidding Big Black Cat farewell, we continued our walk alongside swollen brooks and more water meadows. 

Our final stretch took us to yet another of the area's lakes, which seems to be a favourite with the reserve's wildlife. There is plenty of waterfowl here, with the honking of geese and the clucking of moorhens providing the soundtrack. A cormorant sat drying its wings after its tasty lunch of fish.
 


Although the sun still graced us with her presence on Sunday, the temperature had taken a dive to just 8°C. After a morning of chores, it was time to get out my gardening gear for another clearing session, this time tackling the seriously overgrown long border to the right of the garden path and the equally chaotic border in front of the bench.

It was a delight to discover we've got daffs and crocuses. Meanwhile, the lilac pansies and the yellow and pink primulas we bought at the garden the other week are doing their best to cheer up the area under the awning just outside the kitchen door. Just need to get into the watering habit again!



Afterwards, I changed into my real clothes again!

The striped vintage dress I was wearing was bought in the Think Twice sales during a trip to Bruges in April 2019.  Accessorizing it was easy: I just added oodles of pink! Although there isn't any pink in its stripy pattern, there's a splash of lilac, similar in shade to that of the pansies. For some reason, the camera refused to capture it!



I cinched my waist with a textured pink belt, a recent charity shop find I forgot to show you.

Pink opaques, a raspberry beaded necklace and a pink metal flower brooch completed my outfit. My pink longline cardigan has seen better days, so it isn't usually worn outside the house. Nevertheless, its shade of pink was just spot on.




I'll be back with more outfits, charity shop finds and garden updates in my next post. I hope you'll join me again then.

Have a great start to the week!



Tuesday 15 March 2022

The age of innocence

And another week has whizzed by! 

It was the first week of March, and the weather was strangely at odds with the prevailing feeling of disbelief and sadness caused by the devastating news from Ukraine. We transitioned into meteorological Spring, but although the mercury kept flitting around the 10°C mark like a butterfly, and sunshine was plentiful, this somehow failed to set my heart a-flutter.  Nevertheless, after a frosty start, the temperature often managed to climb into the low double figures on most days. Day by day, though, I could feel my neck and left shoulder seizing up and by Thursday evening, I could hardly move my head or lift my left arm without being in considerable pain. 

But lo and behold: although I could still feel an unmistakable stiffness in my neck, most of the pain had gone by Friday morning with the prospect of a couple of days off.

We could have had a lie-in, but the sun was shining and the weathermen had promised - hand to heart - that it would warm up to 12°C, so we didn't want to waste precious time.



Besides, it was Friday, which meant that another charity shopping trip was on our itinerary. Admittedly, the thought of a good rummage never fails to take my mind off things. 

We visit our favourite shops on rotation and this week it was the turn of the three-storey one in Duffel again. As the shop is only a stone's throw from one of our favourite parks, a rummage here is often followed by a walk. Thus, with the weather gods in our favour for once, we packed a picnic and went off.

I'll take you through what I was wearing later on, but for the moment I'm allowing you to admire my vintage green wool jacket with its delightfully soft faux-fur collar.



By the time we left the shop, there was a faint rumbling in our stomachs. Arriving at the park, we went in search of a suitable bench to eat our sandwiches, preferably one in a sunny spot. But we weren't the only ones taking advantage of the balmy Spring weather and the most covetable benches turned out to be already occupied by people on their lunch breaks.

After some walking around and a spot of bickering about where to plonk ourselves down, we finally settled for the bench you can see on the bottom right in the above collage. It had a view across the pond towards our very favourite bench, which is sheltered by a thicket of shrubs and, at this time of year, has clumps of cheerful daffodils at its feet. We'd just finished our sandwiches when we noticed that the lady who had been sitting there was about to leave, so we wasted no time in crossing the bridge across the pond and making our way towards it, if only to admire the flowers at close quarter.



Signs of Spring were everywhere, with the first of the blossoms appearing on shrubs and trees and a lawn full of precocious daisies. The brilliant blue sky was the perfect backdrop for a flowering Forsythia, and the park's collection of Hellebores were now resplendently in bloom.



Instead of walking towards the castle ruin we decided to circumnavigate the largest pond in a clockwise direction. Although quite close to a busy road this part of the park is rather wild and unkempt and the weeks of almost non-stop rains had left partly flooded and muddy paths in their wake.



Here, the view across the pond is particularly enchanting, even if its mirror-like surface was strewn with branches dislodged and tossed about by the recent storms. 



In search of the perfect backdrop for taking outfit photos, we were stopped in our tracks by a white blossomed shrub growing in the shelter of the river's embankment.

It was balmy enough to shed my jacket, hanging it and my scarf from a conveniently placed branch, and show you what was going on underneath.





I'm sure you'd already noticed my skirt, with its fruital pattern in delicious berry colours. Charity shopped back in November, this was its very first outing. 

I wore it with a contrasting yellow jumper, which was an old retail buy from a long-gone local shop, while at my waist I added one of my chevron patterned stretchy belts. Further accessories were a wine red beaded necklace and ring and a vintage brooch featuring a lady wearing a gorgeous red and turquoise hat. My own hat was a pink and white marled knit beret. An extra layer was provided by a fuzzy burgundy cardigan. All except the jumper and belt were either charity shop or flea market finds.



I frolicked around under the frothy white blossom and couldn't resist snapping this final photo of these delightful harbingers of Spring!



Although we walk in this park in all seasons, we seem to have a particular penchant for its Spring and its Autumn incarnations. In fact, I've lost count by now of all the times you have walked here vicariously with us over the past six years.



It didn't take long for it to make its debut on my blog, as it featured in my one of my first ever blog posts back in March 2016. I've still got this dress, which is a regularly worn favourite. In fact, I think I've still got everything I'm wearing here, although I'd forgotten about the shoes. 



March seems to be a favourite time of year for a visit, as here we are again, in March 2017, sampling the first of the balmy Spring days in a dress I no longer have but now wish I'd kept.



March 2018, and I'm wearing a dress that's still gracing my wardrobe but is long overdue an outing. A bit chillier than the year before, as I'm wearing my belted Tweed jacket and my frilly turquoise scarf, which is still making regular appearances on my blog 4 years later.



Our final Pre-Covid visit, in March 2019. This dress too needs another outing, as does the handbag. I wonder what happened to that beret, but only just wore the cardigan and opaques a couple of days ago.

I'm sure not everything was as rosy as it seems in hindsight, but I can't help thinking that we were living in the age of innocence back then. If not without a care in the world, there was a lightness of being which seems to be gone forever. It's a blessing that we had no idea of the enormity of what was about to hit us. Halcyon days, I miss them so.



I'm trying to shake off the maudlin mood, and get back to the matter at hand, as I couldn't possibly end this post without showing you Friday's charity shop finds.

Leafing through the rail of nightwear in search of the ever elusive vintage slips, I came across this vintage dress, its label proclaiming Paul Mauser, Paris, which is pictured on the top left and right. 

The skirt with its Paisley-esque pattern is somebody's handiwork.


These two lightweight pleated skirts ended up in my shopping trolley too. The off-white one on the left, sprinkled with orange, pink, yellow and blue spots, is from an unknown-to-me label and is fully lined.

The moss green one on the right is unlined and is from New Look. Time will have to tell if this one's a keeper but I'm pretty sure about the spotty one.



Among the € 1,50 jewellery, I triumphantly unearthed the celluloid Scottie dog brooch on the left. I've got a similar one with a green base and a red Scottie in the middle which came with a considerably heftier price tag!

I also picked up the necklace with its graduated pink translucent beads, and the scarf clip with its posy of violets and pansies.



My final find of the day was this glorious embellished handbag, looking all brand new with its plastic price tag loop still attached. I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened it and spotted the Sacha label and lining. Sacha is a Dutch shoes and handbags retailer. I'm not sure of its original retail price but at € 4 it was definitely a bargain.




We ended our visit to this shop as always having cups of coffee and hot chocolate bought from the vending machine in the cafeteria which, as you can see, we had all to ourselves!

I'll be back with what we did during the rest of the weekend in a couple of days. Until then, do keep safe and sane, wherever you are!