Wednesday 12 June - Saarlouis

Where's Bertie? He's still at the Stellplatz at Saarlouis.
Weather: A wet morning before becoming increasingly sunny and warm this afternoon.

The result of driving so far over the last couple of days is that we didn't need to drive anywhere today. We're now within easy reach of where we want to be on Friday, so were at leisure to, well, be leisurely today.

So leisurely were we that Bertie's door was not opened all morning. The rain hammered, then drummed, then pattered down and we busied ourselves doing indoor things. In my case that involved turning the heel on the latest sock I'm knitting*, then pulling the entire turn back out to add a few extra rows to the gusset, only then to realise I'd missed a decrease in the first extra row. I did finally get back to where I'd been earlier in the day and it does now fit!

I'm liking the colour scheme! 

With the day looking slightly brighter by the time lunch had been despatched, we took ourselves off for a walk along the old course of the river, with a detour to see the 'Old Town' that we'd missed on yesterday's walking tour. That was underwhelming! Our expectations had been set by any number of old towns we've visited in Spain, Portugal and France. Here it is just one block that looks exactly the same (age and architecture) as the much of the rest of the town.

It was nice once the sun came out.

As I type this we're just about to walk back into town. We forgot to take the tablet earlier, so couldn't avail ourselves of the free wifi to download some stuff. Plus, I'm always curious to see towns in the evening - will it be a vibrant hive of life, or will the hundreds of pavement tables outside the dozens of eateries be just as empty as they've been in the middle of the day? (Answer: all very quiet. Perhaps the restaurants do all their business on the weekend?)


^{(*All the socks I've knitted to date have been to the same pattern, knitted from the top down, ending with a seamless grafting of the toe. I was curious about knitting toe-up, as it avoids any games of 'yarn chicken' (i.e. uncertainty as to whether there's enough yarn left to finish  the toe of the second sock). This pair has thus introduced me to Judy's Magic Cast-on (which is, indeed, magic!) to create a seamless double-edged cast-on at the toe, and also a Fleegle heel. Even though I have now completed the heel of the first sock, I've no idea what it is about this heel that identifies it as a 'Fleegle'.)}