Arcen, Netherlands, September 2025, Part Two

 The weather seemed to be against us much of the time, but we took advantage of one nice day to drive about 20 minutes south to Venlo, the closest big city. And we loved it!

We parked at the central underground parking garage, right in the middle of the city center. First stop was an outdoor market area with all kinds of things, including eggs and cheese.

For non-German speakers, this sign says Uncle Jacob has the biggest eggs in Venlo, (Uncle Jacob being the owner of the booth). "Eier" (eggs) is slang for testicles.

We took a nice long walk down the street -- purely pedestrian zone, how lovely -- and saw all kinds of things.

"9 out of 20 love chocolate, and the tenth one is lying."

The City Hall was built between 1597 and 1601. It is a national memorial

And given my professional background, this statement on the pavement of the pedestrian zone nautrally caught my attention. "Stores open, cyclists walk".

Arcen, Netherlands, September 2025

We decided to get away for a few days, and chose a new (to us) place in the Netherlands. The Resort Arcen is in North Limburg, about an hour drive, and practically on the German border. In fact, the closest stores were in Germany (although we drove a bit further and hit the Dutch shops, always a pleasure.)

It is in fact a relatively large park, with, as far as I could tell, few amenities or attractions.

The house we had selected had definite advantages. The living area was wonderful. There were two bedrooms, each with a full bath, although the bedrooms were small. There was also a half bath. The biggest advantage was the hedge surrounding the patio area, so that Anton could run there freely. There was parking for one car directly at the house, with the other parking place about a 30 second walk away.

The living area was modern and light. 

We even had a little visitor!

Anton felt right at home. 

One night we picked up pizza for dinner from the park restaurant, and it was truly outstanding.

Norbert and Lucas explored the area with Anton. 

There was no view to speak of from the house, because of the hedge, but we did get some sunset colours.

Hard to tell from those photos, but on the whole the weather was not cooperative with our plans to be out and about, a situation which unfortunately lasted the whole autumn.

We hit the two big Netherlands supermarket chains, Albert Hein and Jumbo. Nice to find some familiar products.