“If you’re feeling fancy free, come wander through the world with me, and any place we chance to be, will be a rendez-vous. Two for the road, we’ll travel through the years, collecting precious memories, selecting souvenirs and living life the way we please.” ~ Henry Mancini.
As so many tourists do, I come home with a few (and sometimes many) souvenirs from the countries I have visited.
As an example, last fall during our river cruise in Europe, I bought watercolour paintings and Delft pottery in Amsterdam, hand made lace bookmarks and embroidered napkins in Germany, clothes in Austria, wooden hand painted dolls in Hungary, and a few other items I just can't remember at the moment. Most souvenirs were gifts for friends.
At times, my suitcase was so loaded with souvenirs that the zipper gave up and the suitcase was split open on the "arrivals" carrousel at the airport. That was the case on the return flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when I purchased two rather bulky 8" ceramic dolls (one for my sister) and several ceramic plates as well.
Then there was one trip to Italy where I brought back ceramics from my grandmother's hometown, a small musical table with the inlaid wood designs typical product of the Sorrento region, linen clothes made in Italy, and jewelry.
Top photos: Inlaid wood musical table from Sorrento. It plays the song "Isle of Capri". Bottom right: Ceramic figurine bought in Puerto Vallarta holding caged parrots. Bottom left: Plates from Codroipo with the dialect Friulan sayings written on them. With its accents on some words (cûr as an example), it looks nothing like Italian, but it is a language I can still understand to some degree today).
In Greece, I bought handmade linens and pillow covers and jewelry as well as ceramic dolls.
O.K. You have discovered my secret. I love to shop when I visit foreign countries.
So today's Throw Back Thursday sketch is from my 2016 travel sketchbook.
Each little bell that sits on my kitchen window sill reminds me of the wonders of the world that I have seen in the past ten years, in this case, in beautiful España.
Great collection Louise. So like minded, but what I buy I have to carry is the rule in this household, consequently no bulky items are ever purchased
Good reasoning. I like to put purchases in the suitcase and I usually leave room for them as far as weight goes. I would rather get on the plane without too much in the way of bags that have to be stored in the overhead compartment. But that’s just me. So everything was in the suitcase when the zipper gave out. But it was all in there on the carrousel except for an old pair of sunglasses. I was amazed that nothing was stolen.