Emmy’s Shopping #7of8

When we arrived in Quimper, France, we first visited the beautiful St. Corentin Cathedral. Not just a rectangle like most Cathedrals, just past the altar the whole building makes a slight turn, or jog to the right. It's dark and gloomy inside, needs cleaned, but nonetheless a beautiful place. A couple of blocks away is the very modern market building, we can see the cathedral steeple through the glass roof. Emmy bought a sweater, and we shopped the fruit market inside the building. Quimper’s outdoor market contained mostly new clothes, etc.

We arrived in downtown Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, at 8:30 in the morning and found the stores had already been open for an hour. The large outdoor market was open in the rain, with lots of food, clothing, and other such items for sale, all under umbrellas or plastic covers. We bought a hand loomed wool Afghan for $40. A lady, standing nearby, told the seller she was charging too much for it, and seller said, “They are Americans, and can afford it.” They didn’t know Emmy could understand their German, but we didn’t complain, this time.

Emmy also bought a round knitted doily and the lady gave her another one as a gift. Yugoslavians indicated they really liked Americans, especially when they are spending money. The cherries sold in the market were excellent.

Many years later we again visited Ljubljana’s street market, and Emmy spent 50 cents for a pink suede leather purse (she really likes it and does use it.). Emmy found Jonathan apples for about 20 cents per pound, and she loves those apples.

We drove through Sorrento, Italy, looking for a place to park, and drove up a narrow twisty road, lined with lemon trees and olive groves. At several places there were grapevines under the trees, and there were palm trees, blooming “Bird of Paradise,” and cactus. In one Sorrento store we saw a beautiful wooden mantel clock, very nice, but $900! A little too much, even with all the inlaid decoration. Sometime we just should spend the money, then eat less for a week, or a month, or more.

There is a huge castle on a cliff overlooking the Elbe River and the factories that make porcelain products in Meissen, Germany. We’ve never seen such prices. Just a little thing like a grotesque ashtray can be priced at $500. Other items are far, far out of our price range, but Emmy would like at least one, some year.