Emmy’s Shopping #2of8

In the beautiful little town of Fougéres, France, Emmy visited an antique store and found a pretty little clock. Some part of the decoration on the top was missing, and not only did the clock bell not ding, they didn’t know if it would ever ding. I said, “If the clock can’t ding, it ain’t worth $70.”

One year Emmy re-visited her favorite brass and copper shop in Limburg, Germany. If I thought she was going to buy a brass pot, I was half right, she bought two, but then she gave one to Cousin Toni.

Emmy decided to get her hair colored and set, and whatever else it is they do in those places. We found a tasteful looking shop in Kórinthos, Greece with a nice looking lady whose hair was pleasantly styled, so we felt the pretty lady would know what she should do with Emmy's hair, and she did.

In Brussels, Belgium, Emmy found a beautiful 18 carat gold bracelet with pearls. They call used jewelry an “estate piece,” not “a used piece.” A car dealer calls a used car, a “used car.” The following year Emmy insisted on visiiting the same store, but lucky Jim, since the store was closed, there was no cost. Hey, she bought a beautiful bracelet last year, but could she be so lucky two years in a row?

At a store between Grasse and Cannes, France, Emmy liked a pink glass bowl she saw in an antique shop. The price was 100 French Francs, Emmy would pay 75. I offered 60, the lady said 80, I said 70, and the lady said, sold.

In spite of the rain, Emmy really liked the flea market in Nijmegan, The Netherlands. (We never found a flea market she didn’t like.) A large part of Nijmegan’s market was filled with fruit and flowers, but Emmy found a delicious smoked mackerel fish for 85 cents. She bought a small planter with blue ceramic handles, but after we were in the camper, on our way out of town, we had to find another parking place, then run through the rain to get a brass coffee pot she can’t live without — it’s not for coffee, it’s just for because.

In Gstaad, Switzerland, Emmy found a pewter-looking tall (19”) heavy, interesting-looking coffee pot. It's made of what they call “old Zinn,” and is very thick and heavy. The sales-girl said it was maybe 100 years old. When we later crossed the border from Poland to E. Germany, the East German Customs man acted like he had really “found” something hidden in the camper. He wanted to see our receipt for the pot, and of course we had none. We did show him the address of the antique store in Switzerland (on the bag it was stored in), and I showed him the place in Emmy’s diary where she had mentioned the purchase. So OK.