Emmy’s Shopping #6of8

We drove into Wolfenbüttel, Germany and found it a delightful place. Block after block of downtown Wolfenbüttel is lined with beautiful buildings, half-timbered, gabled, pink brick, and every nice little architectural trick possible. In the supermarket, Emmy found a couple of little blue flower pots she thinks will look beautiful in our kitchen. She was right.

Just when we think we have already seen “the best, the most unusual or whatever,” we find another place like the food and flea market in Vienna, Austria. There is a wide street, divided by a median strip that’s maybe a half block wide. One side called Linke (left) Wienzeile, and the other called Rechte (right) Wienzeile. Vienna is spelled Wien in Austria, and “zeile” means booth in German. Wien is German for wine, and is pronounced something like “Veen.” In the first part of the area there are a couple of blocks of buildings where they sell many things, but mainly food. Further west, there are a few blocks of a flea market, and more food for sale.

At the market in Vienna, Emmy bought a small pink bowl for $3, but did not buy a center piece that she liked, with a navy and peach design on a plate rimmed with brass. I paid $2 for a picture book of Prague. I planned to place the book on the camper table while we were crossing the Czechoslovakian border (the Berlin Wall still stood), hoping to make an impression on the border people — and it worked. The book is a very nice picture book, with descriptions of each picture in four languages.

When we arrived in Amiens, France, we stopped at a large supermarket. They had a huge “pile” of unwrapped butter, and Emmy wanted to buy just one pound. She managed to signal with her thumb for one pound, but she had forgotten they speak kilo here, so ended up with one kilo, over two pounds, but it was very good butter. Lunch was prepared and eaten in the RV right next to the fabulous Notre Dame Cathedral. Then while the chief cook rested, I walked a few blocks to see the center of town. Well, I also “cook” something, sometimes.

In Taormina, Sicily, Italy, for only $150 Emmy almost bought an antique 17th(?) century, round copper picture frame, with a picture surrounded with red velvet. She restrained herself. What did we know about such things, and maybe the person who wanted to sell it had been misinformed.