We arrived back in Canada Saturday evening after close to 25 hours of travel. It wasn't all 'air time' though. The break involved a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam. If you have to have to schedule a long layover anywhere then Amsterdam is your place!
It was amusing when we went though customs with 4 suitcases, 2 carry on bags (the size of suitcases for some folks), and 2 nap sacks. The initial customs guy was sure we were smuggling all sorts of contraband so he marked our card for secondary screening.
Paul immediately started to sweat.
The secondary screening went as usual - how much did you spend . . . what did you buy . . . what was your most expensive item . . . and so on. It wasn't long before we were on our way without having paid any duty.
So what did we bring back from Greece in all of these bags?
Calendars, books, t-shirts, dish towels, olives, honey, olive oil soap, olive oil, a silk tie, cuff links, chocolates from Athens' top chocolate shop, ceramics, olive wood products (cheese board, wine stopper, spoons), chocolates from Holland, roasted pistachios, Korres' soaps, body scrub, and creams, turkish delight, nougat, dutch tulip bulbs, Christmas ornaments, licorice, fudge, Greek cat food for Beckett, wine, some books.
Do you understand why we needed all of those bags?
I was particularly taken with Turkish ceramics - particularly this kitten, plate, and hot plate.
This was one of my 'splurges'. When I last bought shirts I bought two with French cuffs yet I didn't own cuff links. We found many wonderful jewelery shops in greece. These cuff links are white gold and burnished silver. The image is the famous Greek key pattern. These were more euro than I wanted to spend but I was able to barter away from 175 euro to 100.
Our final 'favourite' purchase was a piece of art that Paul picked out in a wonderful shop on Patmos.
The entire piece is made up of separate clay pieces. The faces, the black background, and the beige 'frame' were all moulded from clay. When the customs officer asked what was our biggest purchase this was the purchase we discussed. *smile*
Lots of stuff.
One final thought about shopping in Greece (before jet lag head takes meway . . .) - it was CHEAP!
Love the ornament. Oh wait...I'm skipping Christmas!
Posted by: Palma | October 19, 2009 at 09:14 PM
Welcome home, Jerry -- great shopping! I love the cuff links and the kitten is delightful, as is the Christmas ornament.
Posted by: sandrac | October 19, 2009 at 09:51 PM
A job well done! Looks like an early Xmas has arrived!
Posted by: Barb Cabot | October 20, 2009 at 12:26 AM
OMG!
Posted by: Kendall | October 20, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Welcome home, Jerry! It looks like all of your treasures made it home safely. I love the kitty items.
How can you handle so many pieces of luggage? I have a hard time with that.
Posted by: nancyhol | October 20, 2009 at 12:28 PM
You never skip Christmas Palmabella.
Thanks Sandra . . . it was a fun time.
Nancy - I have sherpa Paul to assist with all of the bags. We have a system down pat and it seems to work well.
Posted by: JDeQ | October 23, 2009 at 08:55 AM
Nice loot!
Posted by: girasoli | October 24, 2009 at 10:17 PM
Yes, it was somewhat of a haul! LOL
Posted by: JDeQ | October 25, 2009 at 07:27 AM
Ooooooh, great finds Jerry!
Posted by: Deb R | October 26, 2009 at 08:03 AM
Thanks deb. The best thing was that it was all so cheap. I'm not used to returning from a vacation with lots of money left over.
Posted by: JDeQ | October 31, 2009 at 06:55 AM