What is the most unusual impulse purchase you've made while traveling?
May 12th, 2005, 09:31 PM
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What is the most unusual impulse purchase you've made while traveling?
For us, it was a mosaic from the Vatican Mosaic studio while we were in Rome last fall. We spent far more than we've ever spent on anything while on a trip, but an appraisal upon our return home has made me smile. The studio isn't usually included in tours because it is relatively small and sales in the studio are restricted. The pope controls all of the religious artifacts produced in the studio, using them as gifts for Roman Catholic heads of state. The non-ecumenical items (ours is a bowl of fruit) require approval by one of the cardinals before a sale is permitted.
May 13th, 2005, 04:56 AM
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I was in Cancun about 8 years ago and having lunch outside in town....next to the patio was a little shop with different pieces, and there was this wooden carved statue about 3 1/4 feet tall of an thin old man sitting on a stump with his head perched on his hand...I looked at it for a long time and finally wandered over..it was Don Quitoxe...he came home with me on the plane and is still pondering to this day..
May 13th, 2005, 05:48 AM
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A 3 foot tall blown glass sculpture of a couple embracing - I bought it on our honeymoon in Venice from a glass studio out on Murano - it was the most expensive piece of art I've ever bought and I bought it without my hubby even seeing it!
May 13th, 2005, 06:57 AM
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Context: I don't shop often, dislike it and seldom ever do on vacation.
In AZ near the G.Canyon - I found a small shop with some original sculpture and bought one for my kitchen breakfront- had it shipped home.
It was very expensive and cost a lot more than the trip. My SO was too shocked to talk for the rest of the day.
It was uncharacteristic on both counts.
Aftermath: He threatens to tell my 84 year old mom how much I paid for it- it's his standing blackmail threat. She is very frugal- ie. will re-wash plastic bags etc.
In AZ near the G.Canyon - I found a small shop with some original sculpture and bought one for my kitchen breakfront- had it shipped home.
It was very expensive and cost a lot more than the trip. My SO was too shocked to talk for the rest of the day.
It was uncharacteristic on both counts.
Aftermath: He threatens to tell my 84 year old mom how much I paid for it- it's his standing blackmail threat. She is very frugal- ie. will re-wash plastic bags etc.
Trish
May 13th, 2005, 07:23 AM
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Wow, Randy. Your purchase sounds amazing! Most unusual (crazy) impulse purchase while on vacation -- well, that would have to be a condo we bought on St. John (USVI). We fell in love with the island soooo much that we just said "hey, what the heck".
May 13th, 2005, 08:22 AM
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In Venice I fell in love with a tablecloth and had to have it. It was hideously expensive, but still to this day I love it, so it was worth it. DH will never understand my shopping, but he has learned to just laugh.
May 13th, 2005, 08:59 AM
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Last summer we were in Capitol Reef Visitor center and they had these metal petroglyph figures. We bought two for our bedroom to go with another metal petroglyph panel we already had. They are both about 20 inches tall and weren't cheap, but I'd never seen anything like them before.
Utahtea
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May 13th, 2005, 09:12 AM
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We were in a studio in Jerome, Arizona, lured in by a display of stunning photographs of Southwest canyons. One room was set aside for photographics of Vermont, where the photographer once lived. Being from Connecticut, we were drawn to them, and ended up buying a large, expensive gicle print of a Vermont valley. It's in the family room now, an odd momento of a trip to Arizona.
May 13th, 2005, 09:34 AM
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On a B&B weekend in the Litchfield Hills, CT, we went into a used bookstore that was inside a converted barn. They had a bunch of old, sepia-toned land survey maps, sorted by state. I flipped through the MA ones and found one that included farmland that has been in my mother's family for centuries, where we had a cabin when I was a child. I snapped it up and framed it. 
May 13th, 2005, 10:10 AM
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sunny16, I trying to get that together for a lake (my lake) in MI. The aerials are from about 1930's. I'm trying to buy them and have the same plan for their use. The owner doesn't even want a lot of $$$, just doesn't know what else he is going to put up in his restaurant yet.
May 13th, 2005, 10:58 AM
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Impulsive & crazy: 20 amber-colored glass Javex Bleach bottles...all sizes (I think they threw in a Chlorax one too!). I don't think you get Javex in the US. This was about 20 years ago. Had one heck of a time getting them home....They were fragile & some of them quite heavy. To this day, I don't know why I bought them. I did not have a "bottle collection". Well, at least not b/f this! And, why Javex? Who knows???
This is a fun thread, RandyK!! Fun to write, fun to read!
And, why Javex? Who knows???This is a fun thread, RandyK!! Fun to write, fun to read!
May 13th, 2005, 01:13 PM
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3 large antique cabinets/armoires in korea. at the time, i lived in a 700 sq ft 1 bdrm in manhattan. i had no room for them! but i shoe horned them in and am still in love with them today, especially now that i have room for them. a couple weeks later i saw a similar one for sale on madison ave for $10,000 so i definitely got a good deal
