Sunday, July 12, 2009

Russian Mementos

When we traveled to Russia we did most of our souvenir shopping on trip one in Votkinsk, the city where Daniel was situated. Votkinsk was the home of Tchaikovsky and we were fortunate enough to visit his manor one afternoon and then the manor shop where we purchased really all of our souvenirs. Even though we walked to Red Square on trip one, we somehow missed visiting Arabat Street where everyone said all the great souvenir shops were located

On trip two we were able to come home early and chose to do that instead of taking the few extra days to tour Red Square with Daniel in tow. Since we didn't do that, we did not purchase any additional souvenirs except for a few toys for Daniel that I consider to be like souvenirs and which have since found their home in his memory box.

So imagine my surprise when Troy, Daniel and I stopped by a yard sale down the street from where my mother lives and find a salt and pepper shaker made like Matryoshka dolls. I snatched them up right away and started looking at them closely. Sure enough on the bottom is a sticker that states they were handmade in Russia!! Even more interesting was that inside the salt shaker was a Vodka liquor bottle with the label mostly in Russian. To top it off, the lady sold me the set for $1.00!! I have added the salt and pepper shaker to Daniel's shelf where his other Russian mementos have their home!!



Some may think I'm silly for frequenting yard sales, but look what we found for $15.00 one day (swing set) and then $5.00 (work bench) this past weekend...and just look at the smile on our son's face!!

9 comments:

Dede said...

Looks like you have found some really good bargains. I should go to more yard sales!

Amy said...

I'll NEVER say you are silly for garage/yard sales. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Especially in THIS economy. I buy all of Tatiana's "play clothes" (for day care) at garage sales or my other favorite thing a Mom2Mom sale. Have you seen this yet? If not I highly recommend looking it up. Imagine an indoor garage sale of ONLY kids stuff. Clothes all the way to cribs etc. BIG BIG BIG.

Mama Fish said...

Oh Rachel- You know I'll never knock a yard sale... or a thrift shop! You got two excellent deals! I absolutely love the salt and pepper shakers... how awesome was THAT???

:-) Jackie

MJ said...

Don't worry about missing Arbot street. It's really nice but the stuff is super expensive. I was there 2 different times for 3 weeks at a time for work and found a "flea" market right off the Moscow subway that was far, far cheaper than anything I ever found on Arbot street! The only thing I got there was food poisioning, fish pizza is just bad! Congrats on your yard sale finds! The salt and pepper shakers are adorable.

Cindy said...

Oh, my goodness. I agree. YOu can't beat a good yard sale for finding all kinds of treasures, especially for kids. We skipped the tour of Red Square and shopping, too, because we got into the Embassy earlier than expected and were so homesick and tired, we just didn't care. I bought souviniers on the first trip in Vladivostok, so we're good on that stuff.

Kim Abraham - Mom to the Fabulous Five! said...

Very cool! We did Arbat Street, but it was way too expensive. We picked out our favorites, went back to the room and looked them up on the internet, then bought them when we got home. Is that cheating? I like your $1.00 price better though!

Craig and Phyllis said...

I love the salt and pepper shaker! That is truely a treasure find! And your other finds are great. Sounds like the Proverbs 31 woman to me! : )

Tiger & Kar said...

Okay, I love the salt & pepper shakers but I REALLY love that last photo of Daniel. Is it even possible his smile can get any bigger?!

Amy said...

Awesome, cool salt n pepper shakers!!! I was a garage sale junkie before I had 4 kids.