On Friday morning, we met up at 6 am to get on the road. With a 7 hour drive ahead of us, we wanted to do all of the shopping we could on Friday. Once we got down into Austria, the drive was getting beautiful. We could see white capped mountains all around. Bryan saw this lookout and couldn't help but pull over. The view was amazing.
We finally arrived around 1:20pm. Great timing because the shop opened at 1:30. In Italy, everyone takes a siesta just like in Spain. All of the stores close anywhere from 11:30 - 2:00. It's so weird to see all of the streets empty. Once inside the factory, we were so overwhelmed. There were racks and racks of pottery everywhere. This particular factory sells to Tiffany, Williams and Sonoma and Lenox. They had all kinds of stuff from all three. It was so much cheaper than you can get it in the states. We looked and shopped for hours, but it only felt like 30 minutes.
Jenny, Katia and I each picked out several things and loaded up moving racks. The owners were so nice. I asked for a three tiered serving tray. When he didn't have it, he made me one out of any dishes of my choice. Once our dishes were purchased, they began packing them in boxes and in bags. While the dishes were being packed, he pointed out some things on the factory floor. Since all the workers had gone home, he let me walk around. You could see the molds sitting near the kiln and I even found some of the raw dishes in the pattern that I had picked out. Then you could see where they add the glaze and let it dry. All the racks in the factory were the perfect pieces that were going to the stores. The stuff in the factory store upstairs had little imperfections, but most of the time, you couldn't even find them. Their standards must be really high.
After a long day, we were ready to find the hotel and grab some food. We drove out to a few more stores, but they had nothing on the first, so we headed to check in and eat dinner. Since we were in such a small town, not everyone spoke English, but we were able to get around thanks to Katia's Spanish. The restaurant was awesome. We had pasta and seafood, two of my favorites. Bryan and I split the seafood sampler and it tasted so fresh. The only thing we didn't eat were the little fried sardines. I tried one, but that's about all I could do. Even if it tasted good, I couldn't get past eating the head and tail. Bryan and I also ordered some awesome red wine. I'm always amazed at how cheap things can be in smaller towns. our whole meal with drinks and two courses was 35 euros including tip. The waiter was so gracious for a 4 euro tip.
The next morning, we were all set to go shopping again. Bryan and I had used the hotel internet to email our moms and get their shopping lists. Back we went to the same street. We went to a few more stores and found some more great warehouses. It was so hard to tell which were stores and which were houses. We would look for the sign and then ring the bell. If someone answered, we would ask to see the store. One stop, the guy painting took off his gloves and showed us around. He had just finished a 24in x 36in tile mosaic for a custom order for an MD back in the states. His English was not so good, but he tried and he showed us the designs for the kitchen where the tile was to be placed. He was so proud. Katia considered talking further about ordering one too until she found out it costs over 700 euros. That's over $1000 just for one piece of a kitchen.
We went to another factory and the store was so small. Most of the things inside were old and outdated. I did find this one planter that I thought Bryan's mom might like, so I asked if he had it in Red in my best Spanish. He said 'rosso' in Italian and took us to the warehouse in the back. Oh my gosh, ANOTHER warehouse full of stuff. He moved several racks and took me to a whole rack of red planters. They were just what I had been looking for. Here's a picture of us trying to figure out how much room we still had left in the van. It was getting so full already.
We picked out a few pieces but not too many. While he was wrapping them, we saw three or four workers packing up some dishes in the corner. Upon closer inspection, I saw some racks full of serving pieces with TJMaxx stickers. Katia asked him who all he sold to and he started naming them off, TJMaxx, COSTCO, Williams and Sonoma and some I hadn't heard of. He even showed us the packing of things he had sent to COSTCO. By now, we were quickly running out of room, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the big store and pick up the last bit of things from the day before. When we got there, Katia noticed they had put out more dishes and decided to buy a serving set. Bryan was so nervous it wouldn't all fit. Let the Tetris begin. I never would have imagined that three people could buy enough to fill up a 12 passenger van, but we did. With one more stop to go, we were running out of time. We needed to be on the road by noon to have the rental car turned in by 7. We hit up the Northface outlet and headed home. Jenny and Katia were worn out. Can you see the packages in the back seats? They were tucked everywhere.
Now, it's Sunday and I want to unpack it all and have a dinner party. Here's a link to all of the pics.
