“Present something that has a high immaterial value for you. (Something that you valuate more than it really cost) and explain why. Then link to the lottery-post and forward the challenge to two blogs. Earlier posts can also be used. Remember to forward your challenge to two new blogs”.
I must admit, this is not much of a challenge, I am a total hoarder! The real difficulty here was to choose just one thing..
Here is my choice - my Polish dagger! I don't think this thing was very expensive at all.. I bought it on my first visit to Poland when I was around 10 years old, at a time when the value of the Polish zloty was extremly low, it was around a million zloty to the pound! It was very confusing with so many zeros - the country was full of poor millionaires! This dagger reminds me of the beautiful town of Zakopane in the Tatra mountains, the farmers with their pitchforks in the fields, the amazing markets selling amber, wooden carvings and painted eggs, Russian boxes, nesting dolls, and army gear, the little old ladies selling sheep cheese in the shape of animals, everyone mistaking me for Polish - and my Dad as German, mashed potato with dill, wild bears and wolves in the woods, rationed toilet paper, stern police with guns, and rafting through the mountains! It was very different to any country I had ever been to before. It felt very adventurous, eastern Europe was not a place that many English people visited, so we were very rare in those days (not the case any more I imagine)! This was my first road trip across Europe, and it was probably partially responsible for my incurable love of road trips today. It is definitely the best way to see the world, seeing the gradual transitions between countries and cultures that you just miss when you take the plane!
Anyway, I love my dagger, I always wanted some kind of sword, and this thing is beautiful! I also felt very clever not getting it confiscated going through any of the border controls on the way home, despite many people's bags being emptied out and checked at each border!
As an aside, I also just remembered one guy asking the coach to stop by a gnome stall right by the Polish border, and then proceded to buy the biggest garden gnome I have ever seen, and then he had to travel all the way back to England with it sitting on his lap!
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