Etched Glass Lamp from Poland

I bought this lamp from the gift shop at the Marriott Hotel Warsaw more than 15 years ago. Not the cheapest place to buy souvenir I know but there was a reason behind this.

I went to Poland on business. We travelled in a group of 6 or 7 so were provided with a nice new van for transport. After 3 days, we were allowed only 1 hour between appointments to do our shopping on the last day of work (we were departing the next morning).I bought a nice cut crystal lidded jar at a bargained price from the old city. Sadly, later that day while we were in our last meeting the van was stolen along with our possession of that day including the crystal jar I just bought in the morning.

The lost jar did not bother me much but the lost organiser (Filofax) did. Bob bought me this leather bound Filofax from Singapore and in it contained our 3 days’ work – remember that this was the time before iPads and laptops were still expensive and had not yet become an everyday item. Even cell phones looked like a brick back then. I had to work very late into the night trying to retrieve whatever information I could remember about work over the past 3 days.

Did not want to leave the country empty handed I ended up buying this lamp from the Hotel gift shop. The lamp that had been looking at me like a puppy in the pet shop –take me home please- from the first day we checked in.

It has survived travelling with me  from Warsaw to Budapest to Frankfurt and to Bangkok in my hand carry bag and our moving from Thailand to New Zealand plus moving house in this country twice. It has been in our living room for years and is graceful with age.