Monday, April 6, 2009

Antique Market in Tongeren Belgium

Every Sunday there's a huge Antique market in Tongeren and we had to check it out. It starts pretty early and we wanted to take our time so an Awesome friend of ours watched the kids while Jamie and I went. It's about a little over an hour away (Jamie driving) unless I drive then it's an hour and a half away. Here's a photo of the entrance to the Antique market...everywhere you turn there's another road or alley and lots more vendors!



You have to be careful though, there's a lot of people that will try to scam you and tell you it's an antique when really it's not.
Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium and was the last to be conqured by the Romans. Here's part of the entrance into the center of the old city. Gotta love the history.I had to try a Belgium waffle, the lady handed it to me and I couldn't help but be American and think...where's the chocolate, strawberries or whip cream? It didn't need it because it was so full of sugar already. I thought I was going to vomit before I was done with it and had to have Jamie finish it off for me. It was dang good though.Okay, so the big reason for us going to the market was to try and find a sideboard. We...mostly I have been wanting this forever! I've been to ECL (awesome store but very pricey) and love their stuff but just couldn't bring myself to spend so much. So, we found this beautiful peice that is exactly what we or I have been looking for! It's a nice solid hard wood and from indonesia so it's not an antique but who cares??? It's totally beautiful!
The guy we bought it from was such a nice guy. His family has been selling Antiques and furniture for four generations. His brother has a store near Tongeren that I have to go back to. You can find some amazing stuff there and it's not overpriced. The guy was so nice, our bank card wouldn't work for some stupid reason and we couldn't take ANY money out. All we had on us was four euro! Our breakfast ended up being a loaf of rasin bread and one bottle of water to share. Anyway, our only option left was credit so, he drove us 20min to his brother's store and just charged our card there. He even cut 45 Euro off the cost as well. We got an amazing deal and we went home feeling great about the purchase.

2 comments:

  1. i love LOVE LOVE your side board!!!! ahhh emily im so jealous! i wish i was able to head to that town before i moved! im so happy to hear that you guys got a good deal on it too. you can't beat that!
    and ya, that guy must have been an angel to drive you to a different location so you could get money out! not your typical european thats for sure...
    i miss you and LOVE what you've done with the area behind your table! it looks so fabulous emily!

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  2. I love your sideboard. You have amazing decorations in your house. I'm so jeleous. I hope I make it back to Germany some day. Audrey's hair is getting so long...it's really cute on her.

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