May 9 and 10- Kaunas international Baltic Antique flea Market.

I know I sound like a broken record, but after exhaustive research on the internet and help from the receptionist at the hotel with maps and very clear directions with the statement that we can not miss finding the flea market because it is so easy to find we set out in the car to find the Urmass market place in Kaunas which is hosting the twice annual International Baltic Antique Flea Market with over 1100 vendors. We proceeded to get lost- Again! The problem is there are no street signs posted anywhere where a person can find them, if at all. Every once in a while we found a street sign on the side of a building or on a tree, but so far away we couldn't read it, or so unpronounceable  that by the time we had driven by we didn't know what it said (Savanaoniyprosperktas St- I kid you not).

Anyway, we did eventually find the place and it was amazing. Two or three giant buildings used from the old train station, filled with shops

                                                                               









                               including 10 bead shops of which we only found two

Guy talking to the sister of the owner.

Another Bead Shop in the old train car.

and of course the flea market stalls of the antique show which boasted 1100 vendors but that must have meant every vendor listed in the history of the show for the last 10 years, because the event we were at only had about 100 vendors. But it was great fun! And you can only imagine all of the things we saw. Here are some of the goodies. Unbelievable what gets sold here.

But we weren't complaining because every vendor we saw had tons of stuff we never get to see back home and at much better prices. Lots of amber, European furniture and porcelain knick knacks, lace work, Russian coins and military things.






One of our first purchases was a box full of antique/old watch parts. Yeah! We know a few people back home who will want these goodies. (Do not worry Ladies, these are going in our carry-ons.)

Then we bought a bag of amber strands.

 And then another bag.

 And then a old strand of amber.

A few doors down we found lots of Vintage Belgian handwoven lace doilies at incredible prices from a wonderful Lithuanian family who deal exclusively in Belgian antiques.

Finally we found a vendor who specialized in antique metal buttons where we picked up some 1812 French Military buttons from Napolean's army. They had been discovered during an archeological dig of a mass grave outside of Vilnius, Lithuania. We purchased a couple of these buttons, as this is not our thing but hard to resist. And maybe some of our button club members back home might want some.

 This one is from regiment 72. We have other regiments we found.

 This metal button was made in Latvia and enameled. It has a lot of damage on it. But still collectible.

 This lovely insect button is from Belgium.

 And the man did not know where this insect button was made, except that it is supposed to be from 1930's.

 We are researching more about this metal button. But we know it is a military button. Could be Lithuanian or ???

When we got home to the hotel (another nightmare car ride of the same magnitude as the morning trip, as other streets were now closed and re-routed today.) J-Me posted this button find of a beautiful sterling silver belt buckle we found but did not buy on our button club Facebook page and got a request to purchase it for her and then more requests for other button items we found.

May 10 -So the next morning before leaving for our drive through Poland towards Czech Republic we drove back to the Urmass Market to pick up some more buttons, the silver belt buckle, more strands of amber and a beautiful strand of old amber J-me had found, but did not buy yesterday. She was in love with this strand, but could not wrap her mind around the price and if people would want to buy it later on. But She could not resist, it was a one of a kind, rare, old cut strand of lovely beads. She had to have it to show off; if not sell later on.

You would think because we had driven the route from the hotel to the flea market the day before we would have no problem doing it again…… oh no, someone decided to close off one of the streets for repair, so we had to find another side street to go around. We ended up in another part of town that was off our map (which wouldn't have mattered as none of the streets were signed, not even on the map).
Anyway, by pure luck we found the Urmass Market and picked up the items we wanted. Every single vendor remembered us and every purchase was cheaper than that was negotiated yesterday. By the vendor, not us. As it was a Saturday the banks were closed but all the vendors were happy to accept Euros and US dollars or combination thereof, which gets kind of tricky at times. Every vendor we spoke with and dealt with was very friendly. We had another wonderful day.

saw this brass cover on a old leather book.

 Would our sone love this helmet!

With much trepidation we left the flea market and headed for the freeway out of Kaunas towards Poland. And we didn't get lost. I couldn't believe it.

Driving for 8 hours we finally stopped for the night in Hell. Actually,  Hades Hotel, somewhere in Poland south of Lodz. J-Me went straight to bed, while I had a couple ice cold beers. I felt that I deserved them!

                 And by the way to all you Mothers out there- Happy Mother's Day!