"O, for a draught of vintage!" had sighed Keats once, the poet who would melt my heart like a toasty marshmallow when I was eighteen. Eleven years later, nothing much has changed. I might not yearn for a Provencal swig like him, but anything and everything vintage does quench my thirst. When most of the world digs for Indian antiques and colonial treasures, I pine for anything that is even remotely European. Let's just say I was born in the wrong century and obviously in the wrong continent!
It's hardly a surprise then that the cozy little Bavarian village of Leavenworth is one of our most frequented jaunts. Just a couple hours drive from home, be it the towering Cascades in the backdrop or the never-ending rows of antique shops, the place is a sheer delight. It is a world in its own, where timelessness and the bustle of tourists create a colourful palette together.
However what strikes me the most are the cutesy, dangling shop signs, each unique in its own and with oodles of vintage character. Even good old Subway couldn't escape a hint of the old world in this charming village.
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