When we had visitors in town a couple of weeks ago we took them to Kruje. Because of its convenient (by Albanian standards) proximity to Tirana and its mix of cultural, historical, and shopping opportunities, it is our "go-to" location to bring guests who are short on time but want to get out of the capital city. We've been there too many times to count but usually walk away having bought at least one special item. During one of our early visits we purchased a beautiful hand carved dowry chest from a local merchant and have returned to the furniture shop more than once to browse what the owner has in stock. That had been our plan during our last trip. After all, with only a few short months left before we depart Albania, our mission is to purge our household items rather than add to them. But then we saw the desk..........
The desk in its temporary new home |
Did this desk really belong to King Zog? Who knows if the story is true but it sounded good and only added to the beauty of the desk. And it is a truly beautiful piece of furniture. We clearly hadn't set out to buy a piece of furniture during our little outing but we were tempted to take the plunge. After all, we had discarded our old particle board computer desk when we moved from Norfolk and have been using an Embassy owned one here in Tirana. After a little haggling we went to lunch then returned for some final negotiations. Reaching an agreement we made arrangements for it to be delivered to our house. Of course, it was only when it arrived this past weekend that I realized exactly how big it is. It is huge. It fits a bit awkwardly in our current office/guest bedroom space but who knows where it will fit in our new Belgian house. But it is ours and I love it. Now I just need to let the moving company know that we have increased the amount of weight we will need to be shipping!
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