So there I was, in Munich, not having ever been there before but enjoying a nice guided tour of All Things Germany and having been released for a few hours of free roaming time.
I just happened to pass by an active daytime auction in a small auction house in the center of town and, not being able to ever pass by such an event, went in. Nothing tickles my fancy more than a "Surprise Box", those mystery packages that are all taped up, or possibly sealed in a chest, and no way to know what you might be getting. It brings out the gambler’s instinct in me. I’ve lost badly on most of those I’ve picked up and done okay on a few others. No one was bidding on this one. Germans don’t seem to be into that sort of thing. So when the auctioneer tried the Dutch Auction routine, eventually getting down to ten Euros and looking like he was losing interest and was going to shut it down as unsold, I held up three fingers to indicate three Euros as my bid and without further prompting to the crowd, he shouted "Sold" in my direction and the box was mine.
I was pressed for time to get back to my tour bus so I didn’t even look at the contents of the heavy little box after payment. In fact I didn’t even open it until I got back home, having completely forgotten about it. After all, the thrill is in the chase, not the ownership. But it was fun to find it again when I was unpacking.