One grandmother was rather adventurous. She loved to travel and literally saw the world. I remember one summer in the fifties that she spent studying Russian in preparation for a trip she was about to take. I recall seeing her picture on camel back in front of the pyramids, with elephants in India, sitting in a rickshaw in China, standing in the Coloseum in Rome and in front of the Eiffel in Paris tower.
She always brought me back a souvenir. Often these gifts were dolls. I had many black dolls with baskets on their heads; I gather they were from the Caribbean. When my grandmother came back from Prague, I remember she brought back a plaster baby Jesus with many different outfits, and I had the feeling that this was tacky and I was hoping it was not for me. Another gift that I will never forget was a red embroidered silk kimono from Japan. It was soft and shiny on the inside and covered with lovely designs on the outside. I wore it to Halloween many times and at home until I outgrew it completely.
One of the stories she liked to tell was of her first trip to Europe. The war started while she was over there (the first world war), so it was a mad scramble to get back. She did secure a ticket on a ship just as it was about to sail. As the ship pulled away from the dock, she saw her suitcases were still on the ground. Her first reaction was to rush to the ship’s dress shop to get herself an evening gown. All the money she had was in a money belt that she wore under her gown at night and it would dangle from her waist as she danced. It seems that her dance partners were a bit puzzled over what was rhythmically hitting their knees…
After the war was over the suitcases did make it back to Montreal…slightly worn and spilling their contents on the dock, but back nonetheless.