Thrifting, Antiquing, And Tchotchke-Browsing In Ohio Amish Country

...Continued from yesterday:
        Though I'd had a notion to change things up on this visit to Amish Country, we ended up doing pretty much the same thing we always do in Amish Country: we walked around and looked at the antique barns, thrift stores and tchotchke shops.
        Soon after we settled in at our hotel, the Berlin Grande, ​          

...we got started, walking from the hotel to the main thoroughfare in downtown Berlin.

      Our first stop was the Berlin Village Antique Mall.

          Not that we have any particular interest in antiques, 

...except to look at the amazing amount of random and diverse stuff here,

...and ponder who might buy some of these things,

...and how the heck do the managers mange to inventory it all?

      Next we walked down the block to an upscale-ish home goods store called Country Gatherings,

...the interior of which was soothingly infused with a vanilla fragrance and calming music and filled with all sorts of pretty and appealing items,

...including these stuffed animals that could be heated in the microwave and to which I took a great liking but resisted buying.

          There's also a cute coffee shop in the store called Buggy Brew.

...where there was a surprising number of younger folks,

...which gave me the impression that this must be a popular local spot to meet up for coffee.

        Another impression I had of Country Gatherings was that, even though Amish Country stores such as this one tend to offer a great variety of decoratives bearing religious and inspirational messages, it seemed to me on this visit that there was more religious messaging here than usual.

        The following morning our first stop of the day was at the non-profit Share & Care Thrift store (which was called 61 Surplus last time we were here),

...located on an idyllic country road.

    The store is always clean and well-organized, and full of nice second-hand housewares,

...and also promotes itself as a Christian establishment,

...as did the establishments that bordered our next destination, the public parking lot in downtown Berlin.

      We did a once around the country crafts mega-store called Sol's Palace.

      Next we headed for the German Village Center,

...where we visited the Gospel Book Store.

      I left the wholesome Gospel Book Store with the same notion as I always have of this place: That my books, rather spicy romantic comedies,

...would not be welcome additions to the inventory.
       By then lunch time had rolled around, and so we decided to head to the next town over, Millersburg, where we'd had our excellent pizza adventure the night before (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-friendliest-pizzeria-in-the-whole-usa).

          Our destination was a place I'd seen advertised in our hotel elevator called Jitters Coffee House, where one could apparently procure some lunch as well as some coffee.
​        Upon entering we found ourselves in a pleasant space which appeared to be a popular eating and meeting place.

       A long table full of folks of my generation reminded me of my own Panera Posse, 

...my group of friends who used to meet every Wednesday at Panera until COVID turned us into a mostly online entity.
         This turned out to be a good place for lunch. Tom ordered one of the specialty hotdogs, which he said was very tasty, with chips,

...while I had a veggie and cheese sandwich on a pretzel bun, also very good.

    As Jitters had a bakery with some nice-looking offerings, for dessert  we decided to sample  a couple of the giant, over-filled donuts. Tom had a cream-filled long john and I had a jelly doughnut.

     On the table markers were written gospel verses.

       While in Millersburg we caught sight of a few more thrift stores, so we decided to check out one of them, the Save & Serve.

       This place was quite nice, as well.

      The shelves held a finity of dishes of all sorts,

...and I saw a set of joy-inspiring multicolored dishes that I couldn't resist buying. 

     (I subsequently ordered from Amazon a bright yellow tablecloth upon which to set them, which I hope to do one of these days).
        Having given in to the temptation to buy the dishes, I now felt like giving into  those warming stuffed animals that had called to me at the Country Gathering the day before. So we returned to Country Gathering and I bought a couple of them.

        We hit one more thrift store, Mission: Thrift,

...which was more of your standard-issue basic thrift store,

...but we did give it a once-around.

      Then we stopped at Troyer's Market, where one can find an interesting variety of groceries and other things,   

...and where we picked up a  ten-pound bag of apples,

...and some salad to accompany the left-over pizza we were intending to (and ultimately did) have for dinner (see previous post).
       The next morning we checked out of the Berlin Grande, but Tom suggested that before leaving Berlin we have a look at the Berlin Antique Mall, as this was just about the only second-hand store in the area that, in all our years of hitting the Amish Country antique and thrift store circuit, we'd never been to. 
         As for me, I was by this point all browsed/shopped out. But as Tom wanted to browse some more I, of course, accommodated my mate. 
​         And so we set out for the Berlin Antique Mall,

...at the entrance of which we were greeted by a most eclectic batch of critters.

...and a rather annoying - but then, not altogether unexpected - religious screed, compliments of  the store's owner.

      And though we'd already toured half-a-dozen stores over the past day-and-a-half, I found myself mesmerized by this one.      

        There was such a plethora of used things of all kinds.

       I was fascinated by all this stuff, captivated, as if I were in a vast museum of artifacts from the mid-twentieth to the first quarter of the twenty-first century.
          "You ready to go yet?" asked Tom after I'd spent forty-five minutes engrossed in looking at things, but feeling a if I hadn't even started on all there was to see. 
          "No, not really," I said, reminding my mate that it was his idea to bring me here. However, I agreed to go and we left Amish Country for home.
             But I swore I'd be back.