'merica, window treatments!

Over the weekend, the hubs and I went shopping at the local dept store.  We were in search of fancy work clothes for him and wound up meandering through the home decoration section on the top floor.  By the escalator stood a Star and Stripes themed bedroom display.  There were US flag-themed bed pillows, red-white-and-blue bedding, and stars and stripes curtains.  The whole scene was pretty kitschy and gave us both a good laugh.  We couldn't imagine who would wish to deck out their sleeping quarters in the colors of the American flag.  That said, we did find some of the bedroom bits well-made and vaguely tasteful.  The pillows (not like I really wanted one) were going for over 100 francs a pop and were a bit rich for our blood.  In need of curtains for our dining area, we sprung for a few panels of 'our flag' to block out the view of our across the street neighbor lady standing hours on end at her kitchen window.  Gone are the days of watching her eat, wash dishes, shake her teenagers by the arm for seemingly misbehaving, and watch us as we eat dinner.

-wonder if the Swiss neighbors take offense?

I would never think twice about buying these curtains for an apartment back in the States, but, somehow, being away from the US makes these stars and stripes just that, a nice pattern to have up over a window.  At the very least we will have appropriate decorations already hung for July 4th, if we choose to celebrate American Independence Day.