I don’t know if you noticed the hat I used to draw names for the winners of the German decorating magazines, but if not, here is a reminder …

I dragged Mr. Q into a hat shop in Germany to purchase it.  He looks good in hats … well, some hats.  Quite honestly, he really can’t pull off a baseball cap.  But hats with a brim generally work well for him.  See?  Doesn’t he look handsome …

For some reason, we always seem to buy hats for him on vacation.  Is it because there are just more hat shops in Europe?

We saw a hat shop in Regensburg with an awesome window display, The Hatter am Dom.  They had rows of vintage hat sewing machines (at least I am assuming that is what they are) that immediately caught my eye.

Wouldn’t one of these be fun to display in your craft room?

They also had shelves full of hat blocks, and I admit I would not have know what these were except my friend Michelle of Rose Mille has her own collection of hat blocks and has educated me about them.

I think Michelle would have been in heaven at this shop!

This is not where we purchased Mr. Q’s hat though, his hat is made by Mayser, a German hat maker since 1800.  The very helpful clerk who sold it to us said be sure to never use heat to dry it because it could shrink.  Good tip, since we often put our winter things on the radiator to dry out when it’s snowy outside.

And what do you do after buying a fabulous hat in Passau?  Find a sidewalk cafe to enjoy your favorite beverage (coffee for Mr Q, wine for me) and watch the people go by.

I know Mr. Q will get a lot of use out of his new hat.  He’s worn it pretty much every day since we’ve been home.  He wore it to visit his grandparents the other day, and he says his 97 year old German grandfather looks even more handsome in it than he does.  We should have bought two!