There is an old Curiosity Shop in St. Andrews. This has been my second visit to St. Andrews, and I was happy to see this little shop again, as it was perhaps my fondest memory of my previous visit. The shop has very few things of value — mostly the little knick knacks and personal things of lives past — smoking pipes, salt and pepper shakers, lamps, cups and saucers, little musical instruments of every stripe, books, toys, wall hangings, framed photographs, and who knows what.
Coming from the U.S., where the contents of such shops generally go back only decades, I am fascinated by its equivalent in an older culture. A shop like this is a kind of magical portal into past lives. Tucked somewhere in a corner I might discover some item or other from a previous century, nothing much in its own day, but now a thing of archaeological wonder.
Grand castles and cathedrals are wonderful too, but if you’re looking for a time machine, nothing beats an old curiosity shop.