Finding Pen City

Unlike Italy, Australia isn’t known for its pens. Two well-known ink manufacturers, though, call Australia home: Robert Oster and Van Dieman’s. I’ve visited pen stores on even smaller pretenses, so I didn’t worry about convincing Sherry that Pen City was a must-see. Plus, Russ and I sneaked to the pen store while Sherry was taking a nap. She had no chance to stop us.

Located in Ravenhall, a suburb of Melbourne, Pen City is a bit tricky to find. Apparently, Google Maps drops you just around the corner with no view of the storefront. At least, that’s what our Uber did. We wandered the wrong way around the block, chasing the misplaced dot on our maps, and wondered if Pen City had closed. Russ called the store and got someone on the phone who complained about Google’s misplacement and walked out the the store to find us, just as we found the store. After a good laugh, we walked in about 3:15PM. The store closed at 4:00PM, so I knew we had to hurry. The guy at the counter — the same guy who answered the phone and the only one in the store — said as long as he closed up by 4:20PM, he’d still make his train. That was awfully nice of him to stay open a little longer, because we needed that extra time! I should have taken a picture with him. I didn’t catch his name, but he and I had a great time nerding out over pens while Russ poked around the store and listened in.

A Pen Diversion

As you’d expect from a country that birthed Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, Italy produces some of the world’s most beautiful pens. When planning this trip, I marked two places as “must see”:

• Casa della Stilografica
• The Visconti flagship store

The first, Casa della Stilografica, carries a range of pens from a range of countries. This trip, however, focused on Italian pens. I found the shop on Via Cavour, and its meager selection surprised me. When the shopkeeper understood that I was looking for fountain pens, however, she said, “There is another,” and redirected me across the street. They have two locations on the same street.