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. Continue reading

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. Continue reading