THE Souvenir You Wish You Had Bought But Didn't

I was in a village in south of France at an artist's studio and there was a small bronze sculpture of a mom with three children. Just as soon as I got too far away to turn back, I knew I would regret not buying that piece.

A miniature bronze sculpture of a turtle a couple hundred years old that I saw at the Portobello Rd. antique market. All because they wanted 225 GBP. I still wish I had tried harder to drive a bargain.

thereyet

Tapestry Pillows from Musee d'Orsay... I bought 6...should have bought 9!!

3 or 4 matched Murano glass sconces (mid-century contemporary, by Seguso or Venini, I think) in Rome flea market (not Porta Portese). Thought they'd be a pain to bring home, but later wished I had put them in my luggage and left behind a few shirts if necessary!

True, they were not cheap - but still were about 1/4 of the going rate for such things here.

Also ceramic tile for me -- I bought two small lovely hand painted ones in Siena, and wish I had bought more, and one small red painted tile in Venice at a shop near La Zucca restaurant, and again wish I had two more to hang in a vertical arrangement in my family room.

OTOH, hard to pack heavy breakables like tile early in the trip.

In Pompeii, I really wanted to buy a tile with the famous mosaic reperesentation of a dog and the warning "Cave Canem" (Beware the dog). I wanted it as a thank you gift for my dog-loving neighbors who always watch my house while I'm gone.

Unfortunately, I was born without the shopping gene and apparently it was too big of a deal for me to take five minutes to buy it at a roadside stand. I'm still mad at myself for not buying the thing.

An apartment in Paris in the 1990's...

More leather in Florence...

We try to buy prints or other artwork from all the place we go to. In Salzburg, we found a wonderful little art gallery and there were 2 pieces we were trying to decide about. I liked one, DH liked the other, and the kids were split as well. They were both quite nice and either one would have been fine. We decided to hold off a day and then go back and decide. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the shop owner was going to be closing the shop for several days - and we had to leave before he reopened.

It took us a few trips - but we finally realized that the best philosophy was "If you see it and you like it....BUY IT!"

We stopped at a roadside gas station near Pizza and my husband held up a really funky leaning tower night light...I laughed and he didn't buy it and he has talked about it often. It was just weird enough to be cool.

Grcxx3 - oh that would make me so sad! I love to buy prints and have them framed... I have Florence and the Castle de Chillon (I am sure I spelled that wrong) hanging in my dining room.

Leather briefcase from Rossi y Caruso in Buenos Aires. Bought a leather jacket instead, which just hangs in my closet. But, I would use that briefcase everyday if I had bought it.

Oh, well.

Thin

Deco oyster plates and charger at the Paris flea market. I have never seen anything like them. There were 14 plates and my SO talked the dealer into selling us two. We should have bought them all. If we didn't want all of them they would have paid for a trip or two to Paris.

I wish I had bought a German Christmas pyramid in Garmisch Partenkirchen (the spinning candle thingie). I don't know why I didn't.

I wish we had driven into Mexico more often to shop for cermaics and textiles when we lived in Arizona. I'm not talking about border towns, but towns famous for their arts and crafts, like Puebla and Oaxaca.

It was only a day trip, but there was a ring at an antique show in San Francisco...

It was an antique spinner ring but it was different than the ones you see now. There was a band, and attached to a rise in the band was a tube. On one end was a gemstone (emerald if I remember correctly) and the tube spun and balanced on the rise. I decided I'd rather buy 3 different rings than that one ring. I've never forgiven myself.

Scarlett- I can so identify with that. My only regrets in not buying are real estate. As far as souvenirs go, no regrets. I tend to overbuy to avoid that regret because the regret is so much worse than the cost of the purchase, usually. I do regret all the wonderful purchases I've lost....the oval turquoise ring from Greece, the gorgeous garnet cocktail ring from Toronto, the gorgeous woven metal rose hair pin from Buenos Aires, the black jacket from Rome that became my all purpose travel garment multitasking as airplane pillow, etc.

Real estate for me, too. Begged and begged for a certain property but dh said no. Worth 4 times today. Now he tells me he'll listen next time.
I have too much stuff to worry about the trinkets. But there is always something wonderful I fret over to bring home. Until the next trip...

Grcxx3, I love bringing back prints and drawings too - My larger bag has always been a hard-sided one, and if I have that along packing works on paper is a snap.

In Taxco many years ago I bought a friend a beautiful decanter. Don't regret giving it to him, but I wonder why I didn't get myself one!

Not a souvenir, but a ring in an antique store in Provincetown. So unique. I "visited" it several times during the week and knew that it was a mistake not to buy it.

Saw this interesting looking status of a cat (something like this http://www.provet.co.uk/cats/Egyptian%20cat%20900%20BC.JPG) with a crocodile on its back and turtle under it in a hotel gift show in Luxor, Egypt. It was suppose to be 2000 years old, but the gift shop person was willing to give me a certificate that said it was only 99 years old as you cannot take stuff older than 99 years out of Egypt.

Also, I am against smuggling stuff out of countries, I was in complete awe of the statue. The guy said he'd sell it to be for $800. That was a LOT of money for me back then. Also, what if the status was made the previous day in the workshop in the back of the store? Our tour guide did say that the gift shop was one of the few shops around Cairo-Luxor that sold antiques, but... $800 was a lot.

So we walked away... and now I totally regret it! I should have paid up and purchased it. I have never seen anything like that before.

I think we did a similar thread a few years ago and then I sighed and typed "a Byzantine ring" when we were in Greece. If you've heard this before I apologize, but I'm still just as sorry about it as I was on the previous thread. Another sigh!

An exquisite sterling and Amber ring in San Jose del Cabo.

Although the jewelry store has an email address; apparently they don't respond.

Nativity set in Oberammergau.

CDs of Roma music in Hungary.

Irish music CDs in Ireland. I bought 5 or 6 but still wish I had bought more.

Now that I know I am not alone, I am starting to feel a wee bit better...though I will probably continue to obsess about my "Vive aqui..."Spanish tile. Thank you Grcxx3 for your comment >"It took us a few trips - but we finally realized that the best philosophy was "If you see it and you like it....BUY IT!"< I think I will get a T-shirt made up with that philosophy and wear it on our next trip!

It sure doesn't matter anymore but the very first day I was in Italy, Milan, back in the 70's I saw the most gorgeous Italian silk dress. I was going to buy it my husband suggested since we were going to be in Italy for two months it would be smart to wait as no doubt I would see many dresses I would love just as much.

Well I didn't! And for years I regretted I didn't buy that absolutely perfect dress, sigh. When I was back in Milan two months later the dress was no longer available of course. I hope the woman that purchased it loved it as much as I did.

None I can think of to tell you the truth.

I do have two I totally regret buying and bringing home. One I tossed this last Easter, and one I just gave away. They both were way too much money and I really never used them or they didn't mesh within decore.

The first one was the clock I bought in Bavaria in 1984 (grandkids killed the bird and more at Easter in an accident and I hated the thing right after I bought it, so secretly I was glad) and the other was a large book of art prints that I shouldn't have bought and never use.

I have bought boots and jackets (leather) in Italy that I absolutely and totally love/loved. I tried to get the boots resewn (zipper wore out) and couldn't and they were my favorite boots of all time.

Leather jacket in Florence.
More silk pillowcases and tote bags from the markets in Cambodia. Oh well, that just means I'll have to go back!

After regretting that jacket for years, I am much better about just buying things when I'm traveling and see something I want.

I have never gotten home and said "gee, I wish I had that money" but I have gotten home and said "I sure wish I had bought that whatever it is."

Now see, I have gotten home and said to myself "gee I wish I had that money." Now often, but I sure have.

I like to get things I LIKE, rather than feel compelled to buy for their souvenir value.

The handknit woole scarf if Rome reminds me of Rome, the cashmere sweater (from Scotland) that I got in Vienna reminded me of Vienna!

Things we see in souvenir shops we will probably find elsewhere (by the dozens) but things we see elsewhere may be hard to duplicate.

About 8 or 9 years ago,a beautiful pair of boots in Valencia, Spain; I was on vacation with my Dad, and I simply thought I would find them at the end of our trip in Barcelona but I searched and searched and found nothing like them! They made quite an impression since I still remember them.

"Wait here, I will be back in a bit, I just want to run down to that store and get those shoes."

Walk to the store.

"What, what? No, no way!! Oh no"

The above is the reason I did not buy those beautiful handmade shoes in Rome. There was a sign on the door saying they will be closed for a week. The sample shoes were still in the window looking at me forlornly. I still think of those shoes....

and much worse

the house we didn't buy in Furore, Italy. Such a bargain, so what if it didn't have a roof over the kitchen! Or that there were about 1000 steps to reach it. The views were spectacular. I coulda fixed it up.....

seaurchin- LOL!

I do remember being in Europe in 92 or 94, whenever the Lillehammer Olympics were and looking at real estate ads in Italy and France. It was SOOO cheap; really unbelievable. Wistful regret now.

Thank you all for the therapy. In Mexico, I bought two little prints framed in silver and every single day I look at them and mourn the third I didn't buy.
And every day I'm happy I bought both the print and the copperplate in Alaska, after standing in front of them and trying to decide which..I've learned that the farther you are from home the faster you should buy what you love.

Paris: Cartier Tank Francaise-$1,500. As I sit looking at my $50 Swatch.

Venice 1999. After agonizing and debating and going back to the shop twice, I bought one wristwatch with a millefiore band around the perimeter of the crystal. There was a second watch I admired that I thought my mom would like but I was at the beginning of my trip and I was sure I'd find more of the same watches throughout Italy. I didn't have a lot of money and also concerned the watch might break carrying it around. I traveled throughout Italy for a month and not once found those watches again.

When I got home my Mom loved my watch. I regretted not purchasing that watch, but I managed to make it back 4 years later and brought her back one.

Same thing -- passed it up twice -- just last month and last October because I though it was a bit silly, but........ I liked it! Would have been a pain to lug home, but now I wish I had.

At the Petit Palais gift shop a doormat that says "Mon Petit Palais."

In Ravenna in the late 1980s - a massive, mosaic coffee table, selling for about $2,000. It was so stunning I just walked around it and stared and it and touched it for an hour or so. But I couldn't wrap my brain around how to ship it home, and frankly the $2000 seemed like a fortune to me to spend on a table. Plus it would have looked positively absurd anywhere in my home then.

I think it was memories of not buying that table that made me oh so incredibly impulsively buy a house in the Dordogne in the early 1990s. I'd learned my lesson! And I have never regretted that decision for a second.

Oh St.Cirq, I sure understand.

We were in Rome and went into a furniture store. There was the most fabulous marble dining room table. My husband really wanted to buy it but as much as I loved it I talked him out of it. Why? I don't know. The price was not horrible at that time (1983 I think) but for some reason I was hesitant. I always felt bad afterwards as he so loved that marble table.

You were smart to buy the property in France. If we had only done so in Italy when prices were so low, sigh.

Reading these responses, I am thinking that somebody should start a business tracking down "The Souvenir That Got Away!"

A leather jacket in Florence (DH bought one, I hesitated).

A painting displayed in Orvieto: Italian farmhouse in the background, hay field with poppies in the foreground, impressionistic feel. Shoot..

Following the tales here, I'm reflecting on the things I did buy. Art, antiques, clothes, and useful stuff ... a mere dozen or so items that continue to enrich my daily life and bring really wonderful memories. And now the regret over the ones that got away has disappeared ...

BTW, encantadora - don't lose hope of discovering that escaped souvenir.

One of my favorite things brought home from Italy is an item from Orvieto's "Mastro Paolo", a wonderful ceramicist who works in the Orvieto tradition, but in a contemporary, individual style. ( REad about Paolo Cosenza in thid piece from the NY Times - http://tinyurl.com/5la9tu ) I have this great sort of decanter/vase of amazing shape, with his colorful concentric rings of decoration ... always thought I'd turn it into a lamp, but it's really just a great shape on my kitchen shelf.

Anyway, I stumbled on a piece of his on eBay one night while searching "orvieto" - every once in awhile something shows up - and I've bought one or two.

So, hang in there and keep looking!

leather driving gloves & a pair of boots in Florence, it was closed in the hot afternoon & I got lost and couldn't find the shop again. A small jade-green glazed rabbit in Nice. I passed it in the window every day on my morning walk, but thought it was just for dusting... but I still think of the beautiful color and fluid lines. Fleur de seul.

Celtic Tapestries while in Ireland.
Wooden dolls and silk tapestries while in Prague.

Seafood chowder while in Ireland.

Sigh...although I was taught to purchase whatever I like as my souvenir when I travel, there was one thing I couldn't buy, but still should have done something about.

I should have given my business card to Ricardo, my guide in Huatulco so we could have kept in contact...he was a cutie too.

Oh wait! There was one thing I should have bought, but I'm still kicking myself over it...

A beautiful amber bracelet in Tallin, Estonia. But I thought it was too expensive at the time, even though I admired it longingly. I haven't found anything like it since (of course).

Sometimes, I forget my lesson.

A brass teapot with a very long spout in Beijing. The waiter stood back to pour the tea & aimed perfect.

My sister and I took a five day elephant trek in northern Thailand, staying in the Hmong and karen villages, 15 years ago. I don't think the company, Mountain Travel even offers the trip anymore. We had our own elephant, Memsong, and mahout (elephant handler). I remember so well, hearing the elephants before we saw them because of the giant bell around their necks. I asked our mahout if I could buy Memsong's bell. He said, yes, for I can't remember how many baht, but it came out to about $40 and I foolishly declined. Would LOVE to have that bell!

A beautiful gold necklace in 1989 in Eilat, Israel. Although I met my husband on that trip!

Teacups when in Xian. I had overpacked and didn't have room in the suitcase for the box. Lesson learned!

Tapestry tote bags that had Venice in words and pictures on them. Meant to get them, but then forgot. Poster of Venice Carnivale, couldn't buy it when walking by the shop, and then couldn't find the shop or poster anywhere else.

More of the tapestry pillow covers from the small and reasonable shop in Brugge. I got one with an Eiffel Tower and French words, looks kind of antique in design, not kitshy, and I have it (with pillow inside) on the bed of my French guest room. It was only about 14 euro, wish I'd bought more French designs.

The fur trimmed cape in paris that had gone way down in price compared to the year before...

There is a shop in Salzburg that sells thousands of hand painted and decorated eggs. These are the real eggs that insides are blown out. There were eggs decorated for every occasion--Easter, Christmas, etc. but my favorite were the Halloween eggs painted up as jack-o-lanterns. I wish I had bought some even though they were expensive at 10 euro each and very breakable.

Leather gloves in Venice... oh but not just any leather gloves. They were beautiful leather gloves that were polka dotted. I loved those gloves but we were headed to Florence next and you know the refrain- I thought I would find them there.

This is the only one I can think of: DH and I both regret this.

We were walking in the piazza in Siena, entering down some steps, and there was a tiny, junky souvenir shop beside the steps. We both stopped dead in our tracks at the sight of a pin that said

Blank you
You blanking
Blanks

The word was NOT really blank. At the time, DD was wild and just went around saying blank a thousand times a day.

We didn't buy the pin because we were with another couple, pretty straight laced, and they had not been getting our jokes all week. We were too embarrassed to buy the pin in front of them.

We've gone back to that shop in Siena twice, but have never seen the blanking pin there, or anywhere, ever again.

Blank.

I answered this question in another post about souvenirs, actually, but here goes:
I was in Edinburgh three years ago and there was a Saturday flea market near my hotel. I saw a copy of a coronation program for Elizabeth II, and decided I wasn't going to spend 5 pounds. A few minutes later, I reconsidered, went back, and it had been sold. I'm a real Anglophile, so I was sorry I passed it by.
I told this one wrong in my previous post---my late husband saw a little table with an inlaid wood design when we visited the Villa D'Este, and I told him not to buy it, that we could get one in Sorrento. But, we had to catch a hydrofoil to Capri and never had time to shop for the table in Sorrento, and he never forgot about that little table we didn't buy.

A tape measure at the gift shop of the Pompidou. It was extra long and had a different little picture of a historical costume on every inch.

To this day, my mom still talks about the BANANA DISH she didn't buy at Macy's in NYC over twenty years ago. It was a ceramic dish shaped like a bunch of bananas in the Cellar area of the store.

Neither one of us can remember why she didn't buy it at the time, or why she liked it so much, and neither one of us can even remember what it looks like anymore.

It's become the symbol of all souvenirs not purchased, and when one of us thinks twice before buying something during vacation, or if we pick up something then put it down again, the other will always ask, "is this gonna be another banana dish?"

tuscan, that story is blanked up.
Loved it.
TC

Easy one for me....6 years ago...Ile sur la Sorgue,France...mother of all flea markets....
a beautiful small tray with a pewter frame and marcasite bottom...the woman wanted about 400 francs (pre Euro)..about 100 dollars...i walked away, thinking she would come down, she didn't and I regret it TO THIS DAY!!!
now, my traveling motto is "See it, buy it, eat it."

More saffron in Switzerland - it is SO cheap there -- a fraction of the price in the US - would have made nice gifts.

The first time I went to Southern Spain I saw a porcelain statue. It wasn't large but I didn't want to lug it home but I really liked it.

The next time I went to Spain (Barcelona), I decided to keep an eye out for one just in case. Thinking if I were meant to have it I'd find it. On the last night we were there, my husband and I had some pesetas left and were decided to splurge on dinner and use them. We rounded a corner and saw a shop with that porcelain and bought a ram. It’s even better than the other one.

BTW, I wish I could remember the name of the manufacturer, it wasn't lladro or the other one that's similar. This company makes table ware also.

O.M.G LSky: "Thinking if I were meant to have it I'd find it." Now I HAVE TO RETURN to Arcos de la Frontera Spain..."Vive aqui un pintor"!!!!

Encantadora, This could start a whole new "theme" of travel-going back for the souvenir you missed.
Buena suerte!

re: <<name of the manufacturer, it wasn't lladro or the other one that's similar. This company makes table ware also>>

Jansen?

I had to go turn the little ram over, the name is Sargadelos. It's very modern looking.

I had to buy a few dishes and pots when I lived in England, since all the students at university cooked their own meals. I got what I could at a "seconds" shop. The pots and silverware were nothing special, but I really did love the plate and brought it home. My husband secretly spent hours trying to find more of the pattern on the web one Christmas, with no luck.