Austiran souvenirs
 

What should we bring back from our trip to Ausria? We have four small children.

I am trying to bring back real special, not touristy items.

Wonderful Austrian clothing at:
Loden Plankl:
http://www.loden-plankl.at/english/ueber_uns.htm
Got a $$ traditional jacket there that I treasure.

ttt

I suppose this is touristy, but the most popular gift I brought back was Mozart chocolates.

I agree with the above; touristy but everyone loved those chocolate Mozart balls we brought back! We also brought back small Austrian beer steins. Again, probably touristy, but my younger brothers loved them.

Tracy

We brought back inexpensive, "touristy" but useful things: coasters with pictures of Vienna, fridge magnets of Salzburg and Stephansdom, Christmas ornaments, chocolates (Mozart type & kind with wrappers of the sites), Swaroski crystal earrings, water colors of Vienna which I had framed and use in the guest bath, a ceramic painted WC sign for the guest bath, and a pretty embroidered cloth bread "basket".

I love to shop in Austria. I usually bring back children's clothing (great quality, colors and comfort), books, wine, ice wine, art prints, Meinl coffee, a Laks watch (www.laks.com), bed linens, beautiful and high quality bed and bath items (towels, bathmats) etc. made from organic green cotton by Gruene Erde http://www.grueneerde.com/de/index.php, and *if* budget allows (which is hasn't recently), a piece of jewelry from A.E. Koechert, with a shop in Vienna and workshop in Klagenfurt. http://www.koechert.com/koechert.htm

For women friends, look for lovely little petitpoint broaches set on metallic frames. They are charming and hard to find elsewhere.

Also petitpoint brooches; the spelling area of my mind seems to be on vacation today.

I was given one of these by an Austrian penpal when I was in gradeschool and still cherish it. It's a red rose against a white backing, edged in silver filagree.

You might want to check out the Lobmeyer Crystal showroom. This is one of the world's finest makers of crystal and different than the more common Sawarski (sp?)They have some really good buys at the showroom and are usually items that are difficult to find elsewhere.

I am guessing your post was to ask what to bring home for your 4 small children.

What are the ages?

In Vienna, the Tostmann shop has traditional clothing ("trachten"). There is a separate shop for women and a different one around the corner for children, men and home. The shops are located near the Schotten ring. The full children's outfits are surprisingly reasonable. I brought beautiful knitted wool knee socks for my little neices. I bought a beautiful Austrian jacket for myself that I can wear with everything from jeans to skirts (they have those also), but I can't say it was cheap. They have fabulous paisley shawls and sweet cotton scarves. The store clerks are all dressed in the traditional clothing - made me want to buy the whole get-up, including shoes!

In Salzburg we ran across a shop selling souvenirs that were a cut above the usual - it was located not far from the strairs up to the Hohensalzburg. That doesn't sound very helpful, does it? We bought some good quality cowbells that have lovely woven straps (whatever they're called). We use these as Christmas decorations. They also had nice cotton scarves.

You can find great chocolate in Austria and Meinl coffee is our favorite.

Here's the website for Tostmann:
http://www.tostmann.at/en/tostmann.htm
It only gives a small flavor of the shop's wonders. There is a store in Seewalchen as well as Vienna.