First time in France - things I absolutely SHOULD bring home!
 

This April will be my first trip to France - Paris and the Normandy region. I was in Italy in July, and loved shopping the leather goods and gold...so what unique things should I be looking for in France? I am a "shopper" and look forward to bringing home uniqe gifts for friends and family. Help me!

how about a nice french man... seriously though, there is wonderful pottery native to Normandy. I purchased a couple of gifts in Rouen. There were several stores that sold it. One interesting style I saw was a cone-shaped vessel to hang on the wall and put flowers in it. You'll see these stores all over and each store seemed to have a different pattern and color. I found a wine shop that had unique bottle stoppers and they made perfect gifts. Even though I can buy this in the US (on QVC no less), I love to go into the L'Occitane stores and get their soaps, hand cream and bubble bath. The scents are wonderful and each time I use them I am reminded of Paris.

Check out a www.bparis.com.
It's a message board that specializes in Paris and it's environs, and people are very helpful in recommeding restaurants, shopping, hotels, etc.

those tiny little eiffel tower statues went over huge during christmas. they were 1 euro each and i made them into little ornaments.

i also love bringing home food stuffs (although my suitcase gets really heavy), like teas from mariage freres, and candy, tapenades and jams from the local markets or monoprix! and linens...

In Normandy, I bough a bottle of superior Calvados.
I went to a wooden shoe maker and bought a small carved pair for my wall.
And a few ceramic animals from a santonnier. In paris, there are so many wonderful unusual shops.

Great ideas...thanks! Speaking of food items...anything I CAN'T bring back to the U.S?

What about perfume?

Cheuvrant... exactly Perfume. Also, I make it an event of my trip to look for and purchase a little piece of artwork (this year is a water color entitled "A Day to Remember" and its really beautiful!)... I LIKE to shop the books, magazines, posters, art and stuff from the vendors along the Seine.

As for perfume, check out the Caron store in Paris, just off the Champs E. It's a lovely store with crystal decanters of perfume-very hoity area but nice salespeople who let you sniff away. Their perfume is reasonably priced too.

My wife bought a bottle of annick goutal that she absolutely loves. I agree with most of the other posts about bringing small foodstuffs like mustards, tepanades, olive oils etc. We did bring back a few bottles of wine and champagne but it does make the bags heavy.

I am the only woman who hates to shop BUT from France perfume (for yourself) is an absolute must !

1. A bottle of Banyuls.
2. A second bottle of Banyuls.
3. ...You get it...

Please, enlighten me on what is
annick goutal
A bottle of Banyuls ?
TY

Banyuls is a sort of fortified wine used as an apertif or dessert wine - a unique flavor but (to me) something like a cross between a ruby port and a slightly lighter, sweetish claret. It comes from Banyuls, a town near the slopes of the Pyrenees in Languedoc/Roussillon. Nice area to visit, BTW.

Banyuls is available in N. America at astronomical prices driven by lack of demand rather than cost, hence it's a good souvenir.

Annick Goutal is a brand of perfume. It is available at some stores in the US like Saks, Bergdorf Goodman & I would guess Neiman Marcus. Probably websites like sephora.com too. I have no idea about Banyuls so look forward to that answer. Perhaps a liqueur?

As to the original question, just keep your eyes out for things that look good. Isn't that what a "shopper" does S':? There are certain cosmetic/hba items that aren't available in the US but I'm not up on what they are.

I'm also unclear on what food stuffs are acceptable & which aren't. I think anything canned or jarred would be ok. "Fresh" things like cheese, meat etc. are a problem.

We were told we could not bring French foie gras into US.

You can bring tins of foie gras back without a problem. Also, look into beautiful corkscrews from those lovely wine shops. I brought my Mom and sister some lavendar soaps and beautiful scarves back. I found a great dishtowel that had all the Paris monuments on it.

Hi

Meat of any kind or plants (including seeds)can't be brought back to the US. You can bring back tins of pate', olive oil, wine, cheese.

See http://www.stuttgart.army.mil/Commun...01/0605/us.htm

foie gras ??? Please ...

Tat, please what? Do you want to learn how to pronounce it so you can order it in France? Or are you planning to visit France without sampling one of their most famous cuisine?

Please, do not torture me and tell me "whatareyoutalkingabout"?
Yes, I do not know what that means ...

I would never torture a Fodorite. Fois gras is a gourmet treat which you should try in France. It doesn't sound good, but it really is incredible. It is the prized fattened liver of a duck or a goose.

I think the best source of info is to go to the customs web site, they state what isn't allowed as far as foods go.

I love Annick Goutal perfume, last time I bought some Gardenia for myself and my sister. It's not cheaper there, though, as I didn't find out until after returning.

I don't like shopping very much, either. I hate to shop for some things, like clothes, but just find shopping unpleasant and boring, mostly. Anything I thought was unique, wasn't (like I really wanted a waiter's corkscrew like they use in the cafes so bought one in the housewares at BHV and later saw ones very similar at my grocery store). I bought some nice French can-openers and pepper mills, also, but you can buy the pepper mills in the US easily.

I think people should buy things that they discover or want themselves or pick out for their friends, rather than asking others for a list of what they should buy.

Tat - you haven't finished doing your homework for France!! Also try magret de canard on the nights you're not indulging in fois gras!

What to bring home...Ricard pastis and Fragonard soap.

In Provence I always get tableclothes, place mats and napkins. Perfume and lovely French soaps are great for personal use and for gifts. There's always chocolate!!

You can get all this stuff in the US, but it's fun to get it there because there's a story with it.

We've also picked up books and paintings but those are pretty personal unless you know the taste of the recipient.

O, Thanks to all ...
should I buy another piece of luggage ?

guess i need to retake econ 101. i'd always thought that high price related to high demand.....

my two cents is that purchase decisions are influenced by frequency of visits. many here visit france frequently, so they purchase consumables to keep memories alive between visits. for others, it may be once in a lifetime, so something with more permanence might be more appropriate.

LOL... I am no shopper either; at least not in alpha-female packs of shoppers. Alone I am content to poke around! I purchased perfumes my Creed "Espicier"(?) at Samaritan. And, a tube of the NEWEST Yves St. Laurent lipstick "personal". LORDY! the complimentary goodies that were also wrapped up in those bags!

I brought back 4 tins of fois gras...
shared 2 of them Christmas Eve with my dearest friends. Glorious!

What you can't bring back: any meat products, including salami; quite a few cheeses. We bring back Banyuls vinegar, which is hard to find at home; tapenade; Mariage Frères tea; santons from Provence; a few bottles of wine not easy to find at home; olive oil in cans from Alziari in Nice; and assorted little tins of sauces for meat and chicken. And you just might want to pick up a beautiful French scarf.

The Norman town of Villedieu-les-Poeles is renowned for its copper manufacturing. It might be fascinating to shop for cookware and decorative items there. (No, I haven't been there. It's on my very long list!)

See the note on this page--
http://www.editionsmontparnasse.fr/france/
english/way_of_life/normandy/normandy.html#copper

(To Uhhh..)
What I meant (I think?) is that the lack of knowledge about Banyuls in N. America means it's a specialty import item, hence carries unit pricing more reflective of its scarcity than its wholesale cost. Importers and wholesalers have to go through a lot of hoops to import alcoholic beverages into the US or Canada, which costs a lot of money. When these fixed costs are divided by only a few cases of booze a year, plus shipping, plus distribution, plus markup, plus dealer profit. etc., the cost to the end user has little to do with the street price of the commodity in France, which is, BTW, not terribly high for Banyuls.

I noticed the same phenomenon last weekend when I went to buy a Haggis at the local import shoppe. The inherent cost of sheep's guts is not very high, but the end product (ha ha) is. Not about to turn up in the Offal Aisle at Costco, I'll warrant.

I have an agenda to get to the Palais Royale passages where someone mentioned is a shop selling small music boxes. Does anyone know the price range for these? I would like to be prepared in advance if they are beyond my meager budget, rather than getting there and being disappointed. I thought they would be nice for my nieces, but if they are too dear, I am sure I will be able to find other lovely items.

Oh, and Tat, we are taking an extra empty bag!

underhill. we were at Alziari's in September. The empty tin sits above the cupboards.
tat, buy the large Longchamp bag that folds flat and small for taking back your treasures.

Scarves . . . I forgot scarves. I always buy a few scarves when I'm in France. They have such beautiful scarves . . . winter scarves, summer scarves, wool scarves, silk scarves, hoaky tourist scarves . . . any scarves. I usually find them in little scarf and necktie shops and try to get them on sale. You can get some terrific bargains.

"Not about to turn up in the Offal Aisle at Costco, I'll warrant"

Gosh, I thought all aisles in Costco were offal? LOL

GArdyloo...try using some of your Banyuls wine as a braising liquid with lamb shanks rubbed with quartre epices....I'm forced to use port most times...'cause I can't resist drinking the banyuls !

Personally, I'd be too busy sightseeing to shop much. That really is not my thing. I tend to buy things if something just strikes me, but I have learned that much is available back in the US as well.

If I were in Brittany, however, I would buy a bottle or two of pear cider ("poiret" in French). The bottles probably would not make it home. I have never been able to find really good poiret in the US. The best poiret is often found at the roadside stands.

Lauren, the pear cider(poire) in Brittany is called "perry"
Poiret was a famous designer.

I brought back some oranges, and sausage, coffee, and cheese. I did not have a problem with customs. I almost forgot i did bring back some sun-dried tomatoes, and i actually bought them with my last euros at the airport in rome.