Souvenirs?
 

I just have to say, I'm really enjoying reading all the posts on these Fodors forums! Everyone is so helpful, friendly and informative, its really rather addictive!

So, another somewhat frivolous topic: As I mentioned in my previous posts, I'm planning to travel to Italy, France and Austria next summer. Specifically, I'll be going to Paris, Nice, Cinque Terre and Venice, And then The Salzkammergut region in Austria. can anyone suggest anything specific I should pick up as a memento from any of these places? I really would like to get something special and unique to the areas I'll be in (how original of me, right? ;) ). What do you think I should look for?

Some limitations: I don't buy leather, so that's out, and I hope to take only a carry on bag with me on this trip, so whatever I pick up would have to be small, easy to transport and of course, minimal liquids...I'll be bringing it back to Canada if that makes a difference.

Also, will you tell me about your favorite souvenirs from your travels over the years?

Thanks for sharing!

-Sabrina

In Venice you could get Murano glass jewelry.

In Venice you could look out for marbled paper (is say a book mark) and this can be backed by stuff other than leather. You can also look out for damascene knives and pen knives. Flower arrangements of chillis can look good and eat well

There are a couple of things that we always look for - but not sure they will fit your style of travel:

Christmas decorations - have bought them - often hand-carved or hand-made - in many places in Germany, Switz and Austria - at all times of year. But even in other places small tchotkes can serve the same purpose.

Original artwork. No - not expensive. The kind of watercolors or sketches done by street artists. Usually a bargain, often deserving of wall space - but to get them back you need either a flat suitcase and some heavy cardboard or a shipping tube you can roll it into.

Other than that we don't shop unless we see something unique we can;t get at home. I have some very nice jewelry from italy (you can't get same designs and often quality here) and got my mother a really gorgeous garnet necklace (her birthstone) in Prague. But don't count those as souvenirs.

In Nice, Herbes de Provence, lavender sachets.

I was born without the shopping gene, so I rarely buy anything souvenir--ish nowadays. However, as I think back on various trips, I remember seeing the tile saying "Cave canem" (beware the dog) in Pompeii. I thought about buying it for my dog-loving neighbors who looked after my house while I was on trips. I was too impatient to stand in line to buy it, and I still regret not having bought it.

In Prague I saw some wonderful stuff--little boxes or compacts with art nouveau designs on the lids. They were by a famous artist whose name escapes me at the moment--might have been Mucha. Once again I was too impatient to wait to make a purchase.

I also travel with only a 22" suitcase, so I don't have a lot of room, but I do regret not buying these souvenirs that I liked so much.

Even for those of us who don't have the shopping gene, it's fun to window shop and to look at pretty things. If I had it to do over again, I'd buy a few things that attracted me.

I like to buy jewelery, that way every time I wear it, I think of my trip.

I was born with the shopping gene but I only buy unique items that cannot be found at home. My largest purchase was an 18 pound Blue Willow china umbrella stand. I apparently was traveling with my 24 or 26 inch luggage and filled the umbrella stand interior with clothes. This was a few years ago before weight and content restrictions-would be seen as a suspicious object now.It was a real steal at 25 bp. Bought a wonderful oil painting in Paris (unframed but stretched and prepared) and the shop wrapped and padded it for the trip home. We love it and it was definitely worth the 200 euros we bargained for. I really hate passing up something I know is a great buy.

Out of interest, bilboburglar, where would these damascene knives be from? I'd never heard of them before & googling doesn't seem to give me a specific area of modern manufacture. Proabably out for hand luggage, though!

As far as I know, Damascene is a decorative art form central to Toledo, Spain. Maybe it is elsewhere, also, but I know it is really big in Toledo, and the center of it in Spain, anyway. YOu find damascene jewelry, lighters, pillboxes, etc in every souvenir shop window. I quite like it. I'm sure they probably had some small knives or other objects, also. But I don't think the OP is going there. http://www.lands-faraway.com/damascene-about.htm

To be honest, I think buying souvenirs that are special and mean something to you has to be personal. YOu can't ask someone else what you should buy, that contradicts the entire purpose. The word souvenir means remembrance and thus it should be something that catches your eye and that you like and means something to you. It isn't a shopping list someone else gives you. My favorite souvenirs are exactly that, just something I really liked when viewing it in a market or shop window in the place I was, that way it suits my taste and means something to me. My favorite souvenirs are nothing extraordinary, just typical things that will be offered in souvenir shops, but I picked things I especially liked. Anything that is common and unique to the area will be obvious when you are there and viewing souvenir shops -- eg, crystal and garnets and amber jewelry in Prague, ceramics and damascene jewelry in Spain, painted wooden plates in Krakow and other wooden figures, etc.

So why not go and look and see what speaks to you instead of asking others for what you should buy as a souvenir. Things that are unique and special to an area are not going to be hidden from the shops that tourists view.

Souvenir = the French word for "memory." These are YOUR memories, not anyone else's, so I agree, I don't see the value in asking what other people have been attracted to. Surely you can look around yourself and pick what appeals to you once you get there.

In Paris visit BHV department store next to the Hotel de Ville. In the basement there is a large hardward department with things you probally have never seen. I have some French house numbers for my home that I bought. On the third or forth floor there are many items for the kitchen that may be of interest.

Of course I realize that the things that will be special to me will not necessarily be what others recommend here. But I was hoping people would be able to suggest things that they themselves found especially beautiful or interesting, so that, if those things interested me too, I could keep an eye out for them.

I like to hear other people's stories and find out what is meaningful to them, and why. I wasn't looking for a shopping list, just suggestions and advice.

My opinion differs from several above; I love hearing what others like to bring home, because it inspires me to keep my eyes open.

As another carry-on type, I like to purchase kitchen towels/linens in Italy and France; I find good quality and designs I don't see at home, and the price and weight are right.

Herb blends for cooking and packets of seeds (Italian basil is different from most available in US) are special and take up next to no room.

Other purchase is the tacky little magnets available in any souvenir shop; the front of the fridge is covered with them and they are daily reminders of travels.

In venice I purchase marbled paper, small packets of stationery, glass cherries.

As mentioned above I look out for Christmas ornaments.

annw: your response is a good example of what I had in mind when I made this post! I would not necessarily have thought to look for linens, for example, but I actually think that it's a great idea! So I'll seek them out!

I agree with the idea of waiting until something speaks to you.
When it does, BUY IT RIGHT THEN! Don't think, oh I'll come back later. You may not have time, the shop will be closed etc etc. I passed up a object in Spain once thinking I'd come back the next day and regretted it b/c the shop was closed. Fortunately, my husband and I were in Barcelona a few years later, I spent time looking something by the same maker and hadn't found it. It was our last night and we were down to our last pesetas. Just as I said let's go spend the rest of our pesetas at dinner, we turned a corner and there was a shop! I bought a piece of the pottery and still love it today.

(maybe even more so because when I see it, it reminds me to keep faith. and I know how silly it sounds to keep faith for a material possesion but there ya go.)

There will be lots of shopping opportunties, even if you don't shop.

caroline, as christina says it is a type of knife made from a hammered joining of different types of steel. The affect is, as all knives, to put a hardened material at the edge and a soft steel on the knife back. In this case these are hammered together. After acid etching the surface the blade will show up a pattern of the various steels. Long out of favour for volume manufacture these are the RRoyce of knives and are made in small workshops in France and Italy. A cheaper version is available in Prague using just wire, coated in carbon and hammered together.

If you want to find these things, look in knife shops (I spotted at least one in Venice two weeks ago), for "hunters and ninja types" or classy cooking shops.

We too only travel w/carryon fo our generally 6 week trips so some items we have brought back though not necessarily applicable to your next trip are:

Honolulu: an old postcard of the volcano and then my husband and I stood in roughly the same stop and had the photo and the postcard framed one on top of each other in one frame. On shelf with a beautiful gourd we bought in the palace gift shop along with my first nane initial in Hawaiian.

Europe: going antiquing and picking up some 16-19th century tiles. Found 2 great tiles in Bath in a hardware store that just happened to be the number of my condo, so now I see them every time I come home. From Venice I bought a small Venetian mask; and a set of 3 postcard size prints from an art dealer who signed them on the back fo me. Again put them in a 3 tiered frame and hang them underneath the mask.

Other than English speaking countries: I try to get my name written in that language and frame it. China: had a chop (stamp_ of my name made but also had it caligraphied as well. I've also bought small tiles. I decide on the wrd I want (kitchen) and try to get the same size tile in every country in their language and then display it.

Caribbean: pick up drift wood and then happened to pick up a shell that fit perfectly in the hole of the wood. I hang it on my fence. I love that piece!

whereever: I try to buy a pillowcase which areeasy to transport and I buy the pillow insert when I get home. Boxes: small, can get one of a kind eces from nice galleries for $10-30. Sometimes you can gid inexpensive watchs so I have one with Arabic numbers, chinese, roman etc. You get the idea--fun and conversation pieces. If small enough, try to bring back garden pots. I also do the linens, dish towels, paper and ornaments. I even found 2 lovely sheets of wrapping paper in Bath that I framed. Most times I have a photo of my husband and myself with a distinctive tourist spot in the background and frame that.

Enjoy!

Just to clarify the origins are, of course, Damascus though the technology came to Toledo via Arabic influence. It would be hard to call the original materials steel, more wrought iron. (with the original meaning of wrought)

I thank you

In addition to the above- I always love to shop at local grocery stores, where you can often buy things you either can't find at home or are much more expensive there, e.g. wonderful salts in France, chocolate in Italy, and of course great olive oils in France and Italy (wrap in bubble wrap or better yet buy the ones that come in small tins. I also loved the Maille mustard store in Paris on the Place de Madeleine, where they have little crocks they'll fill for you and pack well for travel, as well as more small jars of different kinds of mustard than you could ever imagine!

It is really fun just to wander around in the stores (assuming you like to cook like I do!) Haven't made it to Austria yet so can't comment on what can be found there. Unfortunately I DO have the shopping gene and usually end up shipping at least one box home via UPS/Mailboxes Etc when I go abroad - but I love everything I've ever bought overseas and also wish I could have afforded to buy and ship more! One other thought - I always buy pencils from every museum and site I go to- they are cheap and take up no room! Great memories every time I use one.