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What are your most memorable travel souvenirs? What made them so?

What are your most memorable travel souvenirs? What made them so?

Old Nov 24th, 1998, 10:14 AM
  #1  
wes fowler
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What are your most memorable travel souvenirs? What made them so?

Just curious to know what Fodor's respondents bring home as souvenirs of their journeys: Hermes scarves from Paris? beer steins from Germany? Murano glass from Italy? Metro passes, museum tickets, menus, coasters??? What makes them so memorable?
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 01:35 PM
  #2  
Lee
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Wes:

I guess I'd want to say "memories" first, but then again, they are attached to the items, aren't they?

I brought back a cuckoo clock from Garmisch, which bring back memories of that lovely town. Various beer glasses from towns in Germany, Switzerland and Luxemburg, serving up images of good food and good times in those places. Many beer coasters which do the same. A small painting in our living room purchased at "Painter's Square" at Montremarte. Museum, Metro and castle passes from France and the memories that they conjure up. A sweater that I bought in Cologne, just a stones' throw from the cathedral. Coins galore!
Photographs.

All good, all delightful.

Now I'm again thinking of our upcoming trip to Germany in May and I am getting excited!

No doubt we will bring back something different this time.
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 02:14 PM
  #3  
ilisa
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For me, it's the most magnificent sweaters from Denmark. Also, the mezzuzah and book of Jewish Prague my husband brought back for me from Prague. I didn't visit that city, but those particular gifts mean so much to me, and have peaked my interest in visiting there. For my husband, it is probably his extensive collection of beer glasses from his many trips to Germany.
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 02:53 PM
  #4  
Joanna
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My Etruscan-copy 18k gold jewellery from Lucca and San Gimignano - it is so unusual and I wear it nearly every day. Being an afficionado of ancient jewellery, its the next best thing to having the real McCoy.
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 02:56 PM
  #5  
Caryn
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I've always been on a budget. Therefore, I don't usually buy really nice things because they're usually too expensive. Anything that's not too expensive is generally not unique to the country so I usually feel that I can buy that thing at home. I did bring home some olive oil from Greece and Spain and Spanish and French wine. I ALWAYS bring home chocolate.

Other than these small things, my favorite souvenirs are my PHOTOS which I make into a really nice annotated album.
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 03:49 PM
  #6  
hamlet
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I'm the kind of person who saves about everything so I've learned to be selective about souvenirs....it would have to be my pictures (and I take a lot) and my T-shirts. They aren't regular T-shirts from a souvenir shop though. Actually I buy the shirt at home and I bring it along with me. I get a plain T shirt and carry a bunch of colored magic markers (Sharpies!) and I ask people I meet along the way to sign my shirt. I started this a few summers ago when I drove cross country with a friend and I was so happy to have the remembrance so I continued to do it on subsequent trips. It's kind of a drag to carry around but in the end it's all worth it. It's neat to have the memories in one place - it's easy to remember names when they've been written down for you, sometimes along with a phone # or address or a picture or a message in a different language - sometimes as many as 10 languages on a shirt! And I wear the shirts all the time when I exercise, they don't just sit in a drawer. I'm beginning to think I'm too old to keep this up, but I would hate to miss out on having such precious souvenirs.
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 04:23 PM
  #7  
Aurora
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I was home for a 10-day leave from the fleet and went to a movie with a girl. We saw "Lavendar Hill Mob," with Alec Guinness, the one where the inept bank robbers stole a van load of gold bars and melted them down and cast a lot of little Eiffel Towers with the bullion. Later, on a pass up from the Mediterranean, I went to Paris and bought a little 6-inch-high Eiffel Tower and sent it home to that girl. It sits on a shelf today. The girl? Married her 46 years ago.
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 04:28 PM
  #8  
Emma
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For me, it is the Waterfords Crystal champgane flutes we bought in Ireland. Wehad no intentions of buying any crystal, we were just browsing, but when my husband and I opened the box, we both just went "Ohhhhhh" We just toasted our first baby in them. Also the potraits we had drawn of each other in Prague on the Charles Bridge. I look at them and think of the wonderful time we had there. Also the collector's edition Paddington Bear I bought at Paddington Station in London (I'm a real teddy bear-aholic!) Not to mention my huge albums of photos - most vital!

Souveniers don't have to bee expensive to mean something to you. the first time I went to Scotland, I bought a little ceramic Loch Ness monster - you see them in just about every souvenier shop over there. She held pride of place in my bathroom. Then my house was broken into and the theives obviously liked Nessie too, as she was taken also! So, it when I went back to Scotland last year, I bought another when and my bathroom is complete again!


 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 10:35 PM
  #9  
Denise
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From my trips to Asia, I have each time brought home something from the countries I visited and which now are displayed in my home. They may just be a set of gift cards done by a local artist and now framed. Gold was also a favourite.

From our latest trip to ITaly and Turkey, my favourite things are firstly my photos, and then my two jugs and bowl I bought in San Gimignano. Wonderful, pride of place in my kitchen.

All our photos of our last trip are in an album along with entrance tickets, postcards and the like. I look at this all the time and have very very wonderful memories. Denise
 
Old Nov 24th, 1998, 10:37 PM
  #10  
Denise
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From my trips to Asia, I have each time brought home something from the countries I visited and which now are displayed in my home. They may just be a set of gift cards done by a local artist and now framed. Gold was also a favourite.

From our latest trip to ITaly and Turkey, my favourite things are firstly my photos, and then my two jugs and bowl I bought in San Gimignano. Wonderful, pride of place in my kitchen.

All our photos of our last trip are in an album along with entrance tickets, postcards and the like. I look at this all the time and have very very wonderful memories. To answer Wes
s question, what makes them so memorable.......well, mainly the fun I had with friends and family buying them in great spots. Denise
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 01:31 AM
  #11  
Maira
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I agree with Caryn wholeheartedly; I am an (extrememely!) practical person; if I don't plan to use it; why carry it? That's why my souvenirs are Christmas ornaments and pins (jewerly) from every country I go. Every Christmastime I have a blast putting up the tree and telling stories (the same ones!) about -"the store where bought this ornament..."-. The same goes for every time I wear the pins. They are easy to carry and are usually typical hand-crafted figures. Another memorable souvenir was a pair of bohemian crystal candlesticks I bought at the Jewish Quarter in Prague. Wonderful memories every holiday!!

Postcards and photos, however, are the best souvenirs!!!
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 04:00 AM
  #12  
Donna
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Wes, this is a great post and gives insight into what people spend their money on . . .

For me, there are two classes of souvenirs: the cute little things that get moved around on my desk or shelves, and one or two big items like paintings or a big piece of Murano glass.

Paris: little Eiffel towers to give to my friends back home. London: little red phone booths. Murano: the small fishbowls with fish in them (by far this is the most expensive "tiny little item).

However, the souvenir that I bought last fall in St. Paul de Vence at a gallery was an oil done by the artist Tron. The title is "le petit hameau" (the small village) and my heart stopped the first time I saw it. It now hangs in my dining room.

On that same trip, in Venice, I bought another oil of colorful characters at Carnivale. It hangs in a hallway in my home.

I'd have to say "le petit hameau" is my favorite.
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 05:49 AM
  #13  
erin
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Great thread. Let's see, the bullfighter oil painting that I bought at Plaza Mayor in Madrid, the suede purse bought at a small shop in Rome. My most memorable souvenirs are the black and white photos that I take. I have a picture of my sister in Rome sitting on someone's moped (she hopped on real quick hoping the owner wouldn't see her). I have another picture of her on the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower, terrified and clutching the "wall" by the elevator. It seems in her excitement of being in Paris, she forgot she's afraid of heights! Both of these photos are framed and hanging on her living room wall.
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 06:20 AM
  #14  
Kim
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Like Maria I also buy Christmas ornaments in the places I go - or something that can easily be made into an ornament. I also collect matchbooks and write the date that I was there and some little anecdote. Of course there are many photos that I cherish. When I go to Europe in February I plan to begin a tradition of keeping a journal for each trip including space for ticket stubs, etc.
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 06:47 AM
  #15  
Sandy
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Along with the photos, postcards, t-shirts, my most treasured souvenirs are the plates, bowls, platters, tableware that I collect, in all sizes, to use everyday at mealtimes. Every dish brings back a memory and I'm sure my family is tired of hearing "oh, this is my Thailand platter (or Guatemalan bowl, etc), I had such a good time there!

One of my most treasured bowls is a plain one that my "family" gave me when I was living with them and studying Spanish in Heredia, Costa Rica. I had not been able to find any dishes that were actually made in CR. When my family asked me what I was taking back as a souvenir, I explained what I usually took and that I hadn't found a bowl. My "mom" took a bowl from her cabinet and insisted that I take it. It's not very pretty but it's very dear and brings back extra wonderful memories, not only of a beautiful country but of wonderful people.
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 09:05 AM
  #16  
Kelly
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My husband has always been great at buying gifts, his souvenir method is wonderful too. Buy things you can only get there, or that are too expensive in the US. When in France we bought wines that are never exported because they cannot produce enough. I bought a midevil change purse in an antique store for $15. Skip the souvenir shops, go where the locals go. Found a rare vintage desert wine silver pour handle in Strasbourg, something you can't get at total beverage. Don't buy just to have something.
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 10:24 AM
  #17  
Kay
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While I used to buy one type of thing (Hermes scarf, gold earrings from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, military brass buttons from London), I now find that those with a few exceptions are just, well, things. Now I buy more particular memories, to wit...the first time I went to Germany I found a very high quality old print of the bridge over the river Main in Wurtzburg. I had it professionally framed. Each time I have returned to Germany I have bought prints of lovely scenes but I have now found that they don't have to be of such expensive quality. First off, I am now getting so many of them that it would be too pricey, and secondly, I've discovered that if you handsomely frame a very good card, it looks wonderful. So my best souvenirs hang around me every day and they are all scenes depicting the famous and beautiful parts of Mittel Europa -- in other centuries, not our own. Vienna, Salzburg, Dresden, Prague (lots of Prague, Berlin, old Moscow -- you get the idea. The only trouble is, I am running out of walls!

My first trip to Germany I also found that I wanted to buy a beer stein. Well! That's not my style so I did not. I figured it was a passing whimsy. The second trip, when I found I still wanted to do that, I bought two beer steins and they sit proudly in my kitchen window. They are, however, awfully hard to drink out of. Lovely memories, though.
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 11:12 AM
  #18  
s.fowler
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Laughing at the beer steins! I agree Kay, they are nice to look at and a ^%$&^ to drink out of!
And again thanks to wes for a super thread!
I think I've gone through phases. First the carry back 3 times your weight syndrome... Then the "picky" syndrome which I suppose still prevails. As I get older I find I want [and want for] fewer "things" and more memories. BUT it is nice to have something to bring back a memory... My Prague garnets started with some beautiful earrings my husband brought me from his first trip there with a college group.Then I added a pendant and ring on a subsequent trip... Then there is the little painting I bought for him last summer in Skopje, Macedonia, a modern "take" on a traditional icon.
But, as with the Costa Rican bowl, my most treasured souvenirs are the embroidered "linens" pressed on me by my Macedonian "daughters" family. I suggested they should be saved for her and the reply was "there are plenty more!". So I have a drawer full of the most wonderful Balkan embroidery, from folk to formal... I use it regularly and it reminds me how fortunate we are to have Nate and her family in our lives...
She [and her Czech and Hungarian "sisters"] will be meeting us in Budapest in the middle of of this month! Please cross your fingers for good weather!
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 12:27 PM
  #19  
Deb
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I like to buy things that the area I am visiting is known for. For example, my most prized travel gifts (I really don't like the term souvenir--it sounds cheap to me) include a Shona sculpture from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe; various aboriginal art including an Inuit sculpture from Canada; a pewter tea caddy from Malaysia (Malaysia is famous for its pewter); a watercolor from Venice, Italy; a brass rubbing from Conwy, Wales; champagne glasses and bowl from Czechloslovokia; and an embroidary from Singapore. Of course, I wouldn't leave out my photographs since memories can be rekindled through them (especially those of my safaris!)
 
Old Nov 25th, 1998, 02:51 PM
  #20  
Monica
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My momst memorable travel souvenirs are my photos! I take tons of pictures and always pull out my album to look at and remember the great times I had on my trips.

I also collect postcards, especially for the picture that I can't get with my camera (angle, lighting, colors, etc.).

I started to collect magnets for my frig. I love the ceramics and pick up a piece or two. And like Donna, I love my little murano glass fish bowl. I picked up a Turkish tea set (brass platter and tea kettle with 6 glasses trimmed in gold). It reminds me of the friendly Turks who offered us tea when we walked into their stores.

And I keep my my ticket stubs, hotel business cards in a nice box to look back on.
 

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