What's the best souvenir you've purchased (or received as a gift)?
 

Just wondering what kinds of treasures you've found on your travels. Or even collections that you enjoy adding items to.

Mostly bring home and ask other to bring me food items (allowable) like dried porcini mushrooms.

I always buy a few postcards of the places I visit and put them in an album. The cards bring back memories of the places and what we were doing when we bought the cards.

There are so many, but I think the best souvenir we purchased was a crystal chandelier we bought in Prague. It hangs in our foyer and I have to smile every time I pass by it. Another wonderful souvenir is a garnet anniversary ring my husband bought for me (same trip) in Prague. Oh, and I'm still using the herbs de Province we bought in Nice last fall :)

Christmas ornaments from every country I have visited. Easy to pack, makes it a joy to decorate the tree every year. ((g))

A postcard collection that's my pride and joy. :-D

Olive Oil from France and Spain has always been a hit. :-*

I love my table linens made out of provencal fabrics; lovely cottons that "do up" so nicely w/o ironing.

I found my best souvenir in Vienna. As a very long-time film buff, I took the "Third Man" tour. The walking tour visits about a dozen sites at which The Third Man (named by the British Film Institute as the best film of the 20th Century)was filmed. It was excellently guided by the son of Dr. Brigitte Timmermann who's written a splendid (and very large) definitive book about the film. I was able to find this very large, spendid book at the Shakespeare Book Company in Vienna and somehow stuff this fabulous souvenir in my Eagle Creek bag and bring it all the way back to my Seattle coffee table.

a P.S.: The tour spurred me (a genuine acrophobe) on to ride the Riesenrad ferris wheel in the Prater Park. The ferris wheel plays a memorable part in the film.

a Swarowsky crystal dog,from Wien.

During one of my many trips to Naples, I visited Spaccanapoli with my brother in law, Peppino, who lives in Naples. We passed a shop, in the midst of many others, that manufactured the Nativity scene. The workmanship and figurines were fantastic, and I told him so. About a month after we arrived home, we received a large package from my wife's sister living in Naples. It contained all the makings of that Nativity scene, complete with all the figurines and such. A little plaster of paris, a little dirt, and some rocks allowed me to build the scene better than the one we had seen in Naples.

I took someone else's advice and bought postcards every where we went to add to my photos. It really adds something extra since they are done so well and are views I could not get, many times.

My tree is covered in travel related ornaments but I never found any in France, Italy and Switzerland.

I buy orginal art. My favorite is from Prague and Hydra, Greece. I also love the one I brought back from Chang Mai, Thailand. Come to think of it, all the art brings back wonderful memories. I figure when the kids put me in "the home" I'll be able to take my art since it goes on the walls and I can sit and think of all of the wonderful trips, times, and great people we met while traveling.

We also do christmas ornaments

My favorite remains the little Eifel tower on my desk, but we do "collect" small pitchers from places all over the world. They are lined upu along the back of the counter at our beach house and they always generate fun conversations.

We also collect art. A painting that we bought in Provence in September arrived a few weeks ago....just makes me happy to look at it and remember our trip! It is a rooster that the artist named "Mozart".
I love walking through the house seeing art from many different countries and remembering when and where we purchased the piece.
Unfortunately, all of my travel art probably won't fit in "the home" but my children have yellow stickies with their names on them on the back of most of our paintings.

We take our favorite photojournalistic photos from our trip and turn them into art canvases. So, you get the joy of having art on the wall, but the story of it actually coming from a photo you took.

I love the painting I bought from a sidewalk vendor in Tallinn Estonia.
I bought a tea caddy in England 28 years ago and I still use it every day.
My daughter bought a silver and amber pendant in Tallinn and I wish I would have bought one, too.
I took a picture in England that just happened to be perfect, had it enlarged to 8 x 10 and framed.

I also buy coffee mugs because every morning I can pick a different location but I realized I need a back up souvenir because sometimes they break. ha!

My own photographs are my favorite souvenirs, and they are free, but among purchased items, these are my favorites:

Paintings of my favorite places in France - we have 2 oils of the Provencal countryside purchased in Gordes and 3 watercolors of the Dordogne Valley purchased in Domme. In both cases we had wonderful conversations with the artists.

This may sound odd, but I bought a set of silverware at the WMF factory outlet in Geislingen, Germany. We use it every day and thus have a constant reminder of the wonderful 2.5 years we spent in Germany.

It would have to be my fantastic burgundy colored, alligator look handbag from "Catherine's" in Paris, or maybe the look on my granddaughter's face when she received that stunning dress from "Mini Junior" in Paris, or that great piece of pottery from the Loire Valley. I can't decide, but it definitely comes from France!

Like Bellarosa, it is also a chandelier, but we bought it in Venice. I saw one that I liked in the traditional style but at the time did not buy it and regretted that decision. The following year, I returned to Venice with the thought of righting that wrong and found exactly what I was looking for in a showroom on Murano. It hangs over our dining room table and reminds me of Venice daily. A close runner up is also a purchase made in Venice, this time on our first trip there. We were in the Ghetto and found a shop that did custom work with Venetian glass and liked the samples in the window. We went in and together with the artist, designed a chalice to be used during the passover seder. It is venetian blue glass in the traditional design, hand painted and gold leafed with our design that incorporates the symbols of the twelve tribes together with our family names worked in. We paid in advance with some trepidation and nearly one year later, we received it. It was worth waiting for and is destined to be a family heirloom.