souvenirs

On the cheesy side, an Eiffel Tower snowglobe is a must-have.

But you would have to put it in checked baggage, not carryon.

I buy a tee shirt from whatever big city I visit and then have memories about that visit whenever I ware it. I am able to ware tee shirts almost every day of the year here (HI).

I buy a postcard every day and make it that day's page of a travel journal.

Some days I buy two.

It's like blogging, but without the blog.

Back when the dollar was much stronger we took a day trip from Siena to Deruta in Pergia, Italy (North of Rome, southeast of Florence and Siena). We visited one of the family-owned pottery workshops, selected several nice bowls and plates and had them shipped back to our home. The price varies according to how intricate the designs are on the dishes, but it's not hard to spend 100 Euros on a high-quality plate.

If you ship things home you will have to pay duty on them when they arrive - there's no duty-free allowance for unaccompanied items.

Adam I love your idea of blogging on postcards. I always buy postcards wherever I go - but never wrote anything on them aside from the date - if that! :-)

post cards, fridge magnets, scarves,earrings are some of my favorite items that are small; also have sev prints that we've brought home & framed

We have covered the whole front and most of the sides of our fridge with magnets! LOL!!! Scarves, jewelery- especially hand made, prints and other art items and handicraft items. Seeds- I have heather from Scotland, poppies from England, etc. even tried to grow edleweise- but it's too hot here. Italy should be great for leather and fashion if you're into that as well as mosaics. Perfume and scarves (Hermes) from Paris if you have the money. I've gotten some great wood carving and jewelery in London along with art- I love to shop at Covent Garden Market, each day has different vendors. Others have talked about buying quality food items- olive oil, mustards, etc that they don't find at home. This would definitely require shipping unless you check your bag. Wine too- don't forget that!

Paris. ... In the outdoor markets they have not only food ,but scarves and neat kitchen things. The Porte de Vanves flea market has everything from oil paintings to kitchy old French things. Many French prefer this market to the big one... you can get anything there. I collect old handcolored French postcards and always go there on both Saturday and Sunday. My husband gets all kind of old French photos and cameras and viewers, and little old French boxes. They have everything. Go early on Saturday and Sunday.

After three trips to Paris, I think we've taken home tons of metal replicas of the Eiffel Tower. Mini towers, earrings, night lights, our collection is endless. And we've amassed our collection without even trying to collect. The combined weight of our replicas might out weigh the actual tower.