It seems my desire to come home from Europe with a suitcase full of heavy, expensive vessels will be dashed.
For all you beer drinkers out there - what sort of souvenirs did you come back with?
We will be in Munich, Rothenberg, Bamberg, Regensburg, Vienna, Prague and Budapest.
Is one place/city/shop better than another?
Our last trip cost me $700 to ship back to boxes from Bath.
This trip is on more of a budget...
go for other beer related stuff, drip mats, tablecloths, napkins and of course beer mats.
In Prague there are a few places to actually by these thing and U Medvidku shop has a few .I am trying to find a link to the shop with no luck , but here is a link to the place.
http://www.umedvidku.cz/index.php/en/pivovar/historie-pivovaru
I was in Berlin last month and got a couple of metal wall hangings (about A4 size and very light) one had how to order beer in all the major languages of the world and the other how to say good health in the same languages
We collect beer mats. I've tried to buy beer glasses and found they could not be bought except at breweries.
I think it depends on where you are ,but certainly Brewery gift shops are the best places. I travel In the Czech Republic a lot and visit loads of Micro-breweries and Beer halls and most of these places sell beer glasses with their logos on them . I was in a micro-brewery in Beroun near Prague last year, was really impressed by the beer and bought a souvenir glass, the barman gave me a pile of brand new beers mats to go with the glass.
Beer culture in the CR is a bit different from many other countries.
I found that for beer glasses, the best places are drink stores (Getränkemarkt), or even some of the larger grocery stores.
In towns filled with souvenir shops like Rothenburg, the Käthe Wohlfahrt stores are a safe bet for good quality steins (Humpen or Steinkrug).
Souvenir shops aren't so common in Regensburg and Bamberg. But I saw a few places that sold glasses for Rauchbier in Bamberg.
Hi,
We have a collection of beer glasses from Germany and Austria. Most local breweries have a small "outlet store" and you can buy really nice beer glasses, etc., with the co. logo and so on, for just a few Euro per glass compared to spending a small fortune at gift type stores. We found these stores alongside the breweries in Mittenwald, Berchtesgaden, Hallein, and so on. We also have a collection of coffee mugs bought at the various Christmas Markets in Germany and Austria. The most we ever bought home at one time was 10 glasses in our larger checked bag. Stuffed them in socks, pant legs, etc. and put in the "center" of the luggage. Never had one break. Uh oh, just jinxed myself.
Take some thick brown box wrapping paper, folded into lengths the width of your suitcase. Take a larger suitcase and when you buy glassware you can crumple up sections to form 'nests' for the glass. Put one above and one below each piece of glass and you should be able to bring back loads in your luggage without breakages
Beer mats are easy to save and carry. I have a stack of those.
I've also carried back a handful of glassware from various pubs. Generally I order the local brew wherever I go. If I like a particular beer glass, I'll ask if I can buy one (knowing the pub gets them free). Normally they'll ask for 3 euro or the equivalent. I'd rather pay a few euro than take one without asking. I usually wrap them in socks in my carry on for the trip home.
I like having uncommon brand names on my beer glasses at home. I particularly like any with stems. I hang them in my wine cabinet with the wine glasses - and get nervous every time my kids use one because it's doubtful they could be replaced.
Great suggestions. While in Cardiff a few years ago, I went to the same pub several nights in a row and had a blast. I bought many a round and apparently tipped the bartender too often as he would refuse them many times. I asked him about the different glasses for each beer I drank and he just told me to keep them. I suppose they liked me there.
I wonder if tje rest of europe will be so generous. Fingers crossed! 2 weeks to go!!!!
PS. No breakage on my end either. Knocks on wood...
as my dear old dad used to say ,if you don't ask , you don't get.
when are you going to Prague,let me know where you are staying and hopefully i can make some suggetsions for places to drink,I am back in the city on the 15th of may. but to whet your appetite have a look at this great website.
On our last European trip, my husband and I traveled around with 18-20 lbs each of beer steins on our backs. (Yeah, I weighed those babies once we got home.) We knew this going in, and I think we're done with our stein-buying for a while now...(over the years we were too afraid of using our souvenir L and 1/2 L mugs for fear of breaking them, so now we can relax and use them, knowing that we have back-ups!). Ours weren't the fancy-schmancy ones, typically - they were from Oktoberfest, Prague, Andechs, and Augustiner in Salzburg. Over the years and with only a couple of exceptions, the fanciest might have been ~ €20.
Also beer-related: bottle openers (wall-mounted and hand-held), coasters, magnets, keychains, glassware (kölsch, wheat, etc.), taster placemats, tablecloths and 'bar mops'/wiping cloths (esp. Prague! And don't forget your Pilsner glasses...), Christmas ornaments, posters/commemorative books/any cool printed thing, jewelry, clothing (t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, socks, ID badge lanyards), figurines (metal, ceramic), music (CDs and DVDs), metal/paper/enamaled signs, trays, bottle labels and caps, canvas/cotton/Tivek bags (shopping/tote), pins, large or small souvenir ceramic plates, S&P shakers, a miniature stein for toothpicks/matches, something to use as a pencil cup, cutting boards and other kitchen tools (aprons, mitts), spoons, specialty foods (beer mustards, cheeses, schnapps)...
For instance, if you have Weißwurst somewhere, you can bring home a Weißwurst set - tureen, plates, and/or mustard pots, etc. Also, anything you can use as decoration for your own Oktoberfest or biergarten party ;-)
If I had to carry or pull those steins around...that would have been painful. On my back was no problem. We just had to be careful with our bags and keep the mugs well-padded.
I always travel with a cardboard mailing tube with tightly-rolled bubblewrap inside; use an empty cardboard toilet paper center to extend the length of the tube, if necessary ;-) You never know what treasures you'll come across...
Now if we break any of our preciouses, we'll just have to go back for more ;-)
I've brought back lots of breakables (mostly filled with liquids) over the years and only once had some breakage, completely due to carelessness in packing on my part. I wrap them in my clothes and and pack them snugly in the center of the suitcase. I try to put sturdy things around them, like shoes or guide books. I've found it much harder to bring back delicate things that shouldn't be crushed.
J-E
things like this get broken mostly from contact with sharp edges (tables, luggage carts, etc.,) more than crushing. So pack with the idea of preventing that. We've used those padded bubble bags that are for packing wine bottles, to pack objects like you're talking about, with no problems.
The logo coasters are a standard.
I brought back a collection of cans of Märzen from Austria last winter and enjoy looking at them. Probably stale by now but after I consume them this spring, the empty cans will become pencil holders after I remove the tops.
Just manage your checked baggage weight limits. A litre ~ kilogram or a pint a pound.
Drink as much of the beer as possible, then unload it before boarding the plane home. They say travel is about the experience, so when you get home you need only give your loved ones a description of having been smashed in 5 different languages.
Failing that, purchase crystal in Prague and have the shop ship it. In Vienna buy sweets and eat them yourself, bring home apologies for having done so, and from Budapest a few pocket size gombocs are ideal.
