Owl treasure this forever.

I collect trinkets. When I travel somewhere new, I find a tiny piece of the city to take with me. I found this vividly colored Murano glass owl in a shop in Venice, Italy. I remember wrapping it with toilet paper to keep it padded; I remember carrying it all around Europe (including a rickety overnight train) and on a thirteen hour plane ride home and checking on it a kind of obsessively to make sure it hadn't cracked. Glancing over at it reminds me of slowly sipping espresso on the stairs of St. Mark's Square, of living on carbs and gelato, of street carts with a thousand flowers, and of breathing easier. This is my favorite trinket.

Do you collect little pieces of places where you have travelled? If so, what have you brought home?