Recently in Rome, I wandered through what could have been a romantic piazza. The twilight sky was perfect…for sales. Guys from Africa launched their plastic florescent whirlybirds high into the sky. Then my attention was hijacked by the splat of a plastic goop doll hitting a board at my feet. The round creature became a flat mess, and then slowly, creepily reconstituted itself — ready for another brutal slam.
There were souvenir hustlers everywhere I looked. Each year, there’s a silly new street-trinket hit sold all over town. Cheap little tripods have long been popular, but now the street hustlers have shifted their focus to selfie sticks. And what about those little 2-D puppets that “magically” dance next to a boom box on big-city sidewalks?
These crazy gimmicks (which somehow keep illegal African immigrants from starving) make me wish I had bought all the goofy things people have sold on the streets of Rome over the years — from the flaming Manneken-Pis cigarette lighters to the five-foot-tall inflatable bouncing cigars to the twin magnets that jitter like crickets when you toss them in the air — and made a museum.
Share your thoughts, insights, and photos on the crazy things people from faraway lands sell on the streets of Europe.
I still can’t figure out if anyone is buying the mini Eiffel Towers that are paraded by the hundred throughout Paris. One trinket Two trinkets I did were mini castenets in Rondo, Spain and a cute little donkey on a keychain in Mijas (also Spain). Both for my kids who still have them 10 years later.
In Rome at Christmas 2013, every piazza was filled with young men selling glowing blue parachute trinkets. You’d know you were approaching a square at night, because you could see the glowing blue items falling slowly thru the air. The sellers would slingshot the parachute into the air, and it would silently glide back to earth. Very few people seemed to be buying, except for one family with a bunch of kids and strollers. One kid was bawling because his slingshot had just broken – my guess is the toys weren’t very sturdy!
Then there are the trinkets tossed out by the commercial “Caravan” that drives ahead of the racers at each stage of the Tour de France. About 90 minutes before the cyclist come down the road, riders on the floats, cars, and trucks in the Caravan toss out trinkets, which can be pretty nice caps and shirts, but can also be candy, packaged product samples or little inflatable gizmos. The fans lining the road can be rabid – I’ve seen adult men tugging at a shirt that a girl caught from the Caravan, trying to wrest it from her while she screamed and cried. One guy told me the previous year they’d gotten a bunch of free stuff (no doubt hard-won after scrapping with other spectators for it), put it in a backpack, hauled it home, and said, “Look at all the useless crap we got!”
Having just come from Rome, I recommend some souevenirs which you will only find by walking toward the Colosseum at night. The Colosseum is lit up, so that is beautiful, but there are some talented side-walk artists who spray paint pictures of the Colosseum for about 5 euros. They are beautiful souvenirs, and the price is right! Our teenage son brought one for himself and his friends.
My husband bought a replica of a Smart car in Florence. He was so inspired, when we returned home he bought a full size one, loves it.
On the Paris Metro, an African immigrant young dude presented the remnants of his cigarette to me in the form of a flick. Luckily it missed, and then he started talking to me from my back in a threatening way. I had to stand up finally because it was so threatening and I was in a vulnerable situation. Once I stood up he backed down a bit and if he would have tried something, he would have regretted it.