Souvenir Saturday: My First Snow Globe

As I often travel during the colder, wetter, and snowier months, snow globes make a great souvenir for me to capture the memory of my travel experiences. It was New Year’s Day 2006 and I was standing under the awning of a small little shop right on the edge of Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. I was with my mother and we were waiting for my father and little sister to return so we could board the vaporetto back to our hotel. It was alternating between rain and snow that day, and so we ducked into the shop to keep dry. While we waited we shopped a bit and I purchased a Venetian mask for myself. Right as I was about to pay, I spied a little snow globe of the Rialto Bridge. Picking it up and shaking it made the little Rialto Bridge look exactly like it looked that very day. My sister had a couple of snow globes back home, so I thought this would be a good gift to surprise her with so I added it to my purchase. Later when I showed it to my sister she said she didn’t want it, so I suddenly had my first snow globe! This has since started a travel tradition when I go to places where the weather is rainy and snowy to keep as a memento.