Cool city souvenirs

Christmas is coming - time for cheesy souvenirs for the loved ones.  Personally, I love a "good" souvenir, because it is so easy these days, to buy the same stuff here as you can "back home", it has become a part-time quest of mine to find decent, local souvenirs for my friends and loved ones at home and abroad. So far, a fave has been the "breakfast boards" you can buy here in Germany, I've found some with a map of Cologne on, and have given them away to most of my family - I live "just" centrally enough to actually be on the board - so they can think of me over breakfast.  The range of t-shirts at the Cologne tousist office shop, opposite the Dom, tends to be quite good - they have "Cologne" as a Coca-cola logo - which goes down quite well as a gift.  In my favorite Cologne "Postcard" shop you can buy these great photo's of Cologne, mounted on thick blocks of black plywood - they make a very sleek designer wall hanging.  They also sometimes have a great screen print t-shirt of the twin Kölner Dom towers with King Kong climbing to the top.  Just recently I found a very cool shop in Düsseldorf, "Dein hausfreund". They have some great slogan t-shirts, key fobs and pictures. I like the "zu Haus" Düsseldorf t-shirts with their print of the distinctive TV tower.  Bonn is a bit sparse on "cool" souvenirs - but something unusual you can get is a Beethoven wine from the BonnShop. Possibly the best Bonn souvenir is a bottle of Bönnsch and one of their distinctive "Bönnsch" glasses - you can get these at the Bönnsch brewery.  Pass on your own tips for "cool" souvenirs from around the region - we're all ears!

Dein Hausfreund
Ackerstr. 106, Düsseldorf
T. 0211-239 63 62
www.dein-hausfreund.de

Postkartenladen
Breite Str. 93, 50667 Köln
T: 0221 257 66 36

BonnShop
Bonngasse 25, 53111 Bonn
T: 0228-5508560
www.bonnshop.com

Brauhaus Bönnsch
Sterntorbrücke 4, 53111 Bonn
T: 0228-65 06 10
www.boennsch.de