We woke up early on Sunday to go to the big Paris Flea Market - Les Puces de Saint-Ouen which is only open Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It's in kind of a dicey area just outside of Paris proper so I was glad we took and Uber there instead of the Metro. Once you are inside the market you're OK except to watch your purse and wallet (and I mean that in more ways than one ;-) )
A good idea that Sydney suggested for all of our outings was to take an iPhone photo of the map or directory so if you part ways you will have the information at your fingertips to regroup!
After the first stall that we stopped at (ribbons, trim & buttons), we did all go our separate ways as each one of us had different things that we were excited to look for.
And others were carefully collected objects like the silver collection above. I personally enjoy finding unique pieces of silver for my own collection but I had never seen the spoon below. Do you know what it is?
I finally had to ask the shopkeeper.....and it's a fat-separator. You put broth in the spoon & allow the fat to rise to the top, then you press down on the upper lever and the broth pours out of the bottom of the spoon but the fat stays inside.....supposedly!
And a portion of a linen collection.......but I couldn't find my exact initials on any of them!
Perhaps you could find portraits of your great-great grandparents?
Do you think I will have any trouble getting this alligator on the airplane?
I am sure packing this chandelier in my suitcase will be a cinch!
We all came home with our little treasures. I bought two bone handled knives and an antique white wild boar terrine. Jackie & Sydney found paintings, etchings, 12 fruit knives, ribbons, fabric, pillow covers and loads of other fun things!
We headed home about 3pm as we had tickets for a Vivaldi concert later that evening inside Sainte Chapelle!
Dinner was across the street from Sainte Chapelle at Les Deux Palais - just salad and a Croque-Madame.
As it got dark we headed across the street to get in line for the concert.
It was magical.....the setting and the music! The group that night was Les Solistes Francais with Paul Rouger playing the main violin and directing. If you are ever in Paris, I highly recommend you find out what concerts are at Sainte Chapelle and get your tickets early as it is usually a sell out!
Afterwards we ended up in the lobby of our hotel for a glass of wine & Sydney had a whiskey.....I tell you this because it ended up being so funny. I kept smelling something and it wasn't good! And you know how you don't want to say anything in polite company? We were staying in a very clean hotel and what was that off odor? Then Jackie began to smell it as well and it was getting worse. Well, Sydney finally got the giggles and confessed that she was drinking a very "peaty" whiskey. It was her drink and breath that we were smelling!
"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite
and furthermore always carry a small snake."
-- W. C. Fields
