Thursday, October 14, 2010

Flea Market Lovliness


Working on a couple of projects...so we'll do "Paris in Real Time" over the next few posts.

This is the day at The Pig Fair.

We noticed this sign in a few metro stations.

As I've mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of the flea. I find them overwhelming and confusing. However, this flea market was totally manageable and easy to get around. There was no junk so to speak, and there were items in all price ranges. 


There were so many items we wanted, but we weren't prepared mentally or financially to ship stuff home. Everything we bought had to be hand carried on the plane, or put in our luggage... which I think worked in my favor and helped me edit all the things I wanted. One mental note about this market... almost no one spoke English, but that wasn't a problem. The MO (modus operandi) of the day was drawing imaginary numbers on my palm to come up with a fair price. I usually offered 25-30% less (I had read that somewhere) and they almost always agreed.

I would have taken a million pics, but I left my camera card in my iPad at the apartment from when I downloaded the night before! My camera allowed me only 5 shots on it's internal memory, and I was done... almost brought me to tears.  We took a few videos and that was it! 
 These are all very short, I promise.  

Getting there...

In awe...

Just for fun...

For Ruth at A Beautiful Life...click here if you 
would like to order a similar bottle rack :)


I've only been to a few flea markets in Paris, so I'm no expert, but if I ever go to Paris again, I would plan my trip around this event, which happens twice a year. It was that good and that fun. Scott even got into it, even though he finds haggling horribly embarrassing...he hung out outside of the stands as I made my offers. In the end he was shocked at my nerve, but excited to be saving money.

Next blog... Food at the Fair... hope you'll check back.

~Teri

11 comments:

savvycityfarmer said...

how could I stay away?

I love your pictures!

*The Beautiful Life* said...

Oh Teri!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay... ummmm.... what to say first???

FIRST -- HELLO!!! You see bottle racks ... the REAL DEAL... and you do not call me?? Text me?? Smoke signals??? "Hey Ruth! They have 'em here! How many should I ship back for you?" Yeah... okay... NEXT YEAR, before you go, WE TALK, right? ;)

Oh my word... That "tent" or whatever it was... Painted to to look like old world paneling... SHUT UP! That is EXACTLY what I've wanted to on my walls! I did it on floor screens, but... Anyway, wow. Perfection.

The train schedule... haha -- I'd be in Prague by now if I had to try and decode that! :)

Great stuff, friend!

~Ruth

TeriGigi/Girl Meets Paris said...

Seriously Ruth, just thinking about trying to communicate enough to ship something home, sends shivers down my spine. As much as I love ya, I would be so sick to my stomach worrying about your items...well...I just couldn't do it.
Now that I think about it though, I should have at least priced them for you...but if I could tell something wouldn't fit in my suitcase or carry on, I didn't focus on it. The one item we shopped for that we didn't get, was a chandelier...maybe next time...there were plenty of them.

Next time Scott and I will pack together, and bring an entirely empty suitcase...it's the only way to travel!

highheeledlife said...

Teri... this is such a wonderful post!!! it is great to get such insight about the Flea Markets there. I look at the wonderful post card you sent me (as it sits by my desk lamp) and can't wait to return... XO HHL

myletterstoemily said...

you're "not a fan of the flea? " hee hee!
i hate flea markets, but you made that
one look like so much fun!

hey, thank you so much for stopping
by hailey's blog. it will mean so much
to her.

hopefully, our daughters will be friends,
too!

Vava (aka Virginia) said...

YOU are the closest I may get to Paris! Love hearing it through your voice!!!!

Melissa Yellig said...

Mrs. Reynolds!
I love looking at these pictures--everyone wears flats? sign me up!
It looks perfect and makes me want to hop on a boat with Jake and Audrey Hepburn and take a vacay of my own!
There is a shop here in Savannah called "The Paris Market"--it reminds me so much of that flea market except it is indoors, perfumed, highly stylized, and exorbitantly priced! The cool thing is that the inventory is always changing. The owners travel to Europe a few times a year--probably to this flea market--and bring everything back to a wealthy Savannah and charge CA-razy amounts of money for it. But it's so fun to browse--that's for sure.
So good to see you--love the videos.

Melissa

Mya said...

OH, take me along next time, puhlease.

I could have fun there just looking around. Comfort is always a priority for me, and I noticed the different styles of chairs with hassocks - wonderful.

I am glad that Scott could also enjoy it.

Meagan said...

Great videos. This place looks amazing!!

Jen Beaudet said...

Oh! I want everything in there! That would be so much fun! Thanks for sharing it with us! Don't miss my giveaway! Jennifer:)

A Tale of Two Cities said...

Teri,
First, yes, thank you very much--I'm not the only one a bit intimidated by the RER.
Second, how about we go in and get a container and ship a bunch of those beautiful things back to the US? Bet we could get a lot of interest in what we find!!

Looking forward to the next update,
Debi

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