The Saint Ouen antique market covers an enormous space on the periphery of Paris. It is broken up into several small specialty markets, but it is easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of stalls (3000) and the narrow aisles. Every stall seems to have something interesting inside.
The market got its start centuries ago, when rag-and-bone men (or "pickers") used to scour the Parisian streets each night picking through the trash to find discarded treasures, furniture, and knick-knacks to resell. Eventually they were pushed out of the central city and set up temporary markets on the outskirts of town. Over time these markets became more organized, with regular hours, and permanent structures were created for the stalls.
The first section we walked through was the Marché Vernaison which seemed to be full of smaller trinkets -- watches, old records, magazines, paintings, jewelry, and my favorite -- this silver booth. There must be thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise all sitting out on display here (although I imagine the
really valuable stuff must be further inside).
The Marché Dauphine, a modern-looking structure across the street from Vernaison, had two levels of booths containing everything from vintage clothing to first edition books, antique cameras to old sports equipment.
Some of the other markets specialize more in furniture, musical instruments, old plane parts, steamer trunks, sculpture, and even whole fireplaces. A serious buyer or antique shopper could spend days here sorting through it all. We saw a mixture of serious shoppers and looky-lou tourists (like us).
The majority of the stalls had their merchandise arranged in a very aesthetically pleasing way.
Of course there were also a few sellers that didn't worry as much about making things look pretty, and instead just displayed their collectibles in a hodge-podge of disarray.
We weren't really tempted to buy anything especially since we don't have room in our luggage to take home any 18th century fireplaces. But there is something for everyone...buried back in the maze of stalls we found Chez Louisette, a tavern that claims to have been around since the 1930's. It's a kitschy place, with a fun and lively atmosphere.
We ordered coffees at the bar, which inadvertently gave us the best seats in the house to watch the live show. Manuela sings the classic French chansons with a passion that makes you want to sway and sing along.
The friendly hostess (whose name I didn't catch) also sang. She had a beautiful voice, but we forgot to take video.
We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it. I will be humming "La Vie en Rose" for days to come, I'm sure.
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