Les Puces - Flea Market

This morning, I went to the local Marche Puces or Flea Market. I love it. To me, an American, it holds within it's walls all the treasures of the past. 

Sit back and follow in my footsteps ....

All kinds of cool outdoor statues, and baths, wrought iron tables, old pieces of machinery, etc. 

There are big permanent stands like the one above and there are small vagrant stands selling a surrealistic  plethora of ... stuff!

Love the half top of a an old mannequin just laying on the ground!

Ahhh, Italian Vespas! Aren't they gorgeous? 

Ran into a few creeeeeepy clowns! (Why are clowns so creepy?)

A captain sitting in a chair on an antique table, okey dokey.

These guys were hidden in a corner. They gave me quite a start when I discovered them!

Oh, la la! Les lustres, or chandeliers. Antique and everywhere. 

An ancient potty! Just slip your chamber pot underneath and you are ready to go.

Now this was a really nice old bar. The metal was polished, the wood in excellent shape. Love the old refrigerators ... oh, so beautiful!

Hat pins, anyone?

Now this made me sad. There were TWO bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal champagne from 1974 for sale. Unfortunately the person hadn't looked after them and they were useless, no good to drink, all the bubbles gone. The same guy had a ton of wine from 1950, 82' 74', all spoiled--shame on him!

A beautiful silver tea service polished to a perfect shine. 

Interesting dress ....

Silver is for sale all over France. It amazes me. There is a store in Lyon that is so full of antique silver silverware that it lays in mountainous heaps on every surface available. 

I adored this picnic basket! So "Room With A View".  

A stunning Art Deco desk. It was in impeccable shape. 

Ha ha, love this shot! It looks as though the guy is having a full on conversation with the mannequin (and perhaps he was!). Too surrealistic. Too funny. 

This place was my favorite. It had gardens all around it, you can wander freely through them and they are filled with all kinds of amazing things scattered haphazardly around.

Out back ....

These cool lights. 

Oh my gosh! There were all kinds of tombstones in the form of metal crosses and these heart medallions out back! I thought, oh that would be pretty to put on a wall somewhere and then I realized what they were. Yikes! 

An aside. In France, there isn't enough room to keep graves in the graveyards forever. After a hundred years or so, if there is no family left alive, they do away with the tombstones, caskets and bodies (if there is anything left) and make way for new corpses. Hence the selling of the tombstone crosses and medallions. 

Poor girl, she died when she was 14 years old in 1902. 

It is all the rage in France to find old furniture, fridges, cabinets and make them new. You add polished metal, new marble tops, etc. I find it gorgeous. I have a few pieces at home. This cabinet made me drool. 

Another example of recycled furniture. This is an old factory lamp and a medical cabinet. All polished up, it looks just great. Original. 

Last but not least, in the event you would like to go sledding ....

Voila! Gros bisous des puces et a demain!

Love Charley