Saturday at The Fleas

Matt and I had an amazing Saturday. We spent most of the day at Les Puces (The Fleas) looking at all of the amazing, weird, and beautiful antiques that were laid out at the weekly market. It was a very relaxed, Parasian kind of day. The weather was beautiful, we were in no hurry, and just strolled along the venue drinking it all in.

The Fleas is an absolute labrynth of winding streets, alleys, and dark passageways. It's pedestrian only, and not clearly mapped out. The effect is that you basically choose an alley and start wandering back and fourth, round and round, getting lost, re-orienting yourself, discovering nooks and crannies you never knew existed, then.... Poof! Three hours have passed.

These are snaps of the basic layout of a typical Fleas passage:

Many are like small garages. Twice a week, the vendors throw open the garage door and let passers-by peek at the treasures they've collected. It's not like an American flea market, though, where every booth is a hodge podge of all kinds of disconnected collectables piled in disorganized heaps. Here, everything is delightfully (almost obsessively) organized. For example, the next two pictures are of my favorite vendor's shop. She was amazingly organized, down to the most minute detail. Everything that could be classified as a certain "type" of collectable was put in the same area of the store, then sorted into clear plastic boxes that divided them further by color, size, or shape. For example, there was a wall with a glass case at least ten feet tall. In the case were hundreds of clear plastic boxes, all numbered. Each box contained a different type of vintage brooch or pin. There was one box for fish pins, one for geometric pins, one for astrological-themed pins, etc. All you had to do was look at an alphabetical chart that comprehensively listed the categories of pins that they had been sorted into, then check the corresponding box number.

It's hard to explain, but trust me... It was cool. The sheer volume of merchandise this woman had boggled my mind. And that it was *all* catalogued, differentiated, and shelved according to category was amazing to me. Even Matt had to give her props.

Although not all booths are that obsessively organized, most of the booths seems to be organized around a specific theme or obsession. There are booths devoted only to nautical antiques, booths devoted only to mid-century modern chairs, booths devoted to medical oddities, to taxidermy... You name the obsession, there's probably a booth for it. It's almost like throwing those garage doors open was like throwing open a window into the owner's soul... You could see their obsessions, what they loved, what makes them tick. It was really fascinating.

I saw quite a few things at The Fleas that were so odd, they blew my mind a little. Here's a sample of a few of the things we looked at:

1) a desk made from an airplane wing
2) a disarticulated (or "exploded") human skull
3) a box of assorted human bones
4) a taxidermied ostrich

5) an actual mummy
6) terrifying dental drills from the turn of the century

Oh... I could go on. But pictures are way more fun!



 

Afterwards, Matt and I had an amazing, leisurely lunch. We ate the best escargot I've ever eaten in my life, leek and potato soup, and a shaved parmesan salad. Everyone was nice and friendly, the sun was shining... It was magic!

After that, we went back to our hotel and strolled around a bit. I loved the unhurried pace of the day. It made me fall in love with Paris even more.