(Marketing with Pride
Saturday was a BIG Day!
First went to the coolest market(s) ever! Marche aux Puces de Saint Ouen, it isn't so much one market as it is 10ish markets. It was billed as a flea market with some authentic antiques, I imagined rows of collapsable tables filled with somewhat organized boxes and the occasional really cool antique, the actual market upon market of stall upon stalls of furniture I could never hope to afford and the most impressive collections of vintage photos, records, silverware, designer fashion, fine art, lamps, lace and everything else you can think of.
We spent five hours at the market and maybe saw half the stalls/ Markets possible, we did have lunch in there, but only walked into a fraction of the stalls. The experience of walking the markets is interesting enough before even inspecting the stalls. In the same market some stalls are inside and then you turn a corner and are outside in open air stalls. Paris is not exactly laid out on a grid so we turned a corner to turn another corner of winding stalls and after 10 minutes were completely turned around as to where we had come from.
My pictures do not do this trip justice at all, a lot of the stores had "no pictures" signs posted which is a shame but I was able to take a few. This is a bead and trim shop we came across
Beads!
Trim and Beads!!!
I wanted to buy everything, everything, but I don't have a project nor wanted to pay to fly home 10 kilos of beads in our luggage. Walking in and out of stalls of beads, vintage fabric, costume jewelry, and vintage Channel and Dior clothing I was so disappointed I don't have access to this as a show shopping resource. There were better vintage clothing shops in these "flea markets" then I have seen anywhere in the states.
The "stalls" are more like tiny store fronts and they are all wonderful and old worldly in themselves with ivy covered walls. I saw some of the most gilded furniture and was brave enough to wander into a couple Art Nouveau shops with vases that ranged in the 1,000 euro range, lies none of them were that cheap. I didn't even look at the writing desk and chandeliers, I appreciate the sales ladies who were friendly and did not treat me like the gawker with lack of funds shopper I was.
We stopped for lunch at a cafe in the market. I had the BIGGEST BUCKET of Mussels, no picture because Daniel did not fully capture the giant pile of mussels. They were very tasty, and the time it took me to eat them helped us rest our feet before going back out.
One fun thing we noticed was during the lunching hours several different stall owners would gather at a table with chairs for sale and would have a family style meal with wine. One shop was fixing their salad as we pursued the store. There would be anywhere from 4 to 12 venders enjoying their meal around a table, playing little attention to the shoppers until someone showed true intrest.
We had a great time and even debated the cost of shipping home a very cool breakfast table, I hate to think what we would have debated had we had a real budget and knew what our up coming home looked like. I did not go home completely empty handed...
I bought a bracelet and several old european and middle eastern coins, which I am all excited about turning into jewelry for my etsy store in the fall. I wear my coin necklace all the time and I think others will get a kick out of it too.
The bracelet is made out of emblems from different cities in France, french charm bracelet?
We were completely exhausted walking home from the markets and were surprised to see several major roads closed down... why... Paris Gay Pride Parade! We stopped for awhile and enjoyed being part of the energy.
To give perspective to how large the parade was we came upon it already in motion, watched for awhile and then left so I could buy a book, walked a different direction home and it was still going and when I still had not seen the end.
This was my first Pride Parade, I actually would have loved to join and walk, but being as I don't speak french and I am a supporter not, gay myself I didn't want people to misconstrue my belief in the parade, as a tourist out to have a story to take home. I collected stickers, for my jeans, from floats and enjoyed the excitement from the sidelines.
This guy was pretty amazing, in case you can't tell from the picture he is wearing green and gold body paint, a feather head dress, boots, wings and feathers on the front lower groin region. I was not sure how that last one was attached because they did not attach in the back... I looked.
The American Cathedral also showed their support.
A drum line what must have been a 20ft. rainbow flag, a beautiful moment. I loved the excitement, there were DJ's on trucks, confetti bombs, leather daddies, drag queens, ..like... woah. and mainly a lot of people proud to be who there were. I was really happy to be there and experience it... a block from my apartment... just on the way home.
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