Paris, episode 6. In which Les Puces' the thing.

I blame a lot of my eccentricities on my mom, including those that have to do with her (my) collecting (hoarding) habits.  I'm also eternally thankful for her dedication to and appreciation for good taste and fine quality.  I wish I had inherited her gene for obsessive housekeeping, but I will forever have fond memories of "helping" my mom dust her treasured dust-collectors and polish our rarely-used dining furniture on Saturdays.  From my adult perspective I'm not so sure I was helping as much as staying out of her way, but I did keep the collectibles and the cabinets that housed them polished to a fine lemony glow.  The living and dining room cabinets and tables were off limits except for "company" and for those Saturday mornings when Mom and I attacked the dust that dared gather since our last weekly barrage.

I think my mom would have liked this first piece I purchased at the
Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen back in July of 2012.  I don't (exactly) have a mortar and pestle collection, but I do use a mortar and pestle in the kitchen regularly for grinding spices and blending herbs.  That one is nice, too, but definitely not freakin' French floral fancy!  We'll speak more about my kitchen collectibles another time as soon as the dream kitchen emerges from the three-month cloud of construction dream dust.

Okay, gotta fess up.

I confess that there is actually another decorative mortar and pestle on a bathroom shelf that holds Q-tips and a styptic pencil that is used when I'm in a hurry to shave on work mornings (on days when I wake up realistically too late to shave but realize I may be mistaken for an escaped convict if I don't). Three does not a collection make.  (Does it?!)  Regardless of its place in the larger scheme, this 3" diameter French hand-made and hand-painted mortar with matching pestle has been a favorite of mine since first sighting on a crowded table outside one of the most crowded fleamarket stalls I had ever seen.  Don't know how it reached my collector's gaze through all that knickknack haze, but it did and it was a perfect picked souvenir that Saturday morning.  Even more than its colorful detail and gilded embellishments, I like its heft and its promise:  the wide rim and pour spout inviting regular use by a more experienced and willing hand than mine, but satisfied to lie beautifully in wait until its utility is appreciated as much as its beauty.

This was Mari's first piece picked at Les Puces.  If you recall, it's not her first Lea Stein pin and it's not the first cat pin, either.  I still haven't retraced our steps back to that first one, but some day, dear reader, some day.

This was an easy pick for Mari for the designer, colors, subject, and especially because this delicate 3" by 2" hand-crafted creature looks so much like our sweet Mamita who we always imagine curled up so in repose on a favorite (down-filled) cushion while we travel the world in search of more collectibles for her to investigate (and terrorize) upon our return.

Below, Mari is patrolling the colorful rows of the antiques market on that spectacular sunny Paris Saturday.  Note the market map (previously pictured) posted at left, one of many triangulated intersections leading the way to more treasured temptations.

We felt a bit intimidated on this first visit, of course.  It's Paris, after all, and it's purportedly the largest antiques fleamarket in the world. All that and we're ultimately just tourists.  Mari's French was helpful in making contact and initiating negotiations, but many dealers speak English and there is always someone available shopping or selling nearby who is able and willing to translate.

I can't remind you enough that the world is full of friendly people.  A simple greeting to a weary vendor who has waited all morning for the right collector to wander by opens doors of communication you can't begin to imagine.  Enjoy the flea experience as much as you enjoy the collecting and that picked porcelain mortar and pestle or celluloid crouching cat will mean the world to you even if you didn't travel the world to find them.  (It's even more fun if you did, though.)

We're not going to leave Les Puces just yet.  This second visit to Paris was a three-night visit which was purposely planned to coincide with the flea.  We weren't just all about the flea, however.  Mari wanted to take me to Versailles which she had visited during her high school trip.  Here we are out back looking like we own the place.

We don't own the place.

One of my favorite travel photos. Thanks again to all the fellow tourists who have exchanged cameras with us!

On this visit we also spent a relaxing early evening on a narrated cruise tour which departs from the Eiffel Tower and highlights over a dozen Paris monuments and locations.  We especially enjoyed cruising at sunset when the temperatures were a bit cooler and the lights were beginning to come up over the City of Lights as we made our way back to a twinkling Eiffel Tower an hour later.

Visit the site for details on a variety of itineraries and lots of helpful information, including downloadable brochures.

bateauxparisiens.com/english.html

We return to Paris de nouveau for a stereotypically-touristy (and fleamarkety!) Valentine's weekend next time.