Day 3 – Antiques at Marché aux Puces


This day was dedicated to experiencing the gems of the French antique world. Our treasure hunt started at Paris' premiere antique market: Le Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen.


We awoke early and took the Métro up to Porte de Clignancourt. I had no idea what was in store.

The Marché aux Puces is one of Europe's largest permanent flea markets, with 15 separate "markets" and hundreds of vendors spread over several blocks (map link here). I've never seen so many valuables in one place, including authentic relics (both French and European) from the 18th and 19th century. It was overwhelming. Over the course of about 3 hours, we were only able to cover about 75% of the vendors, but could have easily spend the entire day exploring. Here's a small taste of what we saw.

By noon/1:00, it was quite hot and getting very busy with tourists, so we grabbed lunch and made our way back home. After a quick recharge, we continued walking and, by sheer coincidence, found another large antique market, set up just south of the Canal. Since I didn't purchase anything at the Marché aux Puces, I was keen to find a Parisian treasure to take home. Here were some of the contenders:

Of course I gravitated to all things alphabet-related, including old sign letters.
If I had 100€, this full set of Art Deco letterpress wood type would have been mine...

And just like that, the day was over. After a nice dinner, we went for an evening stroll through the Marais, grabbed a digestif at a small bar, and then stumbled home, a little drunk from an amazing day of Parisian antiquing. But mostly drunk from the gin.

p.s. What antiques did I end up buying? Please check my blog!