Entre Les Murs

Street Markets

I regularly post about the farmer's markets, because there are several handy to our apartment and because they make colourful photographs.  But there are other kinds of markets in the streets too.  My sister is visiting - in fact, she has been here for two weeks looking after the cat while we were away - and has been doing some exploring on her own.  She noted the location of a brocante market, setting up across the river this weekend.  Brocantes is what we might call antiques, but the authorities who regulate these things ensure that something is not called an antique if it doesn't meet the strict definition, so these bazaars are actually purveying flea market fare, a.k.a. "junk".

Now, I have to remember that many things that weren't technically antiques when I first entered an antique shop now meet the standard.  Although I may not initially recognize certain items as such because of certain blindspots about just how much time has passed since those first forays, when you do the math it turns out they qualify.  So, we saw many stalls that indeed had genuine antiques for sale, as well as high-quality pieces from early in the last century that will be promoted before long.


Janet and I have been through these markets before, when they've appeared in the neighbourhood, and found it takes a lot of sifting to find the gems; but this one was better than most.  We spotted quite a few elegant Art deco figurines and lamps that I would have been tempted to cart home were they not priced according to their continued popularity.  In the end, the only thing we bought was a brass bell, for B to take home to British Columbia.

posted 10.2.07