Flea Markets & Finance Centers...
We began the day close to our own neighborhood at Le marche aux puces de Saint-Ouen was opened in 1885. The most famous flea market in Paris known to everyone as Les Puces (The Fleas). It covers seven hectares and is the largest antique market in the world, receiving between 120,000 to 180,000 visitors each weekend. It has 2000 shops selling everything from stylish furniture to old postcards and a really cool beginning!
In 1885, authorities in the town of Saint Ouen made a significant move to pave the streets and clean up the area, marking the official starting year of Les Puces. We meandered through the many stalls, delighting in the treasures that were, at times, of museum quality.
We then boarded the Metro for La Défense, the prime high-rise office district of Paris complete with a wonderful shopping mall, many financial institutions and the Great Arch. The project to build the Grande Arche was initiated by the French president Mitterrand. He wanted a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe. The design of Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen looks more like a cube-shaped building than a triumphal arch. It is a 348 ft white building with the middle part left open. The sides of the cube contain offices. It is certainly a place to sit and ponder, which we did!
The photo of us with the thumb is a classic by César Baldaccini and is an ode to the thumb: Le Pouce. "The hand without a thumb is at worst nothing but an animated fish slice, and at best, a pair of forceps, whose points don't meet properly."
It was a lazier look at Paris but an unforgettable one! Only one more day remains!
The history of the flea market dates back over two centuries, when rag and bone men scoured through the garbage of Paris at night to find valuable junk to sell. They were called 'crocheteurs' or pickers. The romantic term was pêcheurs de lune or 'fishermen for the moon'. Many set up their temporary stalls within the Paris walls, in sleazy neighborhoods, but because these neighborhoods were full of pickpockets and thieves, they were chased out of the city walls.
The rag and bone men (a British phrase for a junk dealer) gathered outside the walls of Paris at the Porte de Clignancourt and set up temporary stalls where they hawked their wares. Eventually, they formed groups of stalls to attract more customers. The more enterprising traders began to 'trade up' in terms of goods and eventually it became popular for Parisian collectors and antique dealers to shop there for bargains.
We then boarded the Metro for La Défense, the prime high-rise office district of Paris complete with a wonderful shopping mall, many financial institutions and the Great Arch. The project to build the Grande Arche was initiated by the French president Mitterrand. He wanted a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe. The design of Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen looks more like a cube-shaped building than a triumphal arch. It is a 348 ft white building with the middle part left open. The sides of the cube contain offices. It is certainly a place to sit and ponder, which we did!
The photo of us with the thumb is a classic by César Baldaccini and is an ode to the thumb: Le Pouce. "The hand without a thumb is at worst nothing but an animated fish slice, and at best, a pair of forceps, whose points don't meet properly."
It was a lazier look at Paris but an unforgettable one! Only one more day remains!
2 comments:
How can you take a picture next to a thumb and not give a thumbs up?! :)
The market sounds cool...what history!
Too bad you weren't in the market for some neato stuff!
I all of it! So jealous and come back safely so i can see you all again soon! :-) Loving how quaint and romantic and intimate Paris looks, just like from the movies with the rain and books and fancy churches...
Hopefully you didnt get any fleas while you were there hahahah
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