Les Puces de St-Ouen

I'm a lucky, lucky girl: last week's visit to Paris was my sixth. Having been there several times with my family and friends, I've managed to check off most of the tourist staples, such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and more. On my last visit five years ago, when I got engaged in Paris, I started working towards the lesser-visited sites such as Ste-Chapelle and Musee Rodin. 

Still, I've only just touched the tip of the tip of the iceberg that is Paris. With every visit, there's always too much that I want to do, see, taste... and buy! Having experienced the city at different ages (5, 18 and 25, for example), my tastes and interests change between visits, which always makes each time new, fun and different. 

Two things that I was never really interested in on my past visits to Paris, but absolutely love now, are vintage and flea markets. So I just had to visit Paris' biggest flea market: Les Puces de Saint-Ouen at Clignancourt. Lured by Jordan Ferney's beguiling photos and guided by her bright, cheery and very accurate map, Marlon and I headed there our first morning in Paris.

In my new one-sleeved dress from Uniqlo. I love this color!

Les Puces (The Fleas) are made up of different markets spread out over numerous city blocks. It's reportedly the largest flea market in the world. It's about half the size of Bangkok's massive Chatuchak market, but filled with nothing but antique and vintage furniture, clothing, odds and ends.

Both of us have been searching for the perfect living room armchair for the last six months. Les Puces were full of gorgeous pieces that we were dying to take home. You'd think delivery overland from France to the Netherlands would be somewhat affordable, right? 

Wrong! Estimates of at least €400-500 for shipping alone dashed our French armchair dreams to bits. So we simply made ourselves content with roaming the narrow maze of alleyways and resolving to come back some day with a car.

Still, if you can't carry a piece of furniture home with you, memories and photographs are the next best thing to take home from Les Puces.

And in this aspect, you will not be disappointed. At Les Puces, rounding a corner reveals a fascinating vignette for your camera and mind's eye to capture. 

Turning a corner can spark desire by discovering an entire alley full of objects you want to take home...

... or can simply mesmerize you for a moment with eye-catching textures and colors. 

Each turn can remind you of a friend... 

evoke a bygone era so vividly, that you wished you were born in it...

... or even make you see yourself in a new and different way. 

 Wandering the alleys of Les Puces, you come upon everything from the beautiful... 

to the chic...

... to the oddly humorous... 

.. even to the faintly disturbing. And that potent mix of everything and anything, carefully chosen yet haphazardly thrown together, I love. 

There is magic in a place like Les Puces where, like these bits and pieces from dismantled chandeliers, the old, broken and useless come not to die, but to regain a new life and beauty...

... and where unconventional combinations give a new power and vibrance to the ordinary. 

Or maybe it's not magic. Maybe I just really love flea markets! And maybe it's simply Paris!