Marche aux Puces!

Ahh! The legendary Flea markets of Paris! How I wish I was rising early in the morning, grabbing a cafe, scurrying off to the marche to haggle and unearth some gems, stopping only for a crepe in the afternoon. I can almost see the man making the crepes in his little Black hat right now!

I have many fond memories of shopping with my mother in the flea markets of Paris. I remember being very little and complaining that everything was dirty, that I was cold, & I was tired (what they must have thought of me). Little did I know that I would grow to love these excursions with my Mom & they would become for me, some of my most cherished memories with her.

I myself only shop and bring home what little trinkets I can fit in my bags, my Mom, however, would ship crates back to the States as she was a designer. I never learned the ropes to get through customs and shipping it all home but I imagine it is a lot of Red tape! It's a good thing I never did learn, because I would own more chairs than my little home could hold!

One of my favorite markets is Les Puces de Saint-Ouen. Located just outside the city limits since 1885, this is the largest flea market in the world (over 17 acres), it is divided into 13 specialized markets and has over 2,000 individual dealers. I do believe that anything you can dream of wanting you can find here, you just have to dig! I recommend taking cash, some water, comfortable clothes & shoes, an empty shopping bag, plenty of time, and your best girlfriends. I always try to get there early (I am not a morning person) but I find that there is never a shortage of wares! There is something for everybody here. It is said that over 200,000 people come through here every weekend! WOW!

Another favorite of mine is Marché aux Puces de la Porte de Vanves This is a must for anybody who enjoys Flea market shopping! This market has been around since the 1800's. I love it here. I have found some of the most amazing textiles here. This market has about 350 stalls & is open every single weekend, rain or shine, holidays, etc.

I have often wondered how the term Flea Market was born and after doing some research I have found the following theories as none can be authenticated,

The first, proposes that the term originated with the Marche aux Puces earning its name from the critter-infested goods it was rumored to sell.

The second alleges that the term was coined at a time when the slums and alleys of Paris were demolished and replaced by new construction. The dealers in second-hand goods who lived and worked in these old neighborhoods were forced to flee. The merchants' new gathering place was referred to as the "flee market," which later became "flea market." Hmmm, I'm not too sure about this one, I think I like the first description better.

The final theory associates the term with New York City's 18th century Fly Market. Apparently, the Dutch name for the market was vlie, which means valley but is pronounced "flea."

Well, I'll take my chances on bringing home some new pals (les puces) if it means getting my hands on some fabulous antique and vintage goods! I know a good exterminator!

Since I cannot be in Paris right now (please give me a moment to weep), I suppose I will go to the fantastic Rose Bowl Flea Market tomorrow morning! Yippee! It comes around once a month and I am so fortunate to live nearby, I'll keep you posted with any finds I might uncover there in the morning! It is not Paris but it will have to do for now.

I am by no means any kind of expert in the Flea Market field and if you are interested in this topic an incredibly fantastic source would be Claudia at

The Paris Apartment as well as her blog. I dream of one day going on a shopping trip in Paris with her and her group! Enjoy!

Bisou Mon Amis!

All photos courtesy of Flickr

Château des Dames

Chenonceau is known for it's stunning floral displays, this is one

Chenonceau is known as the Queens Castle and when visiting it you can see why. It was owned in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, then made even more attractive by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis, and saved from the French Revolution by Mrs Dupin.

The chateau is located in the Loire Valley near the small village of Chenonceaux and it was built on the river Cher, which lends itself to incredible views and breathtaking architecture. It has been written about as early as the 11th century but nobody is quite sure the exact time it was built.

The Green garden

The original manor was torched in the 1400's to punish owner Jean Marques. He rebuilt a castle on the site in the 1430's. After his death, his indebted heir Pierre Marques sold the castle to Thomas Bohier, Chamberlain for King Charles VIII in 1513. Bohier destroyed the castle and built an entirely new residence. The work was overseen by his wife Katherine Briçonnet, who delighted in hosting French nobility. Eventually, the château was seized by François I for unpaid debts to the Crown, and after François' death in 1547, Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers who became attached to the château. She had the arched bridge constructed, joining the château to the opposite bank. She then oversaw the planting of extensive gardens. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out.

Diane's Garden

Diane de Poitiers was the mistress of the castle, but ownership remained with the crown until 1555, when years of delicate legal maneuvers finally yielded possession to her. However, after King Henry II died in 1559, his widow Catherine de' Medici had Diane expelled. Because the estate no longer belonged to the crown, she could not seize it outright, but forced Diane to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favorite residence, adding a new series of gardens.

Louise of Lorraine's bedroom. Decorated to reflect the mourning of her husband.

When Catherine died in 1589 the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont. It was here at Chenonceau that Louise was told of her husband's assassination and she fell into a state of depression, spending her days wandering aimlessly along the vast corridors dressed in all White mourning clothes (as was the etiquette of royal mourning, this is how she came to be known as the "White Queen") amidst black tapestries stitched with skulls. Her bedroom has been reconstructed around the original ceiling. It is decorated with mourning objects : silver tears, widows' cordons, crowns of thorns and the Greek letter - l - lambda, Louise's initial, intertwined with the H of Henri III

In 1720 Madame Louise Dupin acquired the castle and brought it back to life by entertaining the leaders of The Enlightenment: Voltaire, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She saved the château from destruction during the French Revolution, preserving it from being destroyed by the Revolutionary Guard because it was essential to travel and commerce, being the only bridge across the river for many miles. She is said to be the one who changed the spelling of the Château (from Chenonceaux to Chenonceau) to please the villagers. In 1864, Daniel Wilson, a Scotsman, bought the château for his daughter. She would spend a fortune on elaborate parties to such an extent that her finances were depleted and the château was seized and sold to José-Emilio Terry, a Cuban millionaire, in 1891.

A view of the Cher

During World War I the gallery was used as a hospital ward; during the Second War it was a means of escaping from the Nazi occupied zone on one side of the River Cher to the "free" Vichy zone on the opposite bank.

The maze

The chateau holds so much beauty and grandeur. It is almost too much to behold! The extensive collections held here are almost worth the visit alone. The collections include masterpieces from Le Primatice, Rubens, Le Tintoret, Rigaud, Nattier, Van Loo, just to name a few. Many of its' original pieces of furniture can be viewed in Versailles. It also contains Renaissance furniture and a vast ensemble of XVI and XVIIth tapestries.

A tour through the vast gardens is an absolute must and much time should be allotted for this purpose.

Diane's garden or, "Le Jardin de Diane", has the garden's original fountain.
On the commemorative bronze plate placed near the garden we can read the description of it by Jacques Androuet de Cerceau in his book "The Most Excellent Buildings of France" written between 1576-1579. The flower beds themselves are planted twice a year with 30,000 to 32,000 plants for each planting:

1. The spring plantings: yellow Viola pansies and blue, white roses depending on the decorative theme, daisies, pink or white bellis perennises and their bulbs ; daffodils and mysosotises.
2. The summer plantings: petunias, tobacco, lilliput dahlias, patiences, verveine, or more begonias.

Catherine's garden, which features splendid climber rose-trees and a majestic alley of 16 orange trees, you can see the Building of the Domes, which previously contained the Royal stables and the silk raising yard. You then enter the courtyard of the 16th century farm, and lastly the Flower Garden, where countless flowers for cutting are exclusively produced. These flowers are earmarked for the floral decoration of the Monument, the Building of the Domes, and the Orangerie.

The Gardeners house (how beautiful)

The maze is also a must see attraction but my favorite part of the visit...a fun ride down the Cher in a lovely Green little boat. Rowing along and feeling the history and splendor of this charming castle was riveting. You could just imagine all of the secret rendezvous and plots that were laid out here over the passage of time. Enchanting! I hope you get a chance to see this gem & I hope I get a chance to go back!

The Hall

Breathtaking!



Like a fairytale!

Bisou Mon Amis!

~Photos via Flickr & the Chateau Chenonceau site~

The Sweet Sweet Smell of L'Orangerie

Hello All! I was browsing through Vicki Archer's French Essence and I came across an older post (October 23rd, I believe) titled Fleur d'Oranger. I loved it so much the first time that I read through it again & I was magically transported to Versailles in l'Orangerie wandering through the citrus trees and gazing across the Swiss lake! Oh how I wish I was there right now sharing these beauteous sites with my son!

And so here I am on another Internet journey trying to whet my appetite for a little bit of France...

An Orangery is similar to a greenhouse or conservatory. It is basically a place where citrus trees are winterized in tubs during the cold seasons. This protected them from frost and harsh conditions.

For many, many years the Orangerie in Versailles had been Europe's largest orangery. The orangery, however, was not just a greenhouse but a symbol of prestige and wealth. The proud King would lead his guests on tours of the garden to admire not only the fruits within the Orangery but the architecture as well.

The Orangery at Versailles is dug into the slope below the chateau. Flanked by the Great 100-Step Staircases, it anchors the slope and remains perfectly sheltered. Because it faces due south and is double glazed, the temperature remains stable between 5° and 8° C (40° and 46° F) even in winter. ~excerpt from the Versailles site Chateau de Versailles

In the better months from about May through October the tubs of citrus are left on display. There are over 1000 citrus trees that live here and most of them are in fact Orange trees.

How beautiful! I have never seen the fountains play in Versailles, I believe they turn them on Sunday's I will have to plan my next trip accordingly!

Photos ~ Courtesy of Flickr

I love this picture of the Gardener manicuring the topiaries! I thought everything was magically perfect in this most magical place! :) Hmmm...now how can I get my husband to go trim our bushes outside to look like this?

Bisou Mon Amis!

Pere Lachaise

Bonjour all! Oh how I've missed you! I have had a nutty kind of week & I am so happy to be back on the computer. It started with a spider (which has been "taken care of") and ended this morning with a trip to the vet for my sick little doggy (she's fine now). My computer has been sick as well but we are back in business! I can't believe I missed Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays & I was planning on doing a post on the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, so I'll do it now! Better late than never! :) So Spooky! I love the this cemetery, it is so beautiful and breathtaking! When I was there I wanted to stay for hours, I didn't want to miss anything! It is definitely not Forest Lawn!

These are notes left to Oscar Wilde on his grave

Pere Lachaise is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris at over 118 acres. It is one of the worlds most famous cemetery's and reputed to be the world's most visited. It is named after a confessor to Louis XIV, Pere Francois de la Chaise. It has been expanded many times and houses some remarkable people that have graced this earth over the last 200 years. Cemeteries had been banned inside Paris in 1786, on the grounds that it presented a health hazard. (This same health hazard also led to the creation of the famous catacombs in the south of the city.) Several new cemeteries replaced the Parisian ones, outside the precincts of the capital: Monmarte in the north, Père Lachaise in the east, and Montparnasse in the south. At the heart of the city, is Passy.
When it opened, the cemetery was considered to be too far from the city and attracted few funerals. So, the administrators devised a marketing strategy and with great fanfare organised the transfer of the remains of La Fontain and Moliere, in 1804. This strategy achieved its desired effect when people began clamouring to be buried among the famous citizens. Records show that, within a few years, Père Lachaise went from containing a few dozen permanent residents to more than 33,000. Today there are over 300,000 bodies buried there.

Some famous residents:

Yves Montand~ film actor

Jim Morrison~ American singer and songwriter, author, and poet. Permanent crowds and occasional vandalism surround this tomb

Alfred de Musset~ French poet, novelist, dramatist

Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon)~ a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist.

Gérard de Nerval~ French poet.

Victor Noir~ Journalist killed by Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte in a dispute over a duel with Paschal Grousset. The tomb, notable for the realistic portrayal of the dead Noir, the sculpture has become a fertility symbol. His lips are kissed, the sculpture is rubbed and flowers are left in his hat.

Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione~ Famous Italian courtesan

Michel Petrucciani~ French Jazz pianist.

Édith Piaf~ Famous French singer.

Camille Pissarro~ French Impressionist painter.

Marcel Proust~ French intellectual, novelist, essayist and critic.

Edmond James de Rothschild~ Baron of the Rothschild family.

Countess Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry~ The writer who was married to Comte Antoine de Saint-Exupéry who is the author of The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince).

Georges-Pierre Seurat~ French painter and father of neoimpressionism.

Simone Signoret~ Academy-award winning French actress.

William Sidney Smith~ British admiral of whom Napoleon Bonaparte said, "That man made me miss my destiny".

Gertrude Stein~ American author.

Oscar Wilde~ Irish novelist, poet and playwright. Wilde's admirers kiss the monument while wearing lipstick.

Honoré de Balzac~ French novelist of the 19th century.

Sarah Bernhardt~ French stage and film actress.

Georges Bizet~ French composer and conductor.

Jean de Brunhoff~ Author of Babar the Elephant.

Gustave Caillebotte~ French Impressionist painter.

Maria Callas~ The opera singer's ashes were originally buried in the cemetery. After being stolen and later recovered, they were scattered into the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Greece. The empty urn remains in Père Lachaise.

Jean-Joseph Carriès~ Sculptor, ceramist, and miniaturist.

Frédéric Chopin~ Polish composer. His heart is entombed within a pillar at the Holy Cross Church, Poland.

All images courtesy of Flickr

I will be back tomorrow...I promise! If you enjoy the Pere Lachaise cemetery I recommend La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires Argentina. I loved this one too! So beautiful (can that be said of a cemetery? I wonder). Hmmm, I'm wondering how much it would cost to be buried at Pere Lachaise!

Bisou Mon Amis!

Halloween Spider!

I wish I was right here right now!

Hello all! I'm so sorry I haven't been posting or commenting very much in the past two days! I'm so embarrassed to say it but I saw a HUGE Black spider in my office & I won't go in there until my husband finds it. I am not exaggerating this thing is so BIG! I am deathly afraid of spiders! Just in time for Halloween! I know I sound crazy but I have always had this irrational fear. I can't help it, so hopefully today my husband, Keithen, will move all of the furniture & either catch that little sucker or declare the room spider free so I can get back on here & do what I love! Sorry I'm such a scaredy cat! I miss you!

Bisou Mon Amis!