Marché Beauvau

There is a famous market in the Eastern part of Paris called Le marché d'Aligre. Most of it is in open air, but part of it is also sheltered in this covered hall called La Marché Beauvau. Definitely worth a visit, for the market and for the inhabitants of this neighborhood!

A market with a view

Here are two Paris clichés for the price of one: the Eiffel Tower and a street market! Well it's rather the installation in view of a street market for I took this photo yesterday evening and, of course, the market was long time closed. It makes a cool photo though ;-) BTW the market is on avenue de Saxe, not far from Place de Breteuil

After the market

I took this photo just after the end of the market at avenue de Versailles in the 16th arrondissement. There are 82 food markets in Paris (including 3 organic ones). Here is the list by arrondissement.

Baby anyone?

I saw this at a brocante (a secondhand market) yesterday and it really made me smile. Visiting brocantes and vide-greniers (garage sales) is an occupation that a lot Parisians enjoy doing during the weekend and that is why you can find several of them in each arrondissement. I'm not a big fan, 1) because I never know what is good to buy or not and 2) you need to bargain and I really hate that. But I enjoy looking, at least to take photos (which is not really appreciated actually...)

Vide grenier !

In France we don't have garage sales, we have... Vide greniers (clean your attic sales), but the principle remains the same: try to sell for the best price the junk that you have accumulated over the years. I'm not a big fan (I prefer new stuff!) but a lot of people are and it's always a big success. Yesterday (Sunday) there was one at rue Cadet which is right by by home, so I had a glance... And here you go; I found this little no head mannequin that I thought was pretty cool. Did I buy it? Hell no! FYI, if you're interested to visit one of these Vide greniers the next time you're in Paris, here is the list!

Bye-bye Santa!

I'm just back from a very traditional Christmas with one part of my family and well, even though it's always exhausting (food, food and more food!), it's always a pleasure to take some time of with people who are dear to you. Now is the time to go back to reality! I hope you had a good time too and that Santa (le père-noël !) was good to you ;-). Here is a photo I took in Montmartre where they have a Christmas market. 

Marché Montorgueil

I was early to a dinner party yesterday evening, so I took advantage of my spare time to wander in the rue Montorgueil, a street that was named after a little hill to which it would lead to, called "Le mont orgueilleux" ("the vain hill"). It gave its name to the whole area "we call it "le quartier Montorgueil" which is now a famous pedestrian area where you can find  many trendy cafés and restaurants, open late at night. A definite must see if you come to Paris. They even have a dedicated website (in French only...).

Marché Secrétan

How about some black and white photo today... This is the back of Le Marché Secrétan, a covered market in the 19th arrondissement, by the Metro station Bolivar. It was built by famous French architect Victor Baltard (who precisely built what we call the Pavilion Baltard!), but like you can see, there is not much to buy over there at moment. The whole place is being totally redone, after a fierce battle between developers, the Paris town hall and... the locals! The project that won includes an organic market, a fitness center and a "ludothèque" (a game library)

Christmas market

I think I have never shown that many times the Eiffel Tower on PDP than this past month! This time it's from the side of the Trocadero, where, on top of the ice rink, they also have a marché de noël (Christmas market)  where you can find anything from Russian dolls to gluewein and French cheeses! Always a great success, and the presence of the iron lady in the background adds a little flavour to it. Last days to complete your Christmas shopping everyone... Mine's completed (99% online this year!)

Marché d'Aligre

Among the numerous markets that we have in Paris, the marché d'Aligre - located at rue d'Aligre, of course! - is probably one of the best ones. It's made of a covered area (built in 1779 and still operating nowadays - after a little face lift in 1843!) and an open air open air one, where I took this very Parisian photo. This market is open everyday except Mondays and it's definitely worth a visit if you come to Paris. More on this site - in French.

Sunday at rue Montorgueil

Lovely day in Paris again this Sunday... I went to rue Montorgueil, a famous street near les Halles, that used to be a working class area in the old times and is now a "Bobo" hangout (bobo stands for BOurgeois BOhème, that is people with money who want to live the Bohème lifestyle). It's a very nice street, no cars - or almost none! - lots of little cafés and shops, historical restaurants like L'Escargot-Montorgueil that was founded in 1875, or the famous Stohrer patisserie founded in 1730 that Queen Elisabeth visited in 2004 (they are pretty proud of it!). It's also the street where this video clip was shot!

Theme day: under (re)construction

Shame on me, I almost forgot it's a theme day today... What theme? "Under construction". You can imagine that in a city like Paris, there are more reconstructions than actual constructions... Hence this very famous Carreau du Temple, a huge covered market in Le Marais, that was built in 1863 and was pretty dormant lately, until the Town hall decided to give it a new life (check this animation). I can't wait... Click here to see what is under construction throughout the world!

Paris market

It's Sunday, time to go to the market... There's nothing like Fresh vegetable and fruit, and we are pretty lucky in Paris for there is always a market near a place we live.I already mentioned it, but I'll say in again, in case you come to Paris and are desperate for food(!), there are 82 food markets in Paris (including 3 organic ones) - you can have the whole list, day by day here. Or course, they less fun than this one...

Yummy Cheese

I love cheese, but I rarely buy good ones because they're very fattening and do not really help in lowering your cholesterol!! Last Sunday, however, I fell for one of these on a market and did not regret it a single minute (nor even felt guilty!). They are made of cow's milk with a little drop of Armagnac, how could I resist?! There are hundreds of different kinds of cheeses in France (some say around 365, one for every day ;-)) and 40 of them even have an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), that is they an only be made in a specific region of France, like some wine. More on Wikipedia, of course!

Marché de noël

You think I took this photo in a ski resort in Switzerland or something? I did not! I took it on the lower part of the Champs Elysées where they have a huge Marché de noël (Christmas market). These markets originate from Germany (apparently at the beginning of the 15th century) and progressively "overflew" to the east of France. Now they are everywhere in France, including Paris. You find there typical Christmas stuff like decorations, food, candies... and gifts in general that are of lesser interest, for not very typical (mostly made in China gadgets!)

Market

Today is the 1st day of the month, therefore a theme day within the City Daily Photo community. Today's theme is pretty easy, as we have plenty of those in Paris: open air markets (check here for a complete listing and here for a map). Instead of showing you a colorful fruit and vegetable display, I chose this "sauerkraut", a typical dish of Alsace (a region in the East of France, close to Germany) that we call in French Choucroute. I took this photo at the Place Monge market in the 5th on the stand of a pork butcher... . See here, what the markets in London, Dubai, Moscow, Tokyo... and all the other cities part of the City Daily Photo community have to offer.

Paris market

Like I already mentioned it several times on this blog there are 63 food markets  in Paris (100 in total if you include other types of market - flowers, animal...). See the complete list here or locate them on a map here). Some of them are open everyday, some only on specific days and some only in the morning or the afternoon.. These markets haven't changed much since the 1850's: each shopkeeper rents a spot on a daily basis to an "agent" that is granted a right of collecting money by the Paris town hall for a period of 6 years. I took this photo at the Bastille market last Sunday. As you can see it is very successful!

Climate change?

According to the data, this winter has been colder than the average (have a look at this excellent site to have a better picture) and people - including me! - are really  longing for some warmer weather (mind you at this very moment, I'm not, but that is just because I'm on vacation in the Southern hemisphere!). Usually towards the end of February we have nice rays of sun, and birds start feeling spring coming up... These don't because they're fake! I photographed them on the Quai (the river banks) where they have a flower and animal  market).

Never miss a brocante anymore

Today I passed by a brocante on rue Lecourbe, in the 15th arrondissement. I'm not a big fan of old junk goods, but once in a while I walk through one of these hoping to get a good photo. I'm pretty happy with this one, which shows an old French typewriter (did you notice the keyboard layout?), but I wasn't too happy with the stand owner who started complaining when he saw I was taking a photo.... Anyway, if you're interested in visiting one of these brocantes while you're in Paris, let me give you a tip: visit Spam.fr (it's not a joke!) - They keep an up to date program month after month.

At the Marché

I already mentioned the various markets of Paris on this blog, but I never told you about the one on Place Monge, to which I went for the first time on Friday morning and where I took this photo. It's a wonderful market with amazing fresh food. FYI, the list of Paris markets in each arrondissement is shown here. It's in French, but easy to understand. You can also spot them on a map. I'm still working on the videos of the picnic. Please be patient!