since jx raves about Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, I went there to take a look. It’s sprawled over a large area, lines more than 5 small roads and 1 main one. It seems like a combination of several markets coz there are different themes. The outside area has youth clothes, the roads to the market has ultra-flea sellers, deeper in you get housing ornaments, in some building you get shiny antiques. The ultra-flea are really like trash, half broken parts, wires, ppl holding up a few things in their hands, just a few bits and pieces taken out from their trolley or bags.
this one is quite cool, with columns and statues and vases and stuff fit for a little castle. you really can build a decent rendition of a mini-palace with what they have here.
statues, lamps…
clock parts. these shops are more permanent residents. compared to some of the outside stalls
here’s the indoor place. with lots of glittery stuff.
this place has LV cases
this one is quite cool too, that’s big propeller there. they have airplane parts, incl a wing as a table.
here you can obtain one of those sedan-chairs for your wedding
it’s something like Bugis, but with all those extra quirky stuff. And, it’s only one of the 3 flea markets around.
then i went to rue mouffetard, it only has a small market, which din seem very active. there’s this whole row of shops and eateries. cheap area. very near to jussieu actually.
and i took this nice picture of this boy who was playing around at the door. [actually i cropped the picture to make it so nice]
note: it’s easier to go via Place Monge, coz it stretches all the way to this metro stop and this one is on the uphill side.
interesting note: if you want to open a cafe, make sure your exterior gets the sun during the day, because everyone will flock to the cafe that has chairs in the sun. it’s such a stark difference.
at night i went to Musée de Quai Branly, with a big dose of trepidation. coz the museum website din mention any hint of the free entry, nor the signs at that place. And it’s an african/oceania/asia art museum, so it din seem like it’ll be as nice as the grand louvre and orsays. but anyway it’s got a hypercool exterior and garden. the museum looks all black and dark and unwelcoming from the outside. you can never tell if it’s open. went in, found my way around the dark garden lit with light rods. found the main entrance, it’s difficult to figure the place out. din see any hint of free entry, went to the ticket counter, and this staff lady standing to the side asked if i was <26ans and asked me to just go straight in. great. so orsay seems to be the odd one out where they waste money on tickets. whyever for. anyway Quai Branly has a hyper cool modern interior, with very weird walkways, exhibit halls. the exhibition area is all like black and red and darkish and glass and back-lit wordings. mysterious. the exhibits are also half-lit.
i like this inscription near the entrance. “…pour rendre justice aux arts des peuples d’Afrique, d’Asie, d’Océanie et des Amériques….” “… to pay justice to the arts of the people of African, Oceania and Americas…”
here’s how they mount almost all their exhibits, in black voids.
and i liked this one
then i got chased out near 9pm. anyway quai branly can be finished in 2 hours odd, especially now when the upper temporary exhibits are not open. i wonder if free entry allows viewing of temp exhibits.
so well eiffel is almost right behind quai branly, and it was a short walk over. i think this shot is not bad.
this one was not shaky, it was a 4second exposure so the lights get all expanded out. it’s almost like a macro shot except that nothing is in focus. anyway they were having some Eco-Trail thing going on. some mad ppl run 42 km and then climb to the 1er etage of the eiffel. whatever for. craziness, running in this weather.
i also have this new idea: the touristy meter of a place is reflected in the price of Crepes, within which I have chosen Nutella Crepes as a reference. simply coz i prefer them. the price varies from 1.90€ to 3.50€. Did i mention that at Marché Bastille last weekend, i couldn’t resist it and bought my first crepe, chocolat noir for 2.20€, so cheap, and it was filled with dark chocolate mini-kisses. the amount of melted dark chocolate made me high.