6.23.13: The Call of the Object

For those of you who find Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen a bit overwhelming (it is, after all, the biggest flea market in the world!), Marché aux Puces de la Porte de Vanves is an easy breezy alternative. Spread out along tree-lined sidewalks over a couple of streets in the 14th arrondissement, the market has a relaxed vibe with dozens of vendors selling all my favorite vintage things: film cameras, 1950s appointment books, floral print cotton fabric, silver ladles, buttons and bijoux, rubber stamps, tiny dolls, postcards, sunglasses… oh la la, the list goes on and on. Plus there’s a lady with a little cart who cruises around singing “Café!” This is how every Sunday morning should begin.

In the afternoon, Mom and I embark on a cinematic journey of Montmartre as part of the international Ambassadors of Coincidence project, brainchild of cosmic wabi sabi mamas Dagie and Gesine. Using our own address and three maps as starting points plus our trusty Bolex 8mm to capture the magic, a series of chance encounters and signs in the landscape lead us from the house where Erik Satie lived to a vineyard to Vincent van Gogh’s apartment to the Café des Deux Moulins made famous by the movie Amélie to two actual windmills to a tiny restaurant serving “galettes et ciders bretons.” The roll is shot, the journey is at an end: mission accomplished!