22 September 2010

Place de Jeu de Balle

We can't really say that we saw the daily flea market at this square in the Marolles - but we definitely witnessed the aftermath.
It's a really huge square, with a couple of restaurants and bars on the edges. It's quiet after five o'clock or so, a lot of the places shut after lunch is finished. One bar, even, is only open during the day. We came here a few nights ago and realized that the bustle we had witnessed earlier in the day had dissipated almost entirely.
When we got there, vendors were scurrying around, picking things up and cramming them into boxes to put away. There were still some people picking through the mess, but most were definitely not the antique-hunters that are supposedly here early in the morning.
It's a big production - setting this thing up every day. There are mountains of stuff to put out. I'm not sure where it all comes from. When we got there, most articles of clothing were being sold for fifty centimes or one euro.
A suitcase full of matchboxes. This is one of two such suitcases we saw.
Books, of course, were everywhere. That man in black was going through old National Geographics.
One thing we wondered: how do the vendors keep everything separate? It just looked like a pile to us. Are these ski goggles for skiing or for dressing up?

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