Flea market in Marseilles
Just a few hours into Saturday morning, dark and early, before the roosters had a chance to dream, I would go to the Marché aux Puces, flea market in Marseilles.
Friday night my checklist would unfold:
Flashlight-
Money in small bills
Pocket notepad-
Check book-
Pen-
Brocante bag-
Gas in car-
On the top of the list for Friday night soirée, go to BED early.
My alarm clock was set at 3am, (to this day I can hardly stand a certain ring tone on alarm clocks! The dealers, at the Marché aux Puces, started unloading their goods before 4am.) Quietly tiptoeing around the house so as not to wake anyone, I would dress, drink some water, gather my brocante bag and head for the door.
The Puces had around 300 dealers, Cd’s, baby shoes, tire rims, boxes of postcards,19th -century mirrors, chandeliers, armchairs, and on rare occasions, "Louis’s and Henri’s" this and that. There was also bronzes, Provencal pottery, gilded bits and pieces, antique hardware, paintings, books; frames…every Saturday had the regulars and the irregulars. The good stuff for the early birds and junk that someone would call a treasure. You never knew what would show up at the Puces, and that was the best part of it all, the unexpected! The anticipation of possibilities!
Most the dealers were men. And everyone had a nickname, either to do with what type of person they were or what they sold:
The gypsies
Doll person
Ironside
The guy on the corner
Italian frame guy
The witch, (always had amazing things with high prices.)
The twins
Birthmark
The guy from Manosque
The rat, (someone who always found the best things!)
These nicknames were the foundation of the Puces; they were the ones who had the most interesting stuff! It was their reputation that would wake me at 3:00am, chanting in my brain, "What will they have this morning?"
Flashlight in hand, scouring the barely visible scene ahead I would search. "Bonjour!" and a nod of the head, is all you said in those wee hours; when the hunt was on conversation was off!
As the morning light faded the dark sky and the street lamps would dim, the chineurs gathered around the Café aux Puces, for Chocolat chaud and croissants. Then the conversations would start to unwind. The licking of lips, the eyes of envy, as the tales of what was bought, what was missed, and who had what and how much they paid, and do you think it was a good deal?
If you are in Marseilles an early Saturday morning wondering what to do at 3am…
Grab your brocante bag and go:
Marché aux Puces
130 Chemin de la Madrague-Ville
Marseille France
04-91-02-81-81
Outside and at 9am Hall opens up
4am to 1pm
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