Brocante at 'the fleas' Porte de Clingancourt

A bottle of Cotes du Rhone, a cheese board and selection of olives, all French of course, to wind down what has been a most amazing start to our eight day trip in the romantic city.  Our first stop this morning was to the local Boulangerie for a baguette - goats cheese rounds with pesto and salad. We then walked ourselves senseless, with a fleeting visit to Notradame (with a promise to visit on a quieter day), enjoyed buskers on the bridge across the river Seine, peeked into stunning Ateliers along the way to our planned destination "La Puce". I'll be the first to admit that, with our Rand exchange rate, one can't easily find a bargain when buying in Paris, but what you do find is a huge range of once off 'magnifique' items. We happened upon a double story warehouse with a collection of object d'art that made me shake with delight. It was a true 'Alice in Wonderland' experience. A designer with an eye for the truly unusual had put these pieces together and I'm sure interior designers literally buy the whole concept. At another space the interior of an old plane was for sale. My mind boggled when I conjured up a design for a little boys play area ... There was so much to take in so a well earned stop to a restaurant for their  'plat du jour' was in order. This romantic interlude was interrupted later by a shocking incident when we witnessed a young couple being subjected to a bag snatching which involved a couple of 'hoodies' spraying tear gas, before making off with a hand bag, which we later learned contained  their passport.   After landing this morning at 6am we decided to make a leisurely path back 'home' for an early evening. We,ve realised our "little" 17th century apartment is probably worth R10.Mil and it is only 50sqm.  We spotted a 5sqm 'chamber' in the window of a local agent for R400,000 (the siza of my daughter's bedroom) - let us appreciate how really lucky we are in South Africa. Tomorrow we'll celebrate Mass at St Catherine a little chapel where the Virgin Mary appeared and many miracles have been granted since (We'll be asking for special graces for your cousin Missy and my Mum), before heading off to scout the Brocantes in search of that elusive bargain. It's now raining in Paris and life is just perfect ...