Les Puces de St. Ouen

The big flea market in Paris is Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, at Porte de Clignancourt, out in the 18th. It's the one with all the antiques, high end stuff. But first you have to penetrate a layer of poor people selling things off blankets and tarps...the poor selling to the poor. And then a layer of normal flea market sales...fake and used crap of every description. And then finally the stuff for the wealthy, in shops and serpettes (galleries of rooms and shops). We'll focus here on the last category. One doesn't take pix of the first, and the second is boring...

In the normal flea market perimeter

Used, fake, used/fake

Now into the more interesting stuff...rusting away sculpture

Does your garden need a gargoyle?

More than life-sized

Thinking of y'all, Tawana

Not six feet away...all this at Maison Rolland, 22 Rue
Jules Valles...

Outside a huge designer vintage shop, a full length puffer

Interesting display (sorry about the glare)

Just above the dress, a description of its origin...Yves Saint Laurent
design for Dior, 1958

The floral one is all sequins

Vintage corset...€2500

Your costume for the next Renaissance fair

All up-scale vintage clothing, both sides of the gallery; only upon leaving
did I notice the "no fotos" sign; oops; the gallery is pretty near the Maison
Rolland store noted above

Interesting mural back outside

Parisian birdcage

Now we are in a serpette (gallery) that I called "rooms to go"

Interesting, beautiful stuff

Back to reality in the regular flea market

Ever wanted a teapot purse?

The brassiere store

Exiting through one of the poorer sections; the guys in orange
vests apparently are there to keep order...

Oval Reading Room, Richelieu Library

The French national library dates from the 14th century. In the 17th, the royal collection was moved to what is now the Richelieu Library, a block-sized complex in the 2nd, not far from its former home in the Louvre. The Richelieu has undergone many changes over the centuries, the latest renovation quite recently. The main national library is now the Mitterand Library, in the 13th. The Oval Reading Room is open to the public, and we did a perambulation of sorts. The Oval Reading Room is comparable, of course, with the beautiful main reading room in the Jefferson building of the Library of Congress in DC. Must-see for librarians, retired librarians, book and library lovers.

Entry view

Ceiling

Ample interpretive information; and in English too

Since this is a general reading room, there is plenty of kiddie stuff
all around

Curious devices all around the periphery of the room

Part of the HVAC system; belle epoque HVAC 

Displays on printing, books, the collection, all about

Interesting staircase; the other portions of the complex
are just as stunning as the Oval Salle, from what I've seen
of pix on the web

Interior courtyard; of course there is a cafe, etc.

Return To The 2nd Arrondisment

We had an apartment in the 2nd on Rue St. Denis for two months in 2021 and wanted to return to the area for old times' sake and also to see what had changed. We got off the bus near the Galerie Vivienne, saw some things there, and leisurely made our way up Rue Montorgeuil and then over to Rue St. Denis. There were wonders and surprises, as always in Paris.  I'll let the pix carry on from there.

In Galerie Vvienne, freshly scrubbed up and painted, we thought;
a galerie here is a long enclosed arcade of shops, restaurants, etc.

A favorite photo shop that takes old classics and 
gives them a contemporary humorous look

The French national library is located on Rue Vivienne, the Richelieu
library, and also in the massive new Francois Mitterand library in the 13th;
the Richelieu was under wraps and scaffolds in 2021 and 2022, but now
finally is open; we had a peek at the public part, the oval reading room,
the subject of a separate post; we visited the Mitterand complex in 2014

Entry to the Colbert Galerie nearby

And the more famous Galerie Vivienne, which we've
visited before

At a map store nearby

Still on our list of historic restaurants to visit

A very crowded Rue Montorgeuil, one of the best of Paris' market streets

Many years bad luck if the new refrigerator being
delivered falls on you

More of Montorgeuil...many memories from 2021

On Reamur, crossing over to St. Denis, beginning
the garment fabrication/designer/wholesale area...
a ribbon store...sells nothing but ribbons, with a line
out the door

At The French Bastards, a boulangerie/patisserie we
frequented in 2021: a major discovery...they now sell
kouign amann, the very decadent Breton pastry/cake we
adore!

Entrance to our 2021 apartment building; the pop-up
next door is still popping-up

Looking up Rue St. Denis to the Louis XIV arch at
Porte St. Denis

Now in the Passage Caire, a few meters from our
apartment, Paris' oldest galerie, still mostly garment
wholesale

Celebrating Napoleon's visit to Egypt

On a square on Rue Aboukir, an apartment building
gone green...and now blooming too

The art deco Grand Rex theater, under scaffold and wraps
in 2021-22, now finished and revealed

Final stop and ultimate goal for the day...LeClercq, 
the Flemish frites shop we adored in 2021

Tuber heaven!

Surprise of the day: walking to the bus stop, we passed
a block+ long line to get into the Musee Grevin,
in the Galerie Grevin; we had always dismissed the
Musee Grevin--reviews were terrible "only thing in
the world that makes the Wax Museum look good"--
but have now resolved to consider it in 2024, should
our grand-daughter come to visit

The happy day ended the next morning, with kouign amann for
breakfast...40% dough, 30% sugar, 30% butter...