Summer brocante

In August, the city slows down till I get the feeling that I have it all to myself. Its not unusual to find streets full of closed shuttered shops and restaurants. As there is hardly a soul around, it is not surprising that my well loved brocantes are likewise absent.  

This summer,  I had the pleasure of discovering several summer brocantes in the countryside. I started in Aillant sur Tholon and then managed to go to two more. Let me tell you about the one in Barjac.

Whimsy

One weekend we visited Obernai and its a lovely place right in the heart of the wine making region of Alsace. 

 

But what struck me was that we kept stumbling upon unexpectedly fanciful touches like the dragon on a gate or the stuffed bears hanging out from the windows.

But my absolute favorite was finding the little family of ducks.  Relatives of the Puddleducks you think?

Aillant sur Tholon

By now dear friends, you know how much I love brocantes.  And I havent been very good about posting my recent jaunts. But I recently went to a massive one thanks to a tip from a friend.

This one was in a little village called Aillant sur Tholon, about an hour and a half away from Paris.  Its tiny with a population of about 1400 or so on a good week but on THE brocante weekend, the population swells to about 30000.  So I had no qualms dragging my family to this brocante. How could I not?

I started out bright and early, when you could still see the dewdrops glistening on the grass. And I was far from the first bird there, professional buyers started at 4 am, in order to catch the choicest bits. That said, there were tons of things to marvel at. As this is a picture heavy post, read on after the jump...

Sign of life

 Hello friends, I hope are all enjoying your summer.  The blog has been hibernating a little.   I've been working on a big project which I am excited to share when all is in place.  In the meantime summer is here and I have to say that this too has distracted me. Here are a few photos taken from our trip in Amsterdam.

We lucked out and enjoyed beautiful weather...look at the blue sky!

We wandered around the canals, peering into houseboats and marveling at the distinct architecture of the city.

Its such a bustling and dynamic city but there are pockets of calm to be found.

 Of course it wouldn't be Amsterdam without all the bikes!

 One street we liked was filled with flowers and I couldn't resist taking a picture..

 A wonderful example of 19th century houses...

 all with their own private boats.