Treasure hunting at Les Puces Saint-Ouen in Paris!

Salut mes amis!! I am back in (rainy and cold) London after a lovely four day long weekend in the city of lights. I had the most amazing time spending time with my friend, exploring the city, eating delicious food, drinking champagne, unleashing the inner kid in me at Disneyland and of course shopping up a storm! Being away is always fun but have to say it is good to be home sweet home again. 

My journey home yesterday wasn't as smooth as I'd liked though because I had the biggest WOOPS moment ever!! So here I am at Gare Du Nord in Paris queuing up to catch the 3.15pm Eurostar train back to London with my luggage and maybe a couple of additional shopping bags in hand hehe. To get to passport control you have to scan your ticket but every time mine kept coming up with a big red cross. Slightly frustrated and annoyed I went find one of their staff so they could 'fix' my printed ticket to ensure I could get on my train home. Anyway....the lady ended up taking my ticket away and came back 5 minutes later explaining to me that the ticket I had for the 3.15pm train was actually for the day before?! O...M....G.....I couldn't believe I had somehow booked my return train for the wrong day. It's so out of character for me because I am normally so super efficient haha. But yes as you can imagine, I felt like a right idiot :(

I ended up having to buy a brand new (and pretty expensive, I might add) ticket to still get me home that same day which was an annoying waste of money but you know what, the weekend was so brilliant that there's no way I am going to let this (silly) mistake I've made ruin my lovely memories of the weekend!! 

One of the things I did in Paris was visiting the city's most famous flea market. On Sunday afternoon we made our way to the north edge of Paris to hunt for treasures at 'Les Puces de Saint-Ouen' 

These markets have a very long history because they have been around since 1885 and it is the largest antique market in the world, receiving between 120,000 to 180,000 visitors each weekend.

Le Marché Aux Puces Saint-Ouen is massive. It extends over seven hectares and contains more than 2000 shops! To get to the markets we took the metro to Porte de Clinagncourt and from there you walk to the markets. On the way to the actual markets there are lots of busy street shops and people selling cheap (aka fake) clothes, shoes, watches and bags etc! Note; these are not the real Les Puces de Saint-Ouen; they are inside hidding in little side alleys after you get through the crowded streets. The actual flea markets are very calm and more for collectors and antique dealers from all over the world.

Want to come treasure hunting and exploring with me?

Loved this big table!

Seeing these really made me want to get an antique mannequin dress form for my room!

Loved all the keys.....

How amazing are these coloured pump bottles and that antique clock?

Beautiful prints!

Jewellery, jewellery and more jewellery everywhere!

From Paris with love....a huge selection of old postcards....

I wish my french was better so I could have read some of the stories on them.

Imagine the secrets and romance stories that could be written in these old cards? :)

How super duper cute is this dog? Unfortunately he wasn't for sale.....

I just loved browsing all the little streets looking at antiques and other used goods. It's a great place to get inspiration for fashion or home/interior design ideas. The markets are open every Saturday and Sunday and also part of the day on Monday. For more information on Le Marché Aux Puces Saint-Ouen visit their website www.marcheauxpuces-saintouen.com

Did I buy anything at the markets? Slightly inspired by the Tiffancy & Co key pendants, I ended up buying myself one of the antique keys! Who knows what it unlocks or who it once belonged to....I suppose I will never find out! But I can't wait to get a nice chain for this and wear it as a necklace :)

Me, on the day, as a happy flea market shopper :)

Things nicely brings me to today's hump day message! I can't believe it is Wednesday already.
Only a short week at work for me, yay!
More posts on Paris to follow but for now...

Happy Hump Day everyone :) xoxo