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La Manche
Off to a La Manche this morning, almost to the Brittany border. We made a quick stop along the national road and found this stunning Napoleon III papier maché tilt top table with exquisite oil painting and mother of pearl inlay. Renee has an obsession about Napoleon III mother of pearl---Stay tuned to see if this table makes it to the shop!
A tiny little village in La Manche with a monumental...
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La Manche Encore
We are in La Manche, near the English Channel, where the Normans are proud of their heritage.
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| Here we are with the Normandy flag proudly displayed in front of our chambre d'hotes (bed & breakfast) |
We started the morning with a “vide grenier” – a seasonal village-wide empty-your-attic event where you can find anything from World War I ammunition shells transformed into vases to worn out dolls, old...
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Arriving in the Seine-Maritime.
One of our great finds today was this sparkling crystal chandelier, dripping with prisms.
Unless you’d rather have an entire 17th century Baroque altar, which could be yours for a cool $300,000. Believe it or not, we found this available to buy today.
After a long day of driving, we arrived in the city of Rouen. We strolled through the medieval quarter past the city’s famous clock that stretches...
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An Extraordinary Musical Find
We wrapped things up in the north today before leaving for the Mediterranean coast. We found quite a few interesting accessories…
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Bronze dog inkwell |
But our BIG find of the day was a early twentieth century bookmatched rosewood baby grand piano!!! It’s a true work of art made by Niendorf, a German maker famous for the quality of its cases which contributes greatly to the richness of its sound....
Southward Bound
Today we geared up for the next leg of our journey which started with a Ryanair flight from Beauvais airport (1.5 hours north of Paris) to Beziers in the south of France. If you’ve never heard of Ryanair, it is one of several dozen no-frills discount airlines that have popped up in Europe in the last ten years (think Southwest or JetBlue). And if you’ve never flown any of these airlines, let me...
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In the Languedoc
The City of Beziers is about the size of Fayetteville, Arkansas with 70,000 inhabitants. Somehow it seems much larger. The downtown is bustling with commerce and the preservation of the historic buildings and central square is impressive. Allées of centuries-old sycamore trees line the square where the city market is held.
Beziers is in the Languedoc, an area just west of Provence where...
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Beziers Market
Today there was a large antique market in Beziers. When we arrived at the gates, where buyers and sellers alike were waiting to get in, we could hear French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Dutch, German, and some languages we didn’t recognize. Between the two of us, Alexander and I speak five languages, so we were in polyglot heaven. At 8 a.m. sharp, the gates opened and we all rushed in. Here...
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Chateau Coujan
After another day of antique shopping at the Beziers market, we had the chance to meet Harrison’s second host family with whom he will live starting in January. Florence is from a noble family and is the fifth generation to live in the family chateau. The estate dates back to Roman times and you can still see vestiges of its Roman past. Over the centuries, it has evolved into a unique estate...
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La Sarthe Finds
We left the city of Chartres and headed to La Sarthe, the neighboring region known for its green rolling hills and fishing industry.
We found so many wonderful things in this region, we didn’t have time to take many photos, but here’s a sampling.
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| Hand painted Napoleon III period tole tray with 18th century monkey motif, c. 1840. |
We finished our work and rewarded ourselves to a delicious meal at a...
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Friends, Food, Flowers, and Finds in Le Perche
Today was about friends, food, flowers, and finds. We started the day discovering a treasure trove of fabulous things
Le Perche is full of flowers…
…and Percheron horses, the Clydesdale-type breed of the region.
Before heading to dinner, we stopped at our friend’s tiny country cottage of 350 square feet. Called La Vanniere, which means the basket weaver’s house, it was originally where the local...
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