flea market

Behind the Scenes of Le Carnaval: The Flea Market & Catacombs

  • by

By sethsabbat

Saturday morning was an early start to Le marché aux puces de la Porte de Vanves. This french flea market is a great place to find things, and Teodoru was a true expert in haggling down prices. Everyone seemed to find something from old comics, to vintage toys, to turn-of-the-century photographs. I found an antique crocodile head to add to my collection of nature morte. With bags filled, we were off to the catacombs.

In the late 1700s, the city of Paris started transferring the bones from its cemeteries here. The visit was slightly disappointing as a good part of the underground route was closed off to the public. I had thought this was due to an earlier act of vandalism I had heard about, but not the case. The night before our visit,  several walls of bones had collapsed. This could very well explain my strange dreams of mudslides the day before! After what seemed like a never-ending flight of stairs, we were back to the service and off to the Latin quarter for lunch with a group of french CP fans, and a visit to a BD gallery. BD’s are the french version of comics.

See more behind the scenes from Paris: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3