Le Vide Grenier

Le Vide Grenier

We were awakened early this morning by much banging and crashing in rue Caulaincourt and when we looked out of the window we could see stalls and tables being set up on both sides of this elegant avenue ready for Le Vide Grenier.  Literally translated this means "empty attic." In Australia and the United States this would be known as a "garage sale" or a "car boot sale."  But the French do these sorts of things on a much bigger scale. 

Does your hot-air balloon need a basket?

The street was packed on both sides with stalls and tables from one end to the other, a distance of about two and a-half kilometers. Officially the market opened at 9:00am and finished at 7:00pm.  It will be interesting to see what the street looks like tomorrow.

The sellers had on offer everything from second-hand clothes to some quite serious antiques.  Prices on most were very negotiable.  We bought a pretty jug which was offered at five euros but we negotiated it down to two.  Satisfaction was expressed on both sides. 

Negotiating

Permanent shop-keepers along the route seemed split about this invasion of their space.  Some entered into the spirit of the day even setting up temporary stalls of their own.  At least two enterprising merchants had food on offer.  For 3 euros you could get a baguette stuffed with brilliant French sausage and onions.  We resisted and later regretted this as a truly epic mistake when we reconsidered our luncheon options.

The French street BBQ

Of course traffic was disrupted as we discovered much to our chagrin when trying to ride the number 80 bus which normally takes us to within 20 metres of our apartment.  Today we wound up two and a-half kilometers away, at the Montmartre cemetery.  It was an adventure for us but several of the locals expressed their disapproval either with strong words or, as in the case of one well-dressed gentleman with a well known hand and finger gesture.