There is a vintage market in Bruges at the weekends along Dijver Canal. This was a small market in a pleasant tree lined area next to the water.
The stallholders were selling all kinds of bric-a-brac while horses and carriages clip-clopped by.
Bruges is lovely and well worth a trip if you don’t mind being one of many tourists, the vintage market was just a bonus for us!
Another day in Brussels, another antiques market! This time Grand Sablon which is in fact not at all grand and is actually quite small. I think actually the area is called Grand Sablon and doesn’t refer to the market itself. Easy mistake to make!
This is a weekend only market which supposedly starts at 9 am but we got there at 9 and very few stalls were open so don’t bother to rush to get there like we did! Saturdays it is open until 5 pm and Sundays until 2 pm.
We didn’t ask prices because there was nothing that we wanted but it all looked more upmarket than Place du Jeu de Balle so expect higher prices.
There were some posh antique shops nearby like this one selling posh old china and this one selling posh old bags.
Don’t expect to be at this market very long because there wasn’t a lot here – maybe 20 stalls. I wish I had decided to go to the big vintage market at Waterloo or the huge one at Tongeren, also both on a Sunday morning, but as we were fitting in Bruge on this day as well it was impossible to do it all. If I went back again, that’s where I would head next time as we were definitely disappointed with this one.
A short distance from Place du Jeu de Balle Antiques market in Brussels is Rue Haute which has numerous antique shops, some of which are like a tardis inside (i.e. they look small on the outside but are huge on the inside!)
As mentioned previously this area of Brussels is pretty shabby but the antique shops are like diamonds in the rough with some amazing (and amusing!) objects and artefacts.
The photos were taken in various shops, which had some amazing pieces but out of our price bracket, plus the bigger items would have been awkward, to say the least, to get home on the train.
I had high expectations for the vintage and flea markets in Brussels but unfortunately I was a little disapointed – I didn’t feel like I had got my vintage fix! Starting with Place du Jeu de Balle in the Marolles District, this was smaller than I expected in a cobblestone square in a rather shabby area of Brussels. The market is open Monday to Friday 6 am to 2 pm and Saturday and Sunday 6 am to 3 pm. From my research I found out that the best/busiest days are Thursday and Friday and that there might be rarer pieces at the weekends.
I went both on a Friday and a Monday and although there were more stalls on the Friday, I actually found more that interested me on the Monday (fabric!)
Prices started fairly high but I managed to haggle them down to what I wanted to pay. I was told a couple of times “No photos” after I had already taken them! Too late (spoilsports!)
You really have to watch were you walk in this market not only because of the cobblestones but because there was broken china and glass on the floor. When you work for a personal injury lawyer it makes you really wary of where nasty accidents can happen and thereafter potential lawsuits!
The market was very close to Rue Haute which had some amazing antique shops but I will blog about that separately!
A couple of the things I bought:
A pretty flamenco dancer postcard for my collection; and
This picture in a lovely frame, possibly of the Virgin Mary, a well known image which seemed familiar to me.
I believe there are only two charity shops in Malta, but they are near to each other in St Paul’s Bay.
We go to Malta every couple of years as Hubby’s mum is Maltese and his parents have retired there.
They are not big into vintage in Malta, in fact they are not into it at all…
so I couldn’t believe my luck when I found all of these pretty fabrics in one of the charity shops by the likes of Laura Ashley, Rose & Hubble and Sanderson…
perhaps they have been in there since they were first made!
They were either curtains, unused dress fabric lengths, or remnants.
I was lucky in that the in-laws were coming for a visit a couple of weeks later so bought the bagful of fabric back for me in their car with them. Otherwise I don’t know what the excess baggage cost would have been!
I thought these two remnants would make interesting cushions:
Who’da thunk I’d find all these in Malta?! Result!
During our trip to Holland I had a day on my own to explore Amsterdam. When I came out of the train station I kind of wished I hadn’t bothered but it did get better later! Amsterdam Central was a horrible experience once I got outside. It was jam packed with people, cyclists, trams and traffic, a real overload on the senses and I found it difficult to get my bearings. It was also pretty sleazy but I guess that’s one of the things Amsterdam is famous for right?
My first destination was the Waterlooplein market. I found it eventually, but it took a trip to the tourist office to get a better map as I quickly realised that the one in the Lonely Planet guide had half the street names missing. I had done my research before I came but I didn’t find Amsterdam very easy to navigate around (unlike Munich),
My honest advice about Waterlooplein market was – don’t bother! There was more tourist tatt than vintage although I went on a Saturday so it might be the case that it is better on another day (possibly Monday). A better destination for vintage clothes was the Kilo shop surrounding the market although prices were not my kind of cheap.
After my Waterlooplein disappointment I headed for the Tassenmuseum (antique bag museum). However I got lost again and found myself at the floating flower market instead! It sounded so nice and romantic in my guidebook. How lovely I thought. When I got there it was absolutely rammed with people and the first few stalls were selling mainly bulbs. I can buy those at home and felt a need to escape. So far I was hating Amsterdam!
Another bugbear was that when walking alongside the canals. As a pedestrian you can either walk on the other side of the road or walk on the bumpy cobblestones alongside the canal and navigate around the trees, advertising billboards, bins and anything else that might get in the way of the cycle lane running right alongside the canal.
Amsterdam definitely has it in for you if you are a pedestrian! If you are in a wheelchair well you could either travel in the cycle lane and cause a traffic jam as a protest, or use the other side of the road and have no view of the canals at all. It’s great that they encourage cyclists but surely not at the expense of pedestrians or the infirm 😦
Eventually I found the Tassemuseum and my day started getting better – hooray! Not surprisingly it was full of women! Apparently it is Barbie’s 50th birthday so she was having her moment in the spotlight at the museum too.
Yay we’re 50!
Well, I really enjoyed it, I collect old bags(!) and so was in my element and took loads of pictures. If you are thinking of going you would only need about an hour or so out of your day, unless you treat yourself to a posh lunch or afternoon tea. The restaurant looked very high class. Definitely one for the ladies.
My favourite bags are the heavily beaded pictorial/flowery ones:
And the prize for the most revolting bag goes to this armadillo creation:
About this time I was getting peckish and so found this lovely little bistro alongside a canal and treated myself to some flipped bitches(!) (The Dutch version of French Toast).
From here I headed towards Ann Franks’ house and this area of Amsterdam was lovely, the nine streets area. The crowds were less intense, the sun was out and I really started seeing the brighter side of Amsterdam 🙂
Even at 6.30 p.m. the queue for Ann Frank’s house was too long for me to bother going in (it continued a long way around the corner!)
I spotted a few vintage and fabric shops in this area too…the fabric shop had similar to that I bought in Delft but it was twice the price!
There are several very good museums in Amsterdam but unfortunately as I only had one day I only managed to fit in the Tassenmuseum.
I walked full circle around Amsterdam and as I made my way back to the station I spotted, what else, but a Tulip and Cheese museum, right next to each other!
We were lucky enough to go to Holland at Easter to visit a Dutch friend of my husband’s, and his family. Apart from Windmills, Tulips and Clogs I have to admit I knew very little about Holland really.
I had heard of Dutch bicycles, “sit up and beg” bicycles are very much en vogue again in the UK, but I didn’t realise just what a huge thing cycling is in Holland. It seems like almost every dutch citizen has a Dutch bicycle! The roads are extremely cycle friendly with proper cycle lanes, making it easy to get on yer bike ! Cyclists have right of way too so be prepared to give way if you are driving!
Delft
I’ll be honest I didn’t do that much vintiquing in Holland it was more a case of happenchance that I did find some. We had a trip to Delft on market day, Thursday. The market was very jolly, we had a pretty musical accompaniment similar to this one which the boy (wobbily) filmed at Keukenhof:
I found some lovely fabric in the market, interiors weight cotton. I wasn’t intending to make any more cushions for my Folksy shop but I guess I am going to have to now/one day as I couldn’t not buy it! At 8 Euros a metre it was excellent quality for the price. I also spotted some yarn bombing in Delft!
I am thinking of making something unusual to wear out of the world map fabric but my one mistake was that I didn’t realise that the writing was of course in Dutch German (I have been corrected!) but I guess it doesn’t really matter.
We had a walk around past all the touristy shops selling wooden tulips and furry clog slippers and the like and were trying to find a Pancake House which I’d found recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide. Unfortunately for my husband I chanced upon an antiques market alongside the canal not far from the main market square.
I did a deal that I would only take ten minutes to look around while he went to find the Pancake House. It was a lovely little market and I got myself (another) printer’s tray for my nick-nacks but this one is extra large!
I intend to spray paint it cream blue(!)…eventually
I knocked the seller down from 30 Euros to 20. Of course the harder negotiation was persuading my husband that it would fit in the car to take home!
The pancake house – Kleijweg’s Stadskoffyhus was lovely, the prettiest we’d seen in Delft and it had a floating barge patio so you could sit outside on sunny days. The food was great too, thoroughly recommended if you are ever in Delft (you never know!)
There were also several antique shops in Delft but unfortunately time and my printer’s tray wouldn’t allow. I tried to maneouvre my way around one antiques shop but it was too dangerous to turn the corners with it and I was getting some worried looks – I felt like I was in a Mr Bean sketch!
Here are a few for you to check out:
For antique linens – Antiek & Design Linnengoed
Furniture and lighting 1920’s to 1950’s – Art Deco Style & Light
Kitchenalia- De Emaillen Emmer
Keukenhof Gardens
Keukenhof Gardens was our next stop and although it has nothing to do with vintiquing I have to add some photos to show how stunning it was. There were thousands of people there, all copying each other and posing at the most desirable photo spots!
There are three things I’ve found the Germans are very good at; Markets, Kitsch and speaking English (thank goodness)! The Boy and I discovered this on a day out on our own while in Munich. I now associate the Bavarian area of Germany with images of cows and goats – they were everywhere! They also seem quite good at graffitti as we found along Fraunhoferstr:
We were making our way to the Deutsche Museum but we discovered some interesting shops along the way.
We had caught the S-Bahn to Fraunhoferstr as after finding Sweet Cherry Marmalade‘s blog I decided to explore the areas she had mentioned. I wanted to give the route we had taken as we took in some fab vintage shops, the Deutsche Museum and then the Viktualienmarkt.
It was a lovely walk but more luck than judgement (the Boy lost the map half way) but it’s proving too difficult to work it out so I will just mention the shops we went to in the order we came across them.
There are lots of junky antique shops along Fraunhoferstrasse to Baaderstrasse. Unfortunately everything was shut, it looks like they don’t open until the afternoon.
Luckily Daniela at Froschgoscherl was just opening her gorgeous shop and I had to have a peek inside.
She makes couture Bavarian trachten outfits which include the dirndl (dress), blouse, and apron with are traditionally worn at events such as the Oktoberfest (huge Bavarian booze up!). Daniela was very kind and gave me a really useful notebook called Landmark notes which is about arts, crafts and coffee in Munich – right up my street!
We walked past Tricia Leonard’s vintage shop but it was also shut 😦
I rather fancied the bag in the window so it was perhaps just as well! Her opening times are Wednesday to Friday 2 p.m. to 6p.m. and Saturdays from 12 noon to 4 p.m. (also at other times by appointment) the reason for the short hours is that she is a jazz singer the rest of the time (I wish I could sing!). There are some good pictures of her shop here
Almost next door to Tricia Leonard was Cat with a Hat and (drumroll) it was open! Yay! Above is Rene (the man with a pearl earring) outside his fab shop.
The shop is run by Rene and Silvia and they were very happy to talk to me about the shop which has been open for 9 months and had a good variety of vintage clothes, bags and homewares as well as plenty of kitsch. More about the shop here.
You’ve got to love the 1950’s Fish Kitsch and the “Gottle a Gear” ventriloquist dummy!
I asked Rene if he had his clothes made for him but he told me the trousers were vintage American motorbike police, bought on Ebay, and the jacket (which matched perfectly) was from Portobello Road Market in London. I don’t think I would get out of the house in the morning if I wanted to look this sharp, it takes a lot of thought and planning! Rene even had a dangly pearl earring which looked very dapper. Silvia had a bohemian look on the day we met but she said they did have “dress down days” (like me every day!) as it wasn’t always practical to wear vintage. The shop’s website is here.
By this time the Boy was running out of patience (understandable really!) So we made our way to the Deutsche Museum (sign posted at the end of Baaderstrasse) and I had to pass up another vintage shop on the corner to avoid him having a paddy!
The museum is on its own little island which you have to cross the river to get to. We were in here for three or four hours, the children’s area has plenty of interactive areas for the kids to enjoy.
Too right!
Children’s artwork in Kid’s Kingdom
And here’s a fairly random selection of photos from other areas of the museum to give you an idea.
From the museum we continued walking in the area of Buttermelcherstr/ Utzschneiderstr- and taking photos – at which point the Boy lost the map so we had no idea where to head next!
We found galleries, cake and craft shops in this area, but heaven knows what the owners of the cake shop with the yellow sign were thinking – Back means Bake by the way.
We even found a very fancy, fancy dress shop.
Eventually, by chance, we found Alexa’s Vintage along Utzschneiderstr. Alexa was very welcoming and the Boy made friends with her dog while we chatted.
The shop was chock-a-block with mainly clothes and accessories including vintage dirndls in the wardrobe above. Prices were probably higher than at home but I don’t frequent vintage shops in London so perhaps the prices would be comparable.
We asked for directions to Vintage Love and came across the Viktualienmarkt in front of us. By this time the sun was shining and the market looked like a gorgeous urban oasis! But first , Vintage Love.
Don’t trust the cute face. His bark is definitely not worse than his bite
Unfortunately the welcome at Vintage Love was not so warm and welcoming. After the dog went for the Boy as he tried to stroke him, I was brusquely asked “Can I help you?” – Not only had we disturbed the dog but I think we had interrupted a chat the owners were having with some friends! Unfriendly owners and yappy, people- hating dog aside, the shop was very classy and had a boutique feel. Prices here were higher than at Alexa’s.
The shop sold mainly clothes and accessories, from all eras as far as I could tell, but there were a few nik-naks too, though not many.
Next the Viktualienmarkt, I thought it might be closed at first, it looked fairly deserted but on walking further into the market we found all the people – underneath the steeple! They were having a beer or two in the sunshine – what a great idea!
The market sold mainly food and crafts, the stalls looked lovely – I couldn’t stop taking photos!
The Germans seemed to like their “hangy things!”
We walked through the market….
…and out the other side…
and I realised we were in the Centre of Munich! Result! A cup of tea and a small apple juice in the delightful, candle-lit Ratskeller (and 7 euros lighter!) we were homeward bound via the S-Bahn from Marienplatz after a lovely day out.
Wilkommen
l was lucky enough over the Easter break to visit friends in Munich. It was fantastic to see them and a great opportunity to discover the vintage scene in this part of Bavaria. The best of both worlds!
Easter was still very much in evidence
Although my friends are not into vintiquing to the same extent as I am, they were good enough to take me to a local flohmarkt (flea market) and were happy to have a browse too – although not for as long as I was!
The people in the photo on the right here look just as cold and miserable as they might have at a car boot sale in good old Blighty! I felt right at home!
Apparently the flohmarkt here, which is near Solln , South of Munich is a relatively regular occurence and I was pleasantly surprised – there was a good mix of vintage and antiques as well as the usual sort of car boot merchandise.
At the first stall I looked at I spotted a gold vintage bag with matching purse which took my fancy but decided not to get it and “have a think about it” (I ignored my own advice which is, if you like it, always buy it when you see it, as you may never see another one!) Of course later on I decided I wanted it but went back and it had gone 😦 so as a consolation prize I bought another gold evening bag. Unbeknown to me my lovely friend had gone and bought the first bag for me and surprised me with it later! Yippee! Here they both are below:
My other favourite purchases were these tapestries, bought from the stall below right (as modelled by Helga and Herman, another favourite purchase):
My friends have offered to bring these back for me when they drive back in the Summer. Apparently they are quite keen to get rid of them!
There were probably around 40 stalls and walking around I noticed quite a few interesting religious icons for sale which is not something you generally see at car boots back home:
Although I’m not religious myself, I particularly liked the driftwood style crucifix, above left. I didn’t ask the prices though as I didn’t want to start yet another collection!
More photos below including a child’s dirndl and some silk flowers which I probably would have bought if I’d been at home (Hubs will be glad I wasn’t!)
I found the Germans friendly and more than happy to speak English. Their prices started quite high and by the time I almost walked away they were usually halved! I even got into the Bavarian spirit and bought myself a vintage dirndl (traditional Bavarian frock):
It’s a perfect fit if I breath in continuously – ok I need to lose a couple of pounds but I’ve got a whole year before the Frulingsfest (mini Oktoberfest – see other photos above for a clue as to what that’s all about!) next April.
See part 2 of my Munich blog for more about dirndls. I’ll add an “after” photo once I get around to the makeover of mine.
I have a penchant for ephemera (by penchant I mean a shed load!) and here are some of the things I picked up for next to nothing at the flohmarkt. I always plan to make collages using my ephemera but then I hate the thought of destroying old things so perhaps I will just get them out and admire them from time to time until I harden up a bit:
Old (need another word for vintage!) maps:
Vintage postcards:
Saving the best for last – here are some lovely pictures from some old Bavarian fairy tale books.
and they all lived Happily Ever After 🙂
There was also an antiques fair at a Hotel in the area but unfortunately we got there too late. I think it was the Hotel Waldgasthof of Buchenhain. Here is a link to other flea markets in Munich (you will need Google translate).
See Part 2 for more about my Bavarian vintiquing adventures.
Every year in France during the first weekend in September, the town of Lille holds a huge brocante (that’s a second hand market to you and me) with virtually the whole of the town involved.
We travelled by Eurostar with practically empty cases, ready to be filled with our haul! How exciting!
Top tip for Eurostar: when your train pulls in, coach numbers are on the platform (we seemed to be the only people unaware of this!)
We stayed at the Best Western Grand Bellevue Hotel with an excellent view overlooking the square – these are the “before” pictures of the square above.
The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and pointed out on the Braderie map (supplied by them) where to go to find the good stuff. We were a little worried we’d had a wasted journey when we first got there as the stalls in the centre were just general market and food stalls, not the old stuff we were looking for!
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves – you may spot a theme going on!
Where’s my head at? ooo there it is.
I think Dexter had got here before us:
The lady below seems pretty armless though!
Who’d have believed it? French people with a sense of humour!
One word of warning: Unfortunately I had my purse stolen and my phone was inside just to add to my problems! (I thought) I was being vigilant against pickpockets but it was taken after I’d bought a big roll of fabric and my purse was in the bag with it. Again the staff at the Hotel were extremely helpful (and so were T-Mobile who let me off the nearly £100 of phone calls to Bulgaria that the thief had run up before I had a chance to get it cut off!)
Watch out for thieves and vagabonds 😦
I wouldn’t let this put me off going again because apart from that I enjoyed everything about the trip, it was easy (and quick) to get there, our room in the Hotel was great, and we found a fab French Bistro to have dinner – just a stones throw away. On top of that I got to admire the architecture, gander through the market and practise my school girl French “Combien?”!
Well I like it – each to their own!
My haul included lots of French fabric and this tapestry picture – a snip at five euros and now hanging in my living room.
We stayed for two nights, Saturday to Monday. At the end of the market on the Sunday evening, the place was absolutely full of rubbish. Clearly they don’t have a “take it with you when you leave” policy.
We woke up on the Monday however and the whole place had quickly and quietly (we didn’t hear a thing) been resumed to business as usual with commuters heading to work in their cars through the square and not a thing out of place! Very impressive!
Here are the “after” photos:
And here is the Best Western Grand Bellevue Hotel on the morning after – it’s the tallest building in the photo – the entrance is at the back:
The market got packed solid along some of the streets, literally a ‘people jam’, only resolved by police on mounted horses making their way through, so if you are claustrophobic the market is probably best avoided. Similarly the streets are, in the main, cobbled, so comfortable, sensible shoes are a must – if you value your ankles!
ArtyCraftyAli 