Munich – Vintage Shopping and Treasure Seeking in Germany – Part 1

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.

Braderie de Lille, France

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!