Bonjour Bordeaux!

Last week I stumbled across an advertisement in an interior design magazine for a large brocante that was being held in Bordeaux over two weeks and with it being only around and hour and twenty minutes away from us in Cognac we decided it would be good to have a day out and buy a bit of stock at the same time.

Perhaps naively we also thought that we would take the opportunity to pop into IKEA while we were there because we wanted to buy some magnetic knife strips and and few other bits for the house. Unfortunately we were led astray by our sat. nav. and that completely set the tone to the day of running late for everything.  Having escaped the tempting clutches or that well known Scandinavian store and resisting the allure of buying stuff that looks vintage but obviously isn't we finally made tracks for the Quinconces quarter of Bordeaux for the market.  

Finding the market wasn't our biggest problem this time it was finding a free parking space that proved to be an issue.  We were in our little Renault Trafic van, Piggy, and having set off down into an underground car park we quickly realised that the the lower down we went into the depths of the earth the lower the ceilings became.  I have to say it was quite hair-raising as the aerial on the roof scrapped on all the concrete beams. To say that we were flustered when we finally emerged into daylight is an understatement but we did at least find that allusive parking spot.  

Of course by then we were running late for lunch.  I had set my heart on an Art Nouveau bistrot called Le Bistrot des Quinconces and was relieved when they said they were still serving.  It was truly beautiful but having had our order taken we waited a good half and hour before our food arrived and by the end of the meal (which was very tasty) it was well past 3pm. Bearing in mind that we have a little beagle at home that gets an attack of the vapours if he is not fed by 6pm we knew we were really cutting it fine.  

Stunning Art Nouveau windows that would be virtually impossible to replicate today

There is nothing quite as elegant as a mirrored interior, an opulent chandelier mounted on a glamorous moulded ceiling and crisp white linen tablecloths

It was wonderful to see a beautiful original mosaic floor in such good condition

By the time we finally began to shop for trucs it was a matter of scanning the stalls before diving in to the odd few that looked as though there might be something promising on offer.  The market was wonderful but the prices were very steep (no doubt the vendors were trying to recuperate the outlay for their pitches) but there were a few things I would have loved for our new house had we been further along with the renovation.

I briefly toyed with the idea of buying a little velvet fringed boudoir chair that I thought would be ideal for our proposed dressing room.  The vendor enthused about how comfortable it was and urged me to try it but having plonked myself down I was sorry to inform her that I felt that the seat was flat and lumpy.  With a raised eyebrow she sat down herself and stated that there was nothing wrong with the seat and went on to conclude that it must be that I have a lumpy petit derrière (well really!!!)

So frustrating that we didn't allow ourselves enough time for a leisurely browse

As for finding stock we bought a couple of things that I am yet to clean up but it isn't an ideal venue to buy to sell on

As dusk fell we rushed back to Piggy and caught an all too brief glimpse of the elegant city of Bordeaux

This impressive brocante and antiques fair is held every Spring and Autumn so we are already planning a visit to the one in the Spring of next year with the intention of finding a few treasures for the house and allowing ourselves more time to enjoy all that it has to offer.