The French Connection

France, when you think of France you naturally think of Paris, with its Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum and Arc de Triumph. If you're an old rock and roller from the late 1960s, you might think of the lead singer for the Doors, the late Jim Morrison, buried there in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. Senior citizens may remember another cemetery, near Omaha Beach, where on D-Day many Americans, possibly old friends or relatives, perished. Ten thousand American service men are interned in this cemetery, many dying on that fateful beach. For some, great wines and cheeses come to mind while others recall the names of former movie stars, like Brigitte Bardot, Maurice Chevalier and Catherine Deneuve. What most don't think about is hunting for antique bottles!

The Gere de Lyon station in central Paris.	The Mercure Hotel next to the Gere de Lyon station was very convenient but a bit pricey.

One nice thing about collecting antique bottles, or antiques in general, is that if you like to travel there is no part of the world you can travel to that you will not find these things. Take bottles: Every country used them, with the more industrialized having their own glasshouses. Smaller countries relied on these industrialized nations for their bottle supply. All used bottles in one form or another, including France.

In past old traveler columns I've told you that with a certain amount of knowledge and some luck, you can enjoy a wonderful vacation and sometimes finding something to add to your collection. You might even buy enough good things that when sold upon your return could pay for part or your entire trip.

How is this possible? It starts with a bit of advanced planning. Antiques, including old bottle do indeed exist in France, but like any place else you have to know where to go to find them. Unlike England, France has no bottle clubs or bottle shows to attend.

In England a number of trade papers for the antique collecting hobby exist. Of those available two are of significance, the Antique Trade Gazette, a weekly tabloid, and Antiques Diary, that comes out every two months. Besides giving you all the dates for the antique and collectors fairs in England, of which there are many, each has a page or two listing the dates and locations of the French fairs.

Like England, most of the French fairs are large combination indoor / outdoor events, ranging in size from several hundred up to several thousand dealers, (the Braderie in Lille, France, held the first weekend of every September boasts 6,000, though two-thirds sell general merchandise such as clothing etc.)

This article will not include the Braderie, which was reported on previously, but focuses on the Paris markets, and more importantly two major markets in the south, near the French Riviera in the cities of Avignon and Montpellier. The entire trip will last one week, offering over 3,000 dealers' wares to look at, and an unexpected experience!

Thursday, September 5th. We board British Airways flight BA-68 in Philadelphia for our over night flight to Paris. The six and one-half hour flight was smooth, and surprisingly full, considering how close to the anniversary of 9/11 we are flying.

Enterance to the Port de Clingencourt market.	Off site shippers employ `haulers' who, with a two-wheel handcart form an almost continuous flow between the dealers' tables and the shippers trucks.

Friday, September 6th. We arrive early morning at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, outside the city. Paris offers a wonderful subway system, (they call it the Metro). One Metro line travels directly from the airport to the center of Paris and costs only 7.50 Euro one way (about $7.00). Not renting a car, we would be traveling exclusively by Metro while in Paris, using the French National Railroad TGV service traveling to the south of France and back. Two months earlier, mostly using the internet, I had made reservations for the trains and hotels we would be staying at.

For our first two nights in Paris I choose the Mercure Hotel Gere de Lyon. A three star hotel that was chosen more for its convenience them ambience. Connected to the Gere de Lyon Metro/Rail station, one of Paris's busiest, it was perfectly situated for our time in the city.

Saturday, September 7th. Several good antique markets run every Saturday and Sunday mornings. Of these the 400-dealer Port de Vanves Street fair is my favorite. To get there you travel by Metro to the Port de Vanves station, (two line changes are required). Depart the station through the de Vanves Avenue exit, the market is about one block away, (Look for a silver information trailer, it marks the beginning of the market). Arrive about 8:00 am, when the dealers begin to set up, but don't arrive too late, many dealers are packed up and gone by noon. I find an unusual barber bottle, that at 35 Euro ($33.33) is a steal. Further down the row of stands I spy a French bon bon jar in the form of a standing pig. These are fairly common and at 15 Euro ($14.25) is a giveaway. It's in perfect condition, but missing the tin closure; this didn't bother me, since I have one at home. I buy several more things including several pieces of German blue decorated stoneware. The Port de Vanves is more a pavement fair then a street fair. One row of dealers back their vehicles up to the sidewalk curb, while another row sets up on the other side of the payment, leaving about a 10-foot space for the shoppers to travels along.

Leaving the Port de Vanves I take the Metro north to Porte de Clingencourt. Sometimes referred to as the St. Ouen, Port de Clingencourt is the largest, most established and best known of the Paris markets. To reach it from the Gere de Lyon take the Metro north to the Porte de Clingencourt station. This can be reached in about one-half hour requiring one Metro change.

A TVG train at the Gare de Lyon station. TVG's are high-speed trains reaching speeds up to 160 mph, cutting travel time between Paris and the French Riviera to under three hours	A truck load of mannequins were unloaded at the Montpellier fair.

Unlike Port de Vanves, which is a transient market, The Port de Clingencourt market is made up of permanent dealers, each having his or her own enclosed stand. These stands meander back and forth in rows that require a bit of remembering where you are and what your seen. I remember looking at several black glass wide mouth jars, all priced the same, until I realized it WAS the same jar I'd seen twice before.

Being more established and well known, Port de Clingencourt is also pricier by about 50%, but even at that, bargains can still be had.

I'm back at the hotel by 2 pm, in time for a late lunch at one of the many local brasseries by the hotel, before doing a little Paris sightseeing. The old part of Paris is much like that of London, very compact and by using the Metro everything of importance can be seen in a day. We enjoy the evening in Paris visiting the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral. A leisurely walk along the River Seine was topped off by a nice dinner in one of the many riverboat restaurants. The weather was perfect; little did we know how quickly it would change.

Sunday, September, 8th. The day is overcast with the possibility of rain. I tell my wife it's of no concern since today we leave Paris, traveling 450 miles to the south where I'm sure the weather is fine. We board a TVG train at the Gare de Lyon station and head for the City of Avignon. TVG's are high-speed trains reaching speeds up to 160 mph, cutting travel time down between Paris and the French Riviera to under three hours. As we head quickly south the rain does not decline as I predicted, instead it begins to increase. Fifteen minutes before arriving at Avignon it increases dramatically. I tell my wife it's probably a quick shower and all should be fine by tomorrow morning, when the 700-dealer Avignon antique and collectors fair opens. We exit the TGV station in heavy rain, luckily a taxi stand is close by, and with umbrellas in hand, (my wife never travels anywhere without them), we don't get too wet.

Few French taxi drivers speak English, knowing this in advance I have an internet printout of my hotel confirmation with its name on it. I show it to our driver, who nods recognition. Our hotel in Avignon is the Mercure Palais des Papes, located in the old part of the city, just inside the old city walls.

The City of Avignon, situated on the Rhone River is steeped in history dating back to the second century BC. Its name comes from `Avenio' which means `town of the river,' and was a major Roman town until the 5th century. Compact in size, you could wander the narrow streets inside the fortified walls for days without tiring of them. We will not be seeing them on this trip.

The rain, sometimes hard, continues the rest of the day. On our room television I watch CNN World News, the only channel in English. Watching the world weather report I see impending gloom. A wave of large storms are moving through the southern part of France, bringing on-and-off heavy rains for the next two days.

Like most European fairs Avignon is an indoor/outdoor event, with half the dealers being indoors the other half outdoors. What would happen if the rains came?

Monday, September 9th, 7:30 am. It is slightly overcast but not raining. I leave the hotel by taxi for the 20-minute ride to the Parc des Expositions Center, site of the Avignon collectors fair. Wisely my better half elects to sleep in so I arrange a 1 p.m. late checkout for her, which will later prove to be a wise decision.

Apothecary jars and related memorabilia abounded, several dealers offered what might have come from a recently cleaned out old drugstore.

No admission fee is charged at Avignon, dealers and buyers all enter at the same time. I move quickly through the outdoor section, knowing that I will have to visit it again later when everything is set out. I look for a number of things that I am familiar with, not all being bottles. Remembering that all I buy will have to be packed and carried on the return flight I try to concentrate on smaller things. I buy several French figural bottles, which are fairly available at these markets, although all are not in the best condition. I buy several more small cobalt decorated stoneware pieces that are of German origin but sell well in the States. I look for small size wide mouth jars. Most are a dark olive green color and are of Dutch or French origin. I find a number of these, but all are of the larger size, which I leave. I stop and buy a figural lighthouse bottle that I haven't seen before. The dealer, a woman, speaks very good English, a rarity among French antique dealers. I ask her about the weather forecast, as I eye an ever-darkening sky. "They say the rains are to hold off until the afternoon", she says, "after that heavy rain is expected." I move along heading for the indoor part of the market.

I see quite a number of French canning jars, the heavy glass ones with the name LaLorraine and a thistle on the front, others have only the name L'Ideale. All are in various shades of olive green and can be bought for under $10.00. Even at this price I pass, again, the problem of getting them home. Two teakettle inks show up, one, in cobalt, has a one-inch crack in it, which the dealer never mentions. I purchase the other, a nice lime green example for 250 Euro, ($238.00). The southern French markets are a furniture dealer's delight. Many buyers, including Americans, buy container loads of furniture to be shipped back to the States. The demand for this service is heavy with no less then 30 professional packers and shippers on site to handle everyone's needs. Their trucks are parked in several rows just outside the main entrance. Each shipper employs several young `haulers' who, with a large two-wheel handcart form an almost continuous flow between the dealers' tables and the shippers trucks. I talk briefly with an American from San Diego, California, who tells me he, "ships four to five containers of things from France to the States every year." Impressive, I'll be glad to stuff as much as I can into our check in and carry on luggage.

Part of the 400+ dealers set-up Saturday morning at the Port de Vanves street market.	A rack of six L'Ideale canning jars in shades of green at the Port de Vanves street market.

It is now 11 am, three hours since the market has opened. I'm back outside making my second pass through the rows of dealers' tables. Moving quicker now as the weather continues to deteriorate.

The sky is quickly darkening, forcing me to make a decision. Even though I haven't covered everything, I head for the main entrance. At the admission table I ask one of the show managers where I can get a taxi back to Avignon. I'm told to, "walk out to the entrance road and wait, they will pick you up there.”

I walk the 200 yards to the end of the entrance road and find a spot from which I can watch in both directions. An elderly couple near me appears to also be waiting for a taxi.

A light breeze stirs the few small trees that line the road, in a few minutes the rain arrives, light at first but quickly increasing. I open my umbrella; the old couple have none. Soon they approach me and a pact is quickly formed. We will all go in the first taxi that shows up, splitting the fare, the wait continues and the rain gets heavier. Another half-hour passes and still no taxi. The older couple gives up, returning to the protection of one of the show buildings to wait for the rain to stop, which won't happen until sometime in the middle of the night. A young Asian girl with a show security guard approach. He has made arraignments for a taxi to take her to the train station. She is traveling to Montpellier, for tomorrow's even bigger antique and collectors fair. She speaks no French and little English, could I help? "Certainly" I say, thinking, anything to get out of this rain! The taxi arrives and I somehow get the driver to understand that she wants to go to the train station and me back to the hotel.

Held at the Parc expo Frejugues, the 1,200 dealer Montpellier fair is the largest, and last, of the three large antique and collectors fairs in held on three consecutive days in Southern France.	The Sunday fair at Avignon was marred by heavy rains. Here the sky is quickly darkening, forcing me to head for the exit.

Back at the hotel my wife waits. We also have to take a train from Avignon to Montpellier today, but not for several hours. Thanks to that late checkout I have enough time to quickly shower and change into some dry cloths.

Arriving at the train station we are greeted by mass confusion. Lines of people are waiting to talk to ticket agents, a large marquee across the top of the entrance to the trains explains why. `All trains traveling between Avignon and Montpellier have been cancelled'. I get in line, choosing the only one having a sign above the ticket agent's window saying, `English spoken here.' Before I reach the window I'm aware from listening to people in front of me that we aren't going to Montpellier today. "Sorry sir,” problems with the tracks, no trains traveling today, come back tomorrow,” the agent says.

Another night in Avignon, we will need a room. Almost attached to the station is an Ibis Hotel, very convenient, considering how it was now continuously pouring down rain. "Sorry, we're full tonight" I'm told by the hotel receptionist. How many hundreds of people planning on taking the train to Montpellier today are stranded, like us, in Avignon, and needing a room. A woman desk assistant at the hotel is nice, and calls the hotel that we had checked out of several hours earlier. "Sorry, they are filled up tonight also”. She calls several more hotels with the same results. I start to worry. Finally, on the fifth try we get a room. It's at the Hotel Kyriad, in the old part of Avignon, only two blocks from where we stayed last night.

One final problem remains. All day it seems that the Avignon taxi drivers are staying indoors, as it's impossible to get one. As we walk from the station I see no less the 20 people waiting at the taxi stand with none in sight.

From the station I quesstimate we are about one-half mile to the hotel, once inside the city walls, about 100 yards away, some of that distance will be under trees. After another 15 minutes and no taxis I tell my wife “let's go”. We head out in a heavy rain, trailing luggage behind us. I don't recall how long it took to walk (jog) to the hotel, but we arrived soaking wet, my second time for the day. Most of the rest of the evening will be spent drying out clothes using our room's pants press and hair dryer. (One hour per shoe with the hair dryer stuck inside dryed nicely.) Watching a local TV station we see why we could not get to Montpellier. Heavy rains pushed the Rhone River out of its bank into nearby low-lying towns. North of the City of Nimes a sizable earthen dam gave way flooding the town, and over thirty people are missing.

Tuesday, September 10th. Sometime during the night the rain stops, in the morning we walk back to the train station. We expect no surprises, before leaving the hotel we are told by the desk clerk that no trains will travel from Avignon to Montpellier for several days due to track damage. At the station we are told that busses will be transporting those going to Montpellier. We are pointed to the appropriate bus, and after a short wait are on our way. In route we see damage from the flooding, and, when passing through Nimes, of the broken dam.

Arriving late at Montpellier, I was still able to buy things for resale back in the States

The bus arrives in Montpellier about 11 am, two hours after the opening of the antique and collectors fair. We check into our hotel, the Sofitel Montpellier and in a half-hour I'm walking into the fair, held at the Parc expo Frejugues. At 1,200 dealers it is the largest, and last, of three large antique and collectors fairs that one could attend in Southern France on three consecutive days. (We missed the 800 dealers fair in the town of Beziers, held on Saturday).

Like Avignon, Montpellier has an equal mix of outdoor and indoor dealers. Unlike Avignon the weather turns out to be perfect, a bright sunny warm day with low humidity and no chance of rain. Being late I don't expect to fully cover all the dealers and may not have to. I recognize a number of the dealers from Avignon by the merchandise they are offering, some of which has now been reduced in price. It's the last day for the weekend fairs and the dealers want to sell. I talk to a veteran American buyer of these fairs. "Beziers is first and in some ways the most interesting as everything is fresh", he tells me. "Avignon is the smallest but gets many new dealers who were not at Beziers. Montpellier gets most of the Beziers dealers, a good number of the Avignon and new dealers who only do this show." By the time the Beziers and Avignon dealers arrive they are ready to cut prices. It's a gamble, pay the going rate at Beziers or hope they still have what you are interested in, at a cheaper price at Montpellier."

For me personally it didn't matter, as almost everything I priced at the two fairs, I bought, or could have bought, if I could have gotten it home. Early Dutch, French and German black glass, particularly the wide mouth jars were 25% of what they sell for in the States. Good early German stoneware is also cheap. I bought all the figural bottles I could carry, passing on many of the more common ones, not because of price but size limitations. Then there was all those French canning jars, all passed on. Small items like teakettle and other inks were all bought, though only several of these were found. Apothecary jars and related memorabilia abounded, several dealers offered what might have come from a recently cleaned out old drugstore, mostly all too large to bring back. I learn an important thing on this trip, at the French collectors' fairs, size does matter.

Wednesday, September 11. Our TGV is speeding north, back to Paris where we will spend a final night. The week went quickly, and for the most part enjoyable. Paris was fun, as the `City of Lights' always is. The heavy rains in the south keep us mostly indoors at Avignon so the magnitude of this historic city was not fully enjoyed. The antique buying in Paris and the two southern fairs was good, and a lot about antiqueing in France was learned.

But, did I learn enough to earn enough on a return trip? If we return will the end result be getting a free trip to France and possibly finding something for my collection? Wait and see, when the Old Traveler returns from round two of antiqueing in France.....

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