What a Metz!

ETA: I'm adding this to Nester's yard sale post in June 2011. Technically, this isn't a yard sale, but they don't really do those in Europe, so flea marketing it is!  There are a lot of photos of Metz before the flea market itself, but they're worth a look.


What a Metz!!!! Hahaha! I crack myself up. After the debacle of arriving in a timely fashion, I was so grateful to get to my hotel. I forgot to take a photo of the exterior, but it looked pretty much like any other building in a city in France. All smooshed together. I checked in and got Ulrika to her parking spot (you know, the one I had to go 12 blocks out of the way to get to, even though it could be seen from the hotel entrance) and hauled myself and my bags upstairs. This is a view up the old, winding, crooked stairwell. The banisters have been painted purple for some reason.



Here's a view down from my floor to the reception level. Reception was on the first floor, though the first floor in Europe is actually the second floor, or the first floor above the ground floor. Very confusing. My room was on the 2nd floor, which is really the 3rd floor, but whatever.


Oh, look, I'm in the Tanners room. Great, I hope it doesn't smell like leather and sweat. Just kidding. Each room is named for a historical event, place or person in Metz's history. Apparently tanning was a very important industry.


From the door.

Looking back at the door. I'm not sure why the second door with is there. The wall framing it doesn't go all the way to the ceiling.


Looking toward the bathroom.


I found this really interesting. It was an exposed beam. The lady at the desk told me the existing building dated from the late 1600's. How cool is that?


Oh, hey! Who's that?


The fireplace was marble and non-working.

The buildings across the street looks green because there is an optical shop with a green light up sign at street level.





The next morning I got up bright and early (far earlier than I intended thanks to the singing deliver guy), ate a quick breakfast, checked out and headed over to the Expo Hall. Oh, what wonders my eyes beheld! Row after row after ROW of sheer awesomeness!


COULD. YOU. DIE???



I loved this little stove! He wanted 200 Euro for it.

An antique crib.


These old prams (or pram wheels as the case may be) really wanted to come home with me, but where would I have put them?


Look at that blue ceramic heater!


China and transfer ware galore!


There were a lot of old doors and windows, but they were way overpriced. I thought these were beautiful.


So many things to look at!!!!


I discovered at the end of the day (the flea market shut down at noon!) you could score some really, really, really great deals. A bird in the hand and all that jazz. Have a look at what I brought home with me!!!


The binoculars are from the late 1800's. I love old cameras and binoculars. I paid 10 Euro for the accordion camera, 10 for the binoculars and 7 for the other camera. Score!


Silver! REAL silver. Lots of it!


These spoons caught my eye. They were unique. I wished they'd had more of them.


This bowl is silver and super heavy! I got it and most of the silverware for 10 Euro (end of the day bargain!). I wish I knew more about silver because there is a silversmith mark on the bottom. I'd love to know more about it.


This mandolin caught my eye and since Mr. HH has decided he wanted to start collecting old instruments, I thought, why not? It cost me 10 Euro!


And here is the big score of the day (according to Mr. HH). They originally wanted 25 Euro, but I talked them down to 15. Haha! Yay for end of the day! It needs a lot of work to be playable, but Mr. HH says it's doable and he's up for the challenge. If it were up to me, I'd just take it down to Herr Jonas at the music shop where we bought Indy's violin and have him fix it.


What I really liked about it was the case. It's made of wood and looks like a little coffin.


Here's a close up of one of the latches. Isn't it beautiful?


There was so much more I wanted to buy while I was there, but I had to hold myself back. I saw a ton of antique linens, but couldn't find any grain sacks. One lady told me that she'd had several, but they were all snapped up within 30 minutes of opening.
I discovered how abysmal my French is and was so grateful that most of the vendors spoke German. I can barter in German! Funny little story about the violin. I even learned a valuable lesson. I bought the violin from a vendor and on my way out I stopped by another booth to look at something. I set the violin down between feet and browsed for a moment, picked it up and walked further down the table. I was just glancing, so I put the violin on the table in front of me, keeping my hand on it at all times. The vendor babbled something at me in French, which I told her I didn't understand, and she switched to German. She was trying to charge me for the violin. She thought it was from her booth. She wanted 40 Euro (I originally paid 15). I explained to her that I had purchased it from another vendor and she argued with me. WHAT? I had to go get the other vendor, who thankfully was only a few booths away, and get him to come down and tell her that I had indeed purchased it from him, and did not owe her any money. They argued in French (I love how the French argue!) and he finally convinced her (vehemently!) that she was crazy (at least I assume that's what he said to her) and told me (in a mixture of German and English) that I could go. I hauled out of there before a) a fight broke out, b) I had to pay again for a violin I'd already purchased and/or c) the French police showed and I ended up thrown in jail for stealing a violin. So, the lesson from this? Never, ever, EVER put your purchases on another vendors table because they have so much junk stuff on their tables they don't know what's theirs and what's not.

I hope you enjoyed taking this little trip with me!