Paris and Provence Flea Market Shopping Adventures hosted by The Red Shed Girls

The Red Shed specializes in French Chic Antiques and Travel. We have owned a travel agency for almost 30 years and a French Chic Antique store for 10 years. Our Paris & Provence Flea Market Shopping Trips are a culmination of these two Passions. Each Spring and Fall we take a group of 10 lucky ladies to Paris or Provence, for a Vintage Shopping Trip of a Lifetime! The Blog below chronicles our adventures in France. If you would like to join one of our trips just visit RedShedOnline.com or call 817-310-6006 for more information.
To follow our adventures outside of France and in real time, visit our Blog RedShedAntiques.blogspot.com

Friday, September 25, 2009

Paris Flea Market Shopping Trip hosted by Red Shed Cottage Chic Antiques


The Red Shed Girls own antique store, Red Shed Cottage Chic, as well as Riverside Travel in Grapevine, Texas. Each year we take lucky groups of ladies shopping in France at the Paris Flea Market. Below are photos from several of our previous trips. Please join us! We still have a few spots left on our trip slated for April 2010.

For more information including itinerary, pricing, and how to reserve your spot, Click Here .

For more information about the us, Click Here.

To follow our Adventures, visit our Blog, Red Shed Cottage Chic.

You can also contact us at 817-310-6006. We look forward to meeting you!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Paris Flea Market Shopping Trip 2009 Day 1

Our Mascot, Red, who now shall be known as "Rouge", donned her beret to greet all the Red Shed Girls going to Paris!Of course GiGi arrived at the airport with her French name, and all of her French clothing that she has purchased on ebay.........
As we left, our sweet friend, Donna Bradley, gave us each a going away packet fill with everything to make our trip comfortable. As she said "God put it on her heart" to do it. How sweet is that?
Here is the first wave, waiting at the airport. 7 today and 3 more tomorrow...

After our loooooong flight and no sleep, we arrived at about 10 am and we were seduced by the comfy beds a at our lovely Hotel Littre, but no,no,no if we stop now, even for a moment we would lose the whole day, and we had heard about an Antique Papier Market, that is only open on Wednesdays....can't miss an opportunity like that! But first...food. We are always telling people how easy and inexpensively you can eat in Paris if you want to. Here are just a few choices just steps from our hotel:
The fruit is unbelievable here. I don't know why, but it is fresh and beautiful and has a sweet, bright flavor that is completely different from what we have in the states. This is what fruit is suppose to look like:

So after only getting lost a "few" times on the Metro, we stopped at a little cafe....

And a flower market....And finally found the Antique Paper Market on the very outskirts of Paris...
Here's a little glimpse of a few things we bought that will be for sale (in various, altered forms) at the Red Shed in June at our "French Market" Sale..
A whole book of French Ephemera...
A children's French story book with fabulous lithographs.......
French Legal documents from the early 1900's, fabulous script ,stamps, and embossing...

Wonderful bakelite frame with a picture of the Virgin Mary. The stand on the back is lovely and it says "made in France"And some fabulous French ribbons and medallions that I am sure will be made into Red Shed Original jewelry.
Sorry for the typos, grammar, and spelling blame 48 hours with no sleep and a time change!

Red Shed Paris Trip 2009 Day 2 Versaille

Day 2 in Paris included a memorable trip to the Palace Chatteau Versaille. Home to all the King Louis's, many Mary's and Marie Antonette...
The main palace is over the top, gilt and gold, velvet and silk.....
The highlight is the Hall of Mirrors, with gorgeous chandeliers, painted ceilings and mirror on all the walls.....The main thing we love at Versaille is the moldings and trim, art work and sculpture....

And the gardens are absolutely amazing....Here is a little story about Marie Antonette, who was "very modern"..
Marie didn't like being on "public" display at the palace. Now, can you blame her? Here is a picture of her bedroom, and the public was invited to watch her give birth, but make sure the kids were Royal. We weren't told if the little fence here was where they lined up to watch, but the bed was only about 3 inches from the fence.........

So Marie didnt like being in the palace, and had the King build her this "Hamlet" of 12 buildings for her and her friends. Talk about a "Place of your Own"!...


We just loved it!! We walked about 10 million miles at Versaille, from the palace to the apartments, then to the Hamlet, but our very last view was this Zen moment of a French man streching in the Hamlet gardens.
No. shopping today, except in the gift shop, but we had a GREAT day in Paris!

French Flea Market Shopping Trip ** Day 3

May 1st is Labor Day in France. It is celebrated several ways. Everyone gives each other Lily of the Valley flowers, and most shops are closed, so we planned to have our guided tour of Paris in the morning. First stop was the gorgeous Basilque Sacre Coure and Montmarte, the artist square.

Since buses can't drive to the top, in order to get to our destination we first we had to climb approximately 1000 stairs. I am not exagerating. This is just the first SET. Yeah, we were smiling because we hadn't started yet....
Our effort was so worth it. A great view of the city
And one of the most beautiful churches on earth. It is made of a white stone that gets whiter with age. When the sun is setting, it simply glows......
Right around the corner is the famous artist's square, Montmartre.
It's full of music and mimes......And, of course, the artists........We spent a good deal of our time here buying artwork and visiting the shops.
Next stop was the Eiffel Tower
And Notre Dame and other amazing chuches, parks, and monuments.

When the tour was over, we were told there was a huge antique fair at Place Bastille, which covered both sides of the Seine for several blocks. You can see all of the white tens set up on each side. We arrived, saw a sign that said "Entree", paid our $8. entrance fee......
and found we were right in the middle of a CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBIT with lovely offerings such as:
and
We were told the Antiques were NEXT week on the same spot! Oh well, we went though the whole thing. It was "interesting". The best thing that happend was we met two gentlemen with the last names of Snow and White (seriously). One is an amazing photographer and the other is an artist. The are both ex-pats living in the south of France. They own a chateau and host visitors and teach photography and hold art retreats. They also told us about numerous garage sale / flea markets in the surrounding villages (Timothy White uses many of the antique "objets" at the subjects of his photography). HeyLadies! Sounds like an added side trip for next year's Paris outing!Never to waste a good crisis, the other way Persians celebrate Labor Day is by protesting. We had warned the girls that they would probably see at least one protest and we were kind of disappointed that we hadn't seen one all day. Parisians protest because they have to pay a huge amount of taxes (usually 50%) and they think they work too hard, because 6 weeks paid vacations and tons of holidays off just isnt enough (not positive I am with them on that one). Not to be disappointed, when we came out of the exhibition, the square had turned into a huge sea of people climbing on statues and stairs.....Even though there were lots of handsome policemen in full riot gear, we thought it might be time to make a hasty retreat back to our hotel.
Back at the hotel we were having our Marce Aux Puces (Market of Fleas) orientation with our lovely and talented French Shopping Guide, Jodie.
Then off to a wonderful dinner at Montparnasse 1900, one of the most beautiful restaurants in Paris. Even though it was a late night, we will be up early, for tomorrow is THE DAY. Our first full day at Marche Aux Puces, the FIRST, OLDEST and largest antique flea markets in the world. STAY TUNED!!!