Beginning of the week, 5-4 & 5-5-15

On the 4th, Monday, Deb wanted to clean as we had one more visit from our gardener to finish an installation for a new tree.   So I headed out for a few hours to investigate the brocante market that we visited a week or so back,  the Marche de Biffins.  It is a madhouse on the outer edges, with people of all ethnicities jostling for a spot to display their stuff or for a spot to look at them.  Definitely a prime place for pickpockets if you're not paying attention.  There were two mounted police just on the edge of the melee.   It's up near the Porte de Montmartre on the edge of Paris proper just inside the Perapherique; ring road.  It turned out to be much more extensive than we had imagined when we last visited because right next to it is the Marche Paul Bert. 
We wandered into Paul Bert a bit the last time, but today I turned a few corners and wandered in to Aladdin's chest.  There have to be over 100 small brocantes in small shops under one roof and perhaps another 75 in another covered space.  They offer many levels of merchandise from vinyl records up to original art, antiques, and architectural objects, in all price levels.  WOW it's big I tell ya.




On the 5th Deb and I got out earlier and made our way to the Musee de Marmottan/Monet.  This museum is on the west side of Paris very near the Bois de Bolougne.  It houses the best collection of Monet water lily paintings in the world as well as a collection of somewhat lesser known works by Monet.  Today it also had a temporary exhibition of the role of the "toilette", or bathing in art.  It began with the 15th century and went up through contemporary pieces done in the last few years.  They don't allow any photography so unfortunately there will be no pictures from this museum but suffice to say that it's well worth any time you can spend here.