Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Shopping report from Liz Chan, of Dijon market
Shopping report by good friend Elizabeth Chan, a Londoner working in Malaysia for 6 months. Enjoy the pictures and story...
Location: Dijon, France (3hour drive, south east of Paris)
Time – August 5th weekend 2006
This rustic beautiful French town is famous for its mustard and spiced cuisines as well as being in the region of some of the best wines produced in France (Burgundy and Beaune are neighbouring towns).
Vast beautiful lush vineyards in the region of Dijon….
These intricate, mosaic rooftops are signature for Dijon.
Apart from seeing the local architecture and main sights, I thought it would be nice to wander the cobbled streets to see if I can find any markets and one that sells clothes for Janet’s blog - after all, the French are fantastic for vintage and lace.
Near Rue de Jean Jacques Rosseau, you will find ‘Place de liberte’ - around there you will see the Saturday market.
It wasn’t a flea market as such….. I found it more for old books and a hodge podge of new and old stalls – still, it was charming for me. Funnily enough I bought an Ernest Hemingway here, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ printed in 1954 for a whopping 5 Euros, BARGAIN!
Vintage bookstall with some real gems of Voltaire, Plato’s Socrates translated in French and I saw a corner dedicated to Asterix…. Of course they would!
Further down, I saw some second hand stalls but Dijobn being famous for food rather than fashion, nothing really tickled my fancy especially now I am working in KL and it’s always hot and humid. Somehow real leather knee high books and Dr Martens weren’t going to entice me to dig further.
Some parts of the markets contains some handicrafts originating from Africa and Vietnam/Cambodia ~(ex colonial ties I suspect….) and these pretty beach bags are hand weaved from Cambodia.
I quickly discovered an absolutely delightful delicatessen called ‘Fleurs d'Epices’, on 1 Rue De la Chouette. I wanted to buy the whole store as I am more of a foodie than a flea fan….
You will see a whole variety of Dijon mustard… the pink is mixed with salmon pate, the middle one is with traditional wholegrain mustard seed and the last is tarragon infused mustard (perfect accompaniment with steak!)
And these pastels as the French call them are rose, currant, lavender, orange, lemon and lime infused sweeties. I guess I should have bought a pack for Janet to sew on her cardies as buttons… no one would notice…
Hope you enjoyed the whistle stop tour of Dijon – if you get a chance, do visit, you’ll find it as charming as I did.
Other sights (editor)
Au reviour,
Liz
p/s I also went to Paris but nothing in the way of flea markets as for those of you not too familiar with the lifestyle and economic patterns of France, even in paris…. It’s a know fact that they’re pretty lazy :)
‘la France est fermée le dimanche’ = France is closed on Sundays.
Location: Dijon, France (3hour drive, south east of Paris)
Time – August 5th weekend 2006
This rustic beautiful French town is famous for its mustard and spiced cuisines as well as being in the region of some of the best wines produced in France (Burgundy and Beaune are neighbouring towns).
Vast beautiful lush vineyards in the region of Dijon….
These intricate, mosaic rooftops are signature for Dijon.
Apart from seeing the local architecture and main sights, I thought it would be nice to wander the cobbled streets to see if I can find any markets and one that sells clothes for Janet’s blog - after all, the French are fantastic for vintage and lace.
Near Rue de Jean Jacques Rosseau, you will find ‘Place de liberte’ - around there you will see the Saturday market.
It wasn’t a flea market as such….. I found it more for old books and a hodge podge of new and old stalls – still, it was charming for me. Funnily enough I bought an Ernest Hemingway here, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ printed in 1954 for a whopping 5 Euros, BARGAIN!
Vintage bookstall with some real gems of Voltaire, Plato’s Socrates translated in French and I saw a corner dedicated to Asterix…. Of course they would!
Further down, I saw some second hand stalls but Dijobn being famous for food rather than fashion, nothing really tickled my fancy especially now I am working in KL and it’s always hot and humid. Somehow real leather knee high books and Dr Martens weren’t going to entice me to dig further.
Some parts of the markets contains some handicrafts originating from Africa and Vietnam/Cambodia ~(ex colonial ties I suspect….) and these pretty beach bags are hand weaved from Cambodia.
I quickly discovered an absolutely delightful delicatessen called ‘Fleurs d'Epices’, on 1 Rue De la Chouette. I wanted to buy the whole store as I am more of a foodie than a flea fan….
You will see a whole variety of Dijon mustard… the pink is mixed with salmon pate, the middle one is with traditional wholegrain mustard seed and the last is tarragon infused mustard (perfect accompaniment with steak!)
And these pastels as the French call them are rose, currant, lavender, orange, lemon and lime infused sweeties. I guess I should have bought a pack for Janet to sew on her cardies as buttons… no one would notice…
Hope you enjoyed the whistle stop tour of Dijon – if you get a chance, do visit, you’ll find it as charming as I did.
Other sights (editor)
Au reviour,
Liz
p/s I also went to Paris but nothing in the way of flea markets as for those of you not too familiar with the lifestyle and economic patterns of France, even in paris…. It’s a know fact that they’re pretty lazy :)
‘la France est fermée le dimanche’ = France is closed on Sundays.
Labels: reports
# posted by Going-Solo @ 11:05 am 
