Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Away We Go We Go follows the journey of Sophie & Jordan Epton, an American couple who moved to France with their 10-month old twins, and the crazy adventure that follows. We dive deep into what it's really like moving and living abroad as expats, interview others who have taken the road less traveled, provide travel tips, discuss how you can do hard things to change your own life, and everything in between.
Speaker: Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Away We Go, we Go podcast. I am back with a very special guest, a fan favorite, my mother Kami. Welcome back.
Speaker 2: Thanks Sophie. I'm really delighted to be back. I,
Speaker: If you've been an avid listener weekly, you know that the last couple of podcast episodes we've had, we've kind of talked a lot about the real of living in France and today I want to switch it up and I wanted to, [00:01:00] especially 'cause you know, we're getting to the holidays, people are gonna be shopping, there's just a different vibe in the air and I really wanted to get into what makes Provence, France in general, one of the best places to shop.
Speaker: Oh yeah. It's truly one of the best places. To get very special things that you may not be able to get anywhere else in the world. And I could not have thought of a better guest to bring back on for this topic. My mother could possibly be my stylist. You kind of are like, when we go shopping, it's really funny.
Speaker: Like, I love, love to put together, you know, great outfits. I like to look good. I like my home to look good. Like that's probably where I love to spend more of my time is buying things from my house. Mm-hmm. But you are so good at curating, you're just the curator for whether it's fashion, oh my gosh.
Speaker: Whether it's, you know, home decor, whether it's jewelry, like you just have it all going on and I'm so happy you're today. Me, [00:02:00] darling.
Speaker 3: I
Speaker 2: really appreciate that. That's, you know, I have some of your old cards that you would give me for my birthdays and I mean, I kept them 'cause they're like works of art, you know, drawings and just the words.
Speaker 2: And you always, as you got older, would say. Happy birthday mom. You're the style queen and you are the style queen. Do you remember that? Oh yeah, absolutely. Oh, I, I have all of them. So anyway, this is a fun topic and it's, there's some very special things about France and about shopping in, in France.
Speaker 2: So, yeah,
Speaker: let's get into it.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker: For listeners who may be doing their holiday shopping or maybe one of their presents this year is gonna be planning a trip soon to Provence or to Paris. What makes France, and especially the region of Provence so special.
Speaker 2: Well first of all, the culture here is so rich. I mean, you're talking art. Architecture, cuisine, the [00:03:00] language.
Speaker 2: All the different regions in France are so special. They're so different from one another, but they have something unique to them all. And I would like to say since we're coming right into the holidays, this is one of our favorite times in Provence and in France.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's absolutely enchanting here, and
Speaker: it's amazing. It's like their, the Christmas mark is, the holiday markets are out of control. Oh, it, it's because it's magical French.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. The French love the Christmas holidays. Everybody's happy, everybody. The bakeries, the fine pastry makers, and the butchers are all putting together their favorite Christmas foods. I'm gonna give you some examples. It's gonna make your mouth water. I love it. Fo gra fo gra with thick jam. We've had that recently on little slices of gingerbread and it's amazing.
Speaker 2: Ooh. Yeah. It's amazing. [00:04:00] And other traditional things, fresh oysters, linis with caviar, lobster of co champagne. I love those two together. Lobster and champagne. They're so
Speaker: bougie. I
Speaker 2: know. Delicious cheeses. Uh, groten dfo, which is that creamy, cheesy potato casserole that's really big over the holidays.
Speaker 2: Speaking my language
Speaker: now.
Speaker 2: I know. And then the famous Bo de Noel, which I know you love too. Oh
Speaker: yeah. Ever since we moved here, we make it a point to buy the bus Noel, which if you don't know, if you took like a Swiss roll cake is the best way I can describe it to people who aren't familiar with it.
Speaker: And they either do it with ice cream and freeze it, but the more traditional ways to fill it with a chocolate Swiss roll with cream and then they cover it with a chocolate ganache. And then they decorate it with all these little ornaments or little , snowmen or something like the, oh, here we go.
Speaker 4: You want some
Speaker 5: tea? Come about this.
Speaker: Oh, lipstick. You can have some lipstick. Come [00:05:00] here.
Speaker 2: Oh, you look so beautiful.
Speaker 5: Oh. Like your mama.
Speaker 5: And I'm here.
Speaker 2: Oh, good. I'm so happy you're here.
Speaker 4: I'm
Speaker 2: so happy.
Speaker 2: The other thing that's so special about France is that all the villages decorate for Christmas. And I know in X you've got just spectacular Christmas decorations, and we have some beautiful ones here.
Speaker 2: We're very fortunate in that the Blanche Share Illumination company is here. And in 1973 they did the first, what they call the Fe Lumiere in Apt, where everything's put up, but they turn 'em all on and it's a big party like on a Friday or a Saturday night. And he saw how the people reacted, how happy they were, the smiles on their face.
Speaker 2: And so it started to become, this is 1973. It started to become a tradition, and , they do the lights in, [00:06:00] some of the lights in Paris, Leon, they do their Lumiere. They've got 80 different spots where they do the illumination. Yeah. Do the Fet de Lumiere. So our Fet de Lumiere, I believe is on the 10th.
Speaker 2: It's in the middle of the week of December. And it's a big deal. There's music and everybody's in a great mood and the lights are just unbelievable. They have figures on the walls of the mayor's building and it's really, really special. And , some people are setting up booths, they're selling things, food items, mold, wine, that type of thing.
Speaker 2: And as you know very well, X has an incredible market for Christmas. Like what, for a month
Speaker: maybe? I'm not kidding you. It's probably for at least seven weeks. So it always starts, which is when I decide to decorate, because otherwise I feel like the Grinch
Speaker 3: mm-hmm.
Speaker: It's always right around the 15th of November.
Speaker: Normally the Corra bow, which is in the, you know, middle [00:07:00] of, it's like the main boulevard in the middle of the city will shut down three times a week for their markets, but . It changes over during that time to all the Christmas markets. So then you'll have these adorable little, they're these log cabin structures.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. And they're all selling these artisan crafts foods, all just amazing things. And it is open. From the middle of November, probably through the first week of January, and then they finally start to break down. Mm-hmm. But at night they stay open late at night because people will walk.
Speaker: They'll get mold, like you said, mold wine. They'll get roasted chestnuts. They'll walk around and buy things from these vendors. Yeah. And it's really cool. I love it. It's, yeah,
Speaker 2: it just, it's a really happy time of year and everybody's worked hard right now. A lot of the vendors at our Saturday market in Apt are taking some vacation time so that they can come back strong for December because it'll be super busy here in December.
Speaker 2: And then closer to Christmas in, in the villages, and I'm sure they do it in X and [00:08:00] Avenue and some other bigger cities, there are fireworks.
Speaker 2: Yes, the closer you get to Christmas, and that is the French do fireworks incredibly well. So
Speaker: yeah, there, there's a place called, and you know this place it's called and Oh yeah. And they, so they apparently, from all the videos I've seen, which is only I think an hour from here, they light up all the boats with Christmas lights and then they do fireworks at both Christmas and New Year's.
Speaker: And I have been saying for years that we are gonna go do this and we are doing it this year. And this is my invitation to you personally and publicly. Oh good. I put, I'm putting myself on the spot here. I really want us to go and experience this with the kids, especially now that they're three and Yeah.
Speaker: Super cool. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so, so, so as you can tell and feel, I mean it's just such a beautiful, festive atmosphere. There are also a couple of. Beautiful March de Noel here in the Luron, which is where we live in Apt. The part of Provence where we're [00:09:00] at. Because if somebody's listening and they're going to be in the area, they would be well worth going to.
Speaker 2: And that is the weekend of the 6th of December for two days is the Maison Domar Christmas Marche. And it's beautiful. That's the villa that Domar lived in after she and Picasso had split up. Word has it that he bought the villa for her, but she lived there at the end of her life and painted and photographed, and it's a beautiful villa and they do artists in residence programs there.
Speaker 2: There are maybe 35 artisans and they're in like the living room and the dining room and the bedrooms and you know, the fireplace and where the fireplaces are. And it's just magical. And the goods are super duper high quality.
Speaker 2: And then the following weekend, I believe it starts Friday night at Chateau Dil, which is one of the oldest wineries in Provence. There is another Artisan Fair, [00:10:00] and it's at this beautiful winery that's just been redone by the, the newer owners, Constance and Lauren.
Speaker 2: And it's just a fabulous, fabulous show. And they have wonderful food there. And. I'm trying to think if they have music, but it's just spectacular is the lighting inside where they have the show inside the winery is, is just fabulous. So those are two that I would like to make a little shout out to because I think they're definitely well worth going to.
Speaker 2: And then the other little villages go and Gored and some other ones have their markets. But another big one, as you probably know, is in mm-hmm. Which is west of us. So that's another really, really good one.
Speaker: So that's Christmas markets. That's Christmas. No, I love it. We'll, we'll link all of these, but I wanna switch gears and just talk more about, just in general for people who can't make it here during Christmas.
Speaker: Sure. And maybe they're looking to come to Provence next [00:11:00] year. What do you remember about your first. Experience shopping in Provence what makes everything so special here? Well,
Speaker 2: first of all, you were with us the first time we came to, that's in Provence.
Speaker 2: That's true. Many years ago, 23 years ago, plus. And now you're really aging me. I know. And we stayed in, in Paris and then we, did the whole museum and walking over all the bridges over the sun. Took a boat ride on the sun. I have pictures, you know. Mm-hmm. I know you, I send to you. But we came down to Manna and to visit some friends who were from Colorado, but who had moved to Manna.
Speaker 2: And they told us about the Friday mar market in Lum, which was very close. And we went there and we'd never seen anything like this. The whole village, there was just all kinds of stands with the freshest produce, beautiful fruits and vegetables, meat, [00:12:00] fish, clothing. Mm-hmm. Fabulous linens, and I'll never forget, Sophie, you found the coolest pair of heart-shaped light blue rimless sunglasses that you were so excited to buy.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that?
Speaker: Oh yeah. I remember I bought those a ring and like a cool like butterfly backpack. Yeah.
Speaker 2: When I was there and it
Speaker: just,
Speaker 2: it just had that, you know, cool Parisian girl vibe and it was so cute because you wore and you look great in them, but you wore them the rest of the trip and you wore them when we went back to Paris.
Speaker 2: And so I just, that's a fun memory that it just really tickles me when I think about it, I'll never forget that first experience in Provence.
Speaker 2: It was really wonderful.
Speaker: So in your mind, what do you think are the best markets in Provence that visitors must experience while they're [00:13:00] visiting or while they're living here and they don't know yet?
Speaker 2: Well, I think Fridays in Lumal because that's a beautiful market. I just, you know, talked about our first. French proven sell market And that was it for the, for you and, and John and I, the second apt on Saturdays. Mm-hmm. The app market is the largest open air marche in provenance, and it has been going on since the 13th century.
Speaker 2: It's crazy and it winds through. It is, it winds throughout the village. Uh, we have wonderful vendors. It's just the atmosphere is electric. People are having such a good time and you just need to stop and, smell the roses, and just enjoy it and go have a cafe or make lunch reservations and sit outside when it's nice.
Speaker 2: It's the people watching. It's just incredible so that those to me are in our area, are the best. Now, of course, I love the [00:14:00] regional or the larger market in Aby and that you've got quite the Marche atmosphere there. And then of course San Ram me is incredible too.
Speaker: Those are my favorite X because it's wild, like we have.
Speaker: A market three days a week. Mm-hmm. That literally spans the entire city. Like it goes from Yeah. The rumbo all the way out to pla, which is closer to where we are. It's amazing. Uh, and then I love ra mi on Wednesdays. So many amazing things like it Yeah. Again, spans the entire village.
Speaker: , It's awesome.,
Speaker: For someone that's going to a proven sell market for the first time, like what should they know before they go?
Speaker 2: Everyone says to go early and if you go early mm-hmm. You do miss a lot of the crowds. If crowds bother you, we don't ever make it that early. We went at 10 o'clock this morning and that's early for us.
Speaker: Well, you're retired now. I remember the days when you used to get up at 5:00 AM but those are long gone.
Speaker: I And as they should are [00:15:00] long gone, so Yes, yes.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And, I think just be friendly when you walk up to a vendor's booth up to a stall, say eo, and when they say, can I help you in French? Or tell me what you want. You always say, VU dre, like, I would like re chevra. Or you can even say ju day.
Speaker 2: That cheese right there and point to it.
Speaker: Right. Uh,
Speaker 2: yeah. Yeah. And a lot of them speak a little bit, most of them speak a little bit of English if you don't know the French, but just be friendly and you'll get the friendliness right back. And it's, again, it's what makes it so convivial and so much fun and such really a regional atmosphere at these markets.
Speaker: Yeah. Would you say that, in terms of just spotting quality items, what's funny is I feel like the majority of these markets are generally very quality items, but what would you say mm-hmm. When [00:16:00] you're walking around and you are discovering these markets, like what to you has stuck out immediately?
Speaker 2: Well, if somebody, if some vendor has a very large queue, a very long line mm-hmm. There's a reason for it. Good point. Yeah. And I, I think of clay or er or our, our cheese guy who has. The best cheeses and highest quality, and he's just very knowledgeable about cheese and there's always a line and people are buying so much cheese, you can't even believe it.
Speaker 2: It's like 60 euros worth of cheese, you know, that kind of thing. Oh my God, that's wild. Yeah. Yeah. Now there's another dynamic that we have found too. There's a booth here in APT on Saturdays that has olive oil and goat cheese and olives, and they always have a cute, but their prices are really good.
Speaker 2: Like for a, you know, small little, little mage. [00:17:00] Chev, I think they charge like a Euro 50, whereas other people charge 2 25, you know? Yeah. Two 50. Yeah. So that's the other reason I, and we've had their products and they're excellent, but you know, you do tend to have your favorites, the ones that. You resonate with who are friendly, who always say, you know, I mean that's really nice.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker: Yeah, so I think some people probably have a good idea, but others I want to just, I touch on this, what food products is the region of Valance really known for. And also just thinking about making, you know, some people visit, they want to create like beautiful gifts and I, I always could say a food gift is a love gift.
Speaker: So what would you think are some of the best things you could here? Oh, my, here. Oh my gosh. Well,
Speaker 2: lavender honey.
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Lavender honey.
Speaker 2: The taste is indescribable. It's one of my favorite foods I've ever eaten, I think. And there's all sorts of other different honeys too. [00:18:00] Like you, you can find truffle honey and acacia honey, and flowered honey.
Speaker 2: But really, if I'm gonna have something sweet, that's what I want. Now the other thing in our area is that there are fruit orchards absolutely everywhere. So the jams, the kfi are really outstanding but for me, the, the lavender honey is excellent. There are other products that are regional, like the free Confi, which is fruit Confi. Mm-hmm. And Apt is very well known for it.
Speaker 2: And that's like the candied fruit. They take any kind of fruit that's grown in the area, you know, apricots, peaches, pears, and they're really sweet. I think people think of them on the Christmas cakes. Kinda like the American fruitcakes.
Speaker 2: It's, they're not like that. They're so good. And they're used to be, I wanna say three factories here that just made the free [00:19:00] confi, the candied fruit. And there's still one here today. But that is something that's very regional to our area. I'd like to give a shout out if I could right now to, you can give a shout out to
Speaker: anyone you want, give shout outs. I want specifics. Gimme everything.
Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. So a shout out I would like to give to is a young couple that have a company called a little prise called Bo repo, like good rest. And it's outside of Gult and they have this beautiful stone cottage that they totally renovated.
Speaker 2: It's more than a cottage, it's like a barn. And he grows all these beautiful vegetables. She grows all these beautiful flowers, and then they sell them at this. Market that they've created. It's open, I think Tuesday through Saturday, and she's also a floral designer, so she sells the dried flowers.
Speaker 2: She makes our garland for our fireplace, and I, [00:20:00] we just went this week and ordered, I think this is the fourth year in a row that we've ordered from her, and she's really an artist when it comes to that. But besides that, they carry all these regional, delicious products that. Are all in one place.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've seen it here or there, but they've gathered them all together at Bo repo. And so every time we go there, we do shopping, we buy fresh fruits and vegetables and we buy, John bought some salted caramel cookies the other day.
Speaker: Oh that sounds amazing.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. And they, so they have all these wonderful regional products, teas and cakes and candies and, you know, salty things too, vinegars sauces.
Speaker 2: So it's, it's absolutely worth a stop bow. BEAU, Rupo, R-E-P-O-S.
Speaker: So on that same note what are some other small producers that you know of that [00:21:00] you wanna let everyone know that have exceptional specialty foods as well, besides Bo repo?
Speaker 2: There is a vendor at our market and we've seen them a lot of the other markets, and it's a Rome, Mediterranean mediterranee. And they have little bottles of the most delicious sauces. Like they make a pesto that's just out of this world. They make a pesto truffle sauce that's out of this world.
Speaker 2: They make. Like artichoke creams and a lot of stuff for a pif. Now we of course put our pasta or pesto on the pasta, but they and top aade wonderful, wonderful top aade. But I will say a lot of vendors make their own top AAU and homemade top AAU is like out of this world too.
Speaker 2: It's delicious. There's vendors from Sanon, they're always at the market on Saturdays and our smaller Tuesday market napped on Tuesdays and they make [00:22:00] incredible shoved cheese and I would rather buy it from the person that makes it, yeah.
Speaker 2: If I can get off of food for a second, I want everything. Give me everything. Okay. So, yeah, so if you're thinking about what else to take home, you can't go wrong with lavender products because they're easy to take.
Speaker 2: Okay. Yes. The honey, you're gonna have to put in bubble wrap or somewhere in your clothes so it doesn't break. But , the lavender soaps. The lavender sachets. Mm-hmm. The, there's lavender oil that I put in my bath, you know, lavender is a huge industry here.
Speaker 2: It's a livelihood of many people and. The best is right here. So go buy some salt at the market. Agreed. Or go to a distillery. Lael is very close to us and we love going there, especially when they're distilling the lavender because you can just smell it as soon as you park the car and walk.
Speaker 2: So that's really fun. Olive wood products. Mm-hmm. I just [00:23:00] never could really get olive wood products. When we first came here. I thought, oh, so then I bought some salad. PNGs and took 'em back to the US and used 'em. And I was like, oh man, these are lightweight, they're beautiful.
Speaker 2: The wood is a gorgeous marbled and you can get anything. You can get bowls, you can get platters, you can get plates, you can get candlestick holders, and they make great gifts. One of my friends I just saw the other day, she was buying one last Saturday because one of her friends had admired her, so she was buying her that same one. Other thing that's always easy to take back home are the beautiful French linens, whether it's for the kitchen, for your bedroom, it's really great. So take those home because they're lightweight sheets aren't lightweight, but.
Speaker 2: The hand towels are very lightweight and they're beautiful, and they're unique and they all say something about Provence.
Speaker: I mean, honestly, I feel like if you are really [00:24:00] into it, then just pack an extra bag that you know that you're going to be filling, because the linens, like we sleep in French linen, it's like a duvet cover, and it is amazing.
Speaker: And it's worth it if you're willing to pack an extra bag to have
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. It breathes better. There's a reason it's all natural. It's made by artisan. You're supporting and , it's great hand embroidered. Hand embroider everything. Yeah, everything just has, it's just really, really special.
Speaker: So I, again, yeah, highly recommend that. And also, I wanna touch a little bit more too on the soap situation, because of course I love lavender soap. It's my favorite. But there are some amazing vendors, pretty much, I feel like in every market in, in this area, but especially in X, there is a, I call him our soap guy, and he has all these marsai soaps, which, I mean, Marsai is known for the soaps that they have.
Speaker: So, it's probably 10, 12 feet long and just stack with all of [00:25:00] these beautiful jewels of different colors of soap and they all have different like beautiful natural scents everything from verina to citrus to lavender and beyond so many things you could think about.
Speaker: And we love those. 'cause again, it's just, it's all natural. It's not gonna dry your skin out made by an artisan. Right. And like super duper special.
Speaker 2: And they're, to me, I was always drawn to. The Marsay soaps because they're very architectural looking, you know, they're the big squares. Yes. And they look so fabulous stacked up in bathroom or somewhere else.
Speaker 2: They do. Yeah, like
Speaker: a guest bathroom too. Mm-hmm. They look really, really fun too. Yeah. I always remember when, you know, you started to go to France and you'd come back way before you moved and there was always like a big block Marsai soap in our bathroom. So yeah, it was fun. I'm going to switch gears a bit and talk about probably one of my favorite topics, which, I mean, if you follow us on [00:26:00] Instagram, you know that I'm obsessed with all of the antique and broan markets, shops, everything.
Speaker: And this woman right here, just to give a little background, so my mom. Grew up with antiques in her house. It was always part of it. Because your grandmother ran an antiques business. She had red barn antiques in Lincoln, Nebraska. Yeah. And so you grew up with that. And then you actually started for a while, long before you moved to France, you started the Paris.
Speaker: It was just funny. Paris, Texas antiques. So you would actually go all the time. You would find some things in France, but then you would also go to round top Texas to find all of these beautiful antiques. And I grew up my whole life with that. Yeah. And so I think you were a huge, huge influence on me and kind of how I decorate.
Speaker: So talk to me more specifically for Provence, [00:27:00] they have such an incredible reputation, not only for antique shopping, but the thing about this region is that you can get antiques for such a good price too.
Speaker: Oh yeah. So like, it's so, it's really good. It's so great. So what makes, what makes sourcing antiques here so special besides obviously the, the cost.
Speaker 2: There's so many of them. There are so many of them. I've had people say to me before we moved and I was bringing antiques back, and they'd say, well, how can there be that many antiques?
Speaker 2: Haven't they all been sold by now? No. Wow. No. What happens is that a lot of them, are in the family, and so let's say somebody's grandmother dies and. They call their favorite antique dealer and say, do you wanna come over and have first look at my grandmother's beautiful 17th century, 18th century antiques.
Speaker 2: Wow. And who I'm talking about are our favorite antique dealers. And that's Jean Bernard and [00:28:00] Natalie Masse, who have LA Boutique anti care in. It's amazing. And we started buying from them very, very early on, and they just have incredible taste. People come to them, but then they know where to go, and you walk in the shop and you wanna buy everything in there.
Speaker 2: They specialize, I would say, in mirrors and chandeliers. French, Italian. We have an Italian chandelier. It's that I'm looking at right now from them. Upholstered, beautifully upholstered. Furniture that Natalie has upholstered and it's in a heavy linen called Sean, and it's just gorgeous and their prices are correct.
Speaker 2: They're right, they're fair. And so that's really what we love about them. They're good taste, they're fairness in their pricing and just the, their avi.
Speaker: [00:29:00] Yeah.
Speaker 2: So,
Speaker: yeah, so
Speaker 2: LA Boutique Land Care highly recommend it. Other places we like to shop in the area we've fallen madly in love with Eel Sorg.
Speaker 2: We bought a beautiful bogar mirror there from this wonderful vendor who has Veron, who has mirror and frames, and that's all he has on a shop, and it's on the main street in Ila Sorg, not too far from vo, the fabulous Patisserie.
Speaker 2: There are others that we really, really like, but it's just outside of Paris. RG is the antique capital of France, not
Speaker: just Provence, France. Yeah, it's incredible what's funny is I feel like. When we used to go to Texas and we'd go to round Top, I feel like half of the antiques that were there were probably from Es like surrounding areas.
Speaker: Yeah. [00:30:00] There's a lot of dealers that I will meet, and there's one in particular he mostly has mirrors and some ceramics and he's fabulous. And anyways, we met him and started up a conversation and realized, 80% of his business is sourcing things for vendors in Round Top.
Speaker: Oh. So he works very closely with a lot of American clients. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. I love it. But it's just, you're right. It's what I will say is that I, Sorg is definitely because everything is like a little bit more curated. It's beautiful. It will come with a heavier price tag mm-hmm. Because of that.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. 'Cause I feel like it's like the Disneyland of antiques. It's just this adorable, cute town that's on a river. Oh. It's very picturesque. Everything is curated. But it's worth it though, and we've still been able to find really good deals there. But for people that love the look of I, but they don't want maybe the price tag, like what would you recommend in terms [00:31:00] of places for to go? Um,
Speaker 2: well, every Sunday there is an antique market in market in carpentry. Yes. And that's about an hour from here. And a lot of smalls, they do have furniture, but it's a lot of small things, lots of artwork.
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. You know,
Speaker 2: things like, when I say smalls, that's like dishes, linens, VAEs. Pottery. But I think for me what stands out to me there is, is the art. And it's very well priced.
Speaker: I agree. I remember the first time you ever told me about going and so we went with the kids. We were insane, on an hot August day.
Speaker: But it was so worth it because I found three unbelievable pieces of artwork all with frames and I think it cost me under 200 euro and I borrowed slightly with a couple of them, but I could not believe the prices. 'cause they're like, they're pieces that are hanging up in our apartment that we love look at every day.
Speaker: I mean like a great, what a [00:32:00] find, you know.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. The last Sunday of every month, there is a wonderful market, antique market in Gallier, and we've only been once. We just, it was the very end of the hot weather and we went with some friends. And we found some fabulous champagne flutes there, vintage, but it's very high quality as well.
Speaker 2: And it runs throughout the town Gliere is outside of San Ramida Provence, and it's a beautiful drive. It really is. We shouldn't forget every Saturday morning in Viles Avenue, there is a Broco market.
Speaker: I can't, absolutely can't forget about that one. The only thing I'll say too is that it's a market that can be a little bit more highly priced, but again, it's so well curated.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. And you can find the most insane pieces there. Yeah. I love that you found a painting there. I did find a painting [00:33:00] there. It's now in my kitchen. And what I really wanted though, because the first time I ever went was with you and we found that piece. It was called, it was, it's called a tete.
Speaker: It's like hard to describe, essentially it's like this, like curved. Sitting piece of furniture where someone is sitting on either side of it, it's almost has an S-curve to it. And so you're sitting like head to head Teta Tet. But anyways, it was just so ornate and so gorgeous. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, it was, I wish right now.
Speaker: Fabulous. I had kids that were a little older and I could buy this and they would destroy
Speaker 2: it. So,
Speaker: you
Speaker 2: know. Well, I don't know if you remember Honey, but you and John bought me the scarf. It's a vintage Hermes scarf at that same market for Mother's Day.
Speaker: Oh, I would never forget that. That's one of the other things I love, love, love about that market at v Nobles Avenue.
Speaker: So it's just outside of Avenue is that They have, there's that booth and I don't know the name of it, and they barely give you a bag with like what you [00:34:00] purchase, but they have the coolest vintage designer pieces, which honestly I'm like, that's where it's at. I'm really not into buying a lot of designer stuff because I think the quality has gone down so much.
Speaker: And the designs too, in a lot of ways. Or not as unique as they used to be, but you can go to this place they had, I mean, what are they, vintage Chanel East and Lauren and MAs, and we found this beautiful scarf and the colors, they're like, I mean, you're wearing it right now. It's like this peachy pink. Like just ugh.
Speaker: Which is like a harder color design. It's a great design. .
Speaker 2: The other thing about that particular booth is that their clothes are in fantastic condition. They're clean, they're well presented, they're not just like, put a whole bunch of scarfs in a bin or something, and you can go through 'em.
Speaker 2: Right. No, it's very, very well curated as you would say.
Speaker: Yeah. But you know I kind of love the places too. That's the thing. Even in [00:35:00] carpentry, you go and things are not very well curated the same way, but that's why it's such a good price. You have to dig through Exactly. A little bit more.
Speaker: Exactly. It's almost more like a flea market it feels like, but yeah. But then you find like the most beautiful things. You just have to be willing to sort of look at a lot of stuff that you know, you won't wanna take home and find the treasures.
Speaker 2: You can definitely find some treasures.
Speaker 2: There's some real gems and it's in a big parking lot in carpentry. And after the market, we always go to a wonderful restaurant called Shea Sege, that's just right across the street, and their specialty is truffles. And so if you want truffle pasta, but they make other beautiful French food and the price on Sundays, they have a special price for their Marsha luncheon, and it's always consistently yummy.
Speaker 2: So I would recommend that twice a year the carpentry market moves over to the old train station [00:36:00] parking lot, which is enormous, and vendors come from all over. It's at Easter time and I think it's also in August, mid-August. So there are plenty of online. You can find where all the big flea market fairs are, but that is a good one.
Speaker 2: Our dining room chairs, we found there several things that we bought when we first had purchased our apartment. We bought at these big, huge market twice a year.
Speaker: So when you go to all of these fabulous bro cons, flea markets, antiquing, what are your tips? Because you are the queen of antiques in my mind. Negotiating and identifying like really good stuff.
Speaker 2: Well, I go by what I really love and what I think would look good in our house. And you know, we don't have a whole lot more room left. No, you don't. We have a small apartment, but. I look for things that are useful. Mm-hmm. Um, I'm gonna give you an [00:37:00] example. We had a beautiful sofa table. It was a table that was in a jewelry store that the vendor would show the jewelry.
Speaker 2: It had this little leather top and we've had it for several years. Bought it from Natalie and we were in ILS Sorg a few weeks ago, and we saw this beautiful painted cabinet and we just saw it dead in our tracks. And we went and looked at it. We photographed it, we talked to the vendor, came home, measured it fit perfectly behind our couch.
Speaker 2: And it has a whole lot of storage. Whereas the other tables, which is hard to come by in France I know. Which is hard to come by and it looks fabulous in our living room. And you're gonna get that other table. I know.
Speaker: We've been looking for a desk for a while, for Jordan, and. My mom had suggested once she found this other piece that we could take mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah. Uh, the existing piece that they had. So anyways, that's, [00:38:00] that's exciting. So I can't wait to kinda share more about that.
Speaker 2: So what we did was, you know, it had a particular price on it and we said, is that your best price? And they'll usually deal with you, almost every antique dealer, unless I don't wanna sell it, we'll deal with you.
Speaker 2: And he gave us a good price. And then he said it includes the delivery. Oh, hell yes. Yeah. That's amazing. So you gotta do that. And I have to say again, one of our other favorite pieces is the Swedish cabinet. It's in our dining room, the Painted Swedish cabinet. It's like from, it's from 1803.
Speaker 2: It's not super duper old, but man, it is very cool. And I found that on Instagram from a young antique dealer at the Port Sanon Flea market. The big flea market. Marcha PO in Paris. And I connected with her on Instagram and we [00:39:00] saw some other things that we liked too online. But we went up for two nights, went up to Paris specifically to look at these, 'cause we needed a piece, a cabinet for our dining room.
Speaker 2: And we looked at several antique stores in the sixth on mall. And then we went out to Santo Juan to see hers. And she, I mean, I bet this was. Before COVID, so it was probably six years ago. This gal, I bet she's now maybe in her mid thirties and just fabulous taste. But it cost us only ship from Paris to our home. It was 180 Euros. Amazing. I know. That's the best. And again, I think it's because these moving companies, they bring stuff down to the south all the time from Paris.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's a, they probably have it down to a science at this point. Well, yeah. And they're probably going, probably dropping stuff off at Il Las Sorg too. But that was a happy, and then when we go back to Paris, when we go back to Santo Juan, we always go by and say hi to her [00:40:00] and just, she's just such a special young woman.
Speaker: One more thing I wanted you to touch on is talking about any other markets you can think of that are more of the seasonal ones that happened that are the big Hans. 'cause I know that you touched on the one in carpentry, but there's a few others.
Speaker 2: There are large markets. Avignon has, I think twice a year, maybe more, has huge markets outside of Avignon. And if you are with a tour group that the tour operator has a business license, then you can buy there and do the shipping.
Speaker 2: So if you wanna come to France and do a antique tour with Cory Amma or French Larksburg, who's from the us, you can get into those markets.
Speaker: That is such a good tip because I have several friends who have used, her name is Corey Amrow. She's a good friend of my mom's husband for, I don't know, 20 years at this point now, something like that. And her and her daughter have a wonderful business called [00:41:00] Your French Rendezvous. And they essentially, if you're looking to, for instance, whether you live in France, you live in another European country, you live in America, but you're specifically looking for French antiques and just beautiful fines from Brohan.
Speaker: They know everyone and they have really great relationships. And so you can literally come with them and they will take you to places that you'll never be able to find, nor be able to access without them. And buy everything from a gorgeous antique marble tub for your bathroom renovation to copper pots for a song, for your kitchen, things like that.
Speaker: So that's is a really good point. Something like the Avignon market you would have to hire them to. So moving on from antiques and now talking, I think to something that I feel like I'm gonna shut up and just let you speak on this because this is your jam right here, is all about fashion, fashion, [00:42:00] fashion.
Speaker: So as we know, I am not. I, like I said, I like to look good. I don't happen to love to shop for clothes. Mm-hmm. So I feel like every time that you're around, you're my stylist and you tell me what to buy. That looks good.
Speaker 2: I love to go shopping with you. I really do. So we need to Thank you.
Speaker 2: We need you
Speaker: more of that. I know. How would you kind of describe the Provenza style in terms of how people dress here and what makes it different from like, let's say the Parisian style and how people dress? Oh, yes. Well,
Speaker 2: provenance is definitely more casual
Speaker 3: mm-hmm. Than
Speaker 2: Paris, but it's not any less chic at all.
Speaker 2: You know, everybody wears scarf, they put a little French twist on whatever they wear, and they may have on jeans and a t-shirt, but they're wearing a cool scarf, some cool earrings. They've got a great bag. They wear really nice blazers. They'll wear sneakers, but they'll be really cool.
Speaker 2: They call them baskets [00:43:00] here in France and they'll wear designer baskets that maybe have, they aren't all designer, but they've got like leopard gold, all sorts of different designs on them. Suede, I've seen orange and pink suede. And it's really cute to see how they dress. And a lot of times they match, like they have on the orange and pink suede baskets.
Speaker 2: They've got a pink suede bag that they're cur. Love it. Love it. Yeah. And it's gotten colder and it's cold in Paris too, but like today at the Marche, I saw a lot of beautiful longer coats that women were wearing they do wear the puffers, but the long puffers or short, but the long puffers, they always cinch 'em in at the waist for that.
Speaker 2: It's so funny, they don't wear hats as much as you would think, but just everybody wears scarfs. It's just men and women. And during the summer, absolutely adorable. Sundresses, colorful. We both shopped at Soli Auto. Soli Auto is. [00:44:00] Probably an iconic Provent Saul brand that has been around, you know, for years and years.
Speaker 2: I think it started in Terracon, France. And their clothing is so proven salt. It's colorful, it's happy. I just love their dress. I love that dress on you. It's just fabulous.
Speaker 2: Yeah. They have
Speaker: Really interesting patterns, colors, the way that they just fit on your body, the cut is really, really good. And they also became really famous in, I believe it was the late 1980s or early 1990s because Princess die Right. Wore one of their bags, everywhere she went. So, they're still going strong today.
Speaker 2: Another brand that I really have come to love is Ragnar and they originated in grass with perfumes and perfume soaps, et cetera, and then got into clothing. And their clothing is very whimsical and very wearable and very provenance [00:45:00] salt. They have stores all over now, but I think when they first started it was grass and oral, and we see 'em at the airport now.
Speaker: I know. I was just about to say, they're getting so big there at the airport, I love that too. I, yeah, again, it kind of like colorful, lots of great patterns. Really interesting. That's very, very proven. So,
Speaker 2: so that's, that's fun. Yeah.
Speaker: The other thing though too, is for instance, and I feel like a lot of people when they talk about visiting provenance, and they have this idea that a lot of people do wear white linen, things like that in the summer, which is also very true, very proven saw.
Speaker: You'll see locals wearing. Like lots of whites or creams or khaki linen, like a lavender, blue and white pinstripe, all of that.
Speaker: Where do you think are like your favorite places to find clothing? That kind of more embodies that look and vibe?
Speaker: Oh,
Speaker 2: well I love linen clothes. I really [00:46:00] do. Are, they're probably the epitome of summer dressing in Provence. You can buy 'em at the Marcha buy I was gonna say, you can buy, I feel like the markets, yeah. You, you can buy them at, some of the small boutiques here in app. There's Song Cat, which is 1 0 4, which is our address, and they have beautiful linen dresses there and good pricing.
Speaker 2: I personally love Isabelle Morant and I love her white pieces that have the embroidery and they're just really fun and I get those at. LA Grand Boutique in X. So I really, really like that. And they carry her husband's bags, Jerome Dreyfus, which I love. His little bags, the little Bobby s and I carry those almost every day.
Speaker 2: So that's a store that I really like to shop at. It's got a very curated look and very cool. Very feminine, but a little bit of rock and roll too. Mm. So
Speaker: yeah,
Speaker 2: [00:47:00] that's kind
Speaker: of your vibe. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: But seriously, I've bought clothes at the, at the markets. A lot of people do. I feel like I've
Speaker: bought most of my clothes that I love that are at least during the summertime
Speaker 4: mm-hmm.
Speaker 4: From the
Speaker: markets because I don't know a lot of the, I wouldn't say everyone, especially in the X market, there's a lot of stalls that are just very cheap and the clothes are not going to last forever. But there, there's some that are really good and you can't believe that they an open air stall at this market.
Speaker: Yeah. And I mean it's definitely lasted over two years, washing a lot and it's, yeah, it's been great. So Good. I think I'd definitely recommend that. And then if you're someone who is wanting to not only buy things for yourself, but maybe even buy something, you know, while you're visiting, if you are in the region.
Speaker: What do you think are staple wardrobe pieces that make great additions or gifts? Oh, scarfs,
Speaker 2: scarfs. Scarfs. Scarfs. Yeah. Because you can find, like we said, the [00:48:00] vintage ones. You can find Italian vintage ones at the market today. I walked by at least three stalls full of beautiful scarfs. Yeah. And the prices are really good.
Speaker 2: You know, scarfs make such a difference to an outfit. It just adds that extra pop of color. So if you have on all white, which I have on today, and I've got my pink, you know, and that's my pop. Yeah.
Speaker: I was kind of doing a little bit of research before this. Episode and to me what you just said resonates so much with actually Jackie O Oh.
Speaker: Because especially, I mean, when she, in the 1970s when she really, mm-hmm. Like she was always a style icon, but like when she really kind of. Came into her own, especially when she, you know, married an onassis and she always had a scarf on. Always.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, and don't forget her big black sunglasses. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So
Speaker: glamorous. So [00:49:00] glamorous. Yeah. But it's true though. It adds like this special thing. And what I also realized too is she would wear a scarf it was either tied in a very French way, they have like, you know mm-hmm. 15 different styles, I feel like how they can tie a scarf, but then, or she'd always have a little clasp or a little special brooch or something that would also sometimes be a part of her scarf situation.
Speaker: So, or put
Speaker 2: it through her jeans
Speaker 2: And a lot of French women, they like to tie their smaller scarfs onto their bags. Yeah, I
Speaker: picked that up from you. Yeah. And I started to do that. Yeah. Cool.
Speaker: In fact, when I was very pregnant. And then you came in right after the babies were born? Yeah, the twins were born. That was your gift to me was you bought me in maze scarf. That was really special. And I love wearing it.
Speaker: It's just every time I wear it, it brings me back to that time and it feels very special and nostalgic to wear it. So I love it. Oh, that's great. Well, that was a special time. I think that's also like when we talk about shopping and that's something [00:50:00] that, you know, I wanted to bring up is. Like shopping wherever you go when you're traveling is so much more special because a memory and an experience is tied to it.
Speaker: It's not just like absolutely going to your mall and picking up whatever that you need. It's like seeking out these things that you wouldn't necessarily be able to find if you didn't live there. Yeah. And even now that I live here, what's funny is I find that I shop less because I feel like the French in general are just not as shopping obsessed as we are in the United States.
Speaker: But they do love to dress well and have really nice things. And so that's the thing for me is I, even when I seek out these things, I'm still so thankful that they're right outside in my backyard, essentially. Exactly. You know, finding these very special pieces. So yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker: So just thinking about, people coming to visit or if they live here and wanting to send something amazing for visitors or just a loved one. If you were to build the [00:51:00] perfect French gift basket, what would you put in it?
Speaker 2: Well, I would definitely put one of our friend Jamie Beck's beautiful candles that she's creating with her company, Jamie Beck dot Seal.
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2: Um, Jamie's the photographer who's written two books about provenance and American and provenance and the flowers of provenance. And, she's created lots of different products, but I think her candles, I've got the second one burning right now. The first one was ri, this one is a, a rose candle with some beautiful other scents.
Speaker 2: And that would be special because it's not, I mean, I love dip teak. I. Always will, but there's dip tea stores everywhere. This is very special. Right. It's very artisan. And yes, I would do that. And I do have to give a shout out to Jamie's planner that this is the first time she's ever done an annual planner.
Speaker 2: And it is absolutely,
Speaker: it's beautiful. Gorgeous. I have mine. [00:52:00] You bought me and I can't wait to, yeah, I think we'll get into it next week when I have more time during the Thanksgiving break. So pencil and
Speaker 2: pen set and yeah, I mean that, that to me would be a wonderful, wonderful gift. Lavender products, the soaps lavender bath salts.
Speaker 2: There is lavender cleaning products too, but I don't know if I'd put that in a gift basket. So, um, uh, there is an artist here, an Australian artist. Whose work she's a friend and whose work is really becoming well thought of. And her name is Amanda Daniel Amanda daniel.com and she's a former chef who still cooks amazing, amazing food.
Speaker 2: And she's a painter and she paints these whimsical little paintings of antique french chairs or crowns or Marie Antoinette's shoe. And she's starting to get some of these groups that come over to do antique buying and art buying. And she serves them tea at her [00:53:00] house and makes all the food while they look at her art and she explains it to them.
Speaker 2: And then they buy. So if you wanna go to Amanda's when you do come, let her know. And, and if you have a group of four or so, she'll put something together and you can look at her.
Speaker: When you think about just all the really interesting experiences you can have, I feel like that's such a great one because I mean, what an amazing immersive afternoon you can have.
Speaker: Yes. With everything, you know, cooking, buying,
Speaker 2: art, ev And the other thing is she and her partner have renovated their three story Maison Deville and Apt filled with antiques. And that alone is just worth going over there to see.
Speaker: Last question for you. If you only had one day to shop, how would you spend it?
Speaker: And we're gonna start in the south of France, and then we're gonna end in Paris. I
Speaker 2: would probably go to ILS Las Sorg because there's just so much there and it's so [00:54:00] beautiful. It's the Venice of Provence, you know, there's little canals everywhere. Excellent restaurants, excellent shopping.
Speaker 2: Not just for antiques, but for other things so that you get a lot of bang for your buck going there, going to ils la sword.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's, that's why I call the Disneyland. I, if you wanna see if antique shops open, it's Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker: Yeah, that's a really good point. Otherwise, it's kind of, not a lot is happening. Mm-hmm. Everything's closed, so Yeah. That's awesome. And then if you were to spend the day in Paris and you only had one day to shop would you do Santa, the one up north?
Speaker 2: The Marsha, it's big. You probably can't see everything in one day, but there are some really good, there's, they're set up in different little areas, like one's Paul Barrett and one's Sir Pet, and there's several of them. And so just do [00:55:00] your research ahead of time. And are you looking for, you know, vintage clothes?
Speaker 2: Are you looking for art Nouveau furniture? Are you looking for 17th, 18th century furniture? That's how they're divided up. So yeah, that's what I would do. Awesome. And maybe to go there, take a cab back. Yeah, that's a, that's
Speaker: a great point. Thank you so much for your time. This has been so fun to go down memory lane and just talk through all the fun things because it is, it's like, this is one of the reasons that we live here, is just to be surrounded by so many beautiful things to fill our homes with, put clothes on, fill our bellies with, it's just, it's such an experience and it's why, Provence has these gorgeous markets and they're known for their antiques. They've just curated such a beautiful place, market, and experience for everyone that's coming. So it's really fun to, it's great today. Yeah, it would great to chat with you
Speaker 2: too, honey. And I just, I love to see how you've been enjoying the [00:56:00] antique markets and how you've been decorating your beautiful apartment.
Speaker: Thank you. Thank you. Well, new and old, but yeah, we're definitely finding some things that actually I will be kind of sharing my journey. We are looking for some more artwork for our bedroom. It's still not complete. And so I think you and I need to definitely book a time to go to carpentry together without the kids.
Speaker: Okay. Just you and I and go looking and scouting because I need to find something asap. It's like a bare wall that's driving me crazy. So stay tuned. Thanks. Thanks guys. We'll see you next week.