What to buy in the Annecy Markets

I promised to show you the two markets that take place under our window every week - here's a view of the food market, which happens three times a week. Here we buy mostly local fruit and veg, cheese, sausage and so on - the local repas du jour is cheese, bread and sausage and it's a wonder people aren't grossly overweight with that kind of eating ... but in fact every one is lithe and fit. We fit right in, haha.

I snapped a pic of the market when it wasn't busy - by 11 a.m. or noon the streets are teeming with people and you can hardly move. I buy my fruit and veggies from a gent named Verdi and his two brothers. They usually throw in a few free peaches grown in the mountains - a nice perk. If you visit, you simply must buy the (cured, pork) sausage, or as the French say, les saucissons - I'm pluralizing as you can't just get one - they are too delish (and this coming from a gal who doesn't do a lot of meat). The more you buy, the cheaper the price gets (five Euros for one, 15 Euros for five) - and you can get every flavour. Our fave so far: the one with the mushrooms inside. You can also buy a large tub of seasoned olives of every kind (sweet or hot) for between 7-10 Euros, and it lasts for weeks.

The antique market, meanwhile, is the last Saturday of every month. It goes on from around 8 a.m. to 5 or 6p.m., so there's plenty of time to rummage. There's a little bit of everything, though I'd say the vintage clothing, accessories and jewellery pickings are sparse - perhaps a good thing for a lover of beautiful things like moi.

What jewellery there was, wasn't really my style - a bit old-fashioned.

But my eagle-eye landed upon this substantial 1970s gold-tone and faux turquoise necklace - for only eight Euros! A screaming deal for Annecy, my friends. And it just so happens to go with my blue-green dress that I bought in the old town (pictured below).

Plenty of cowbells here, folks (at least I think that's what they are). There's an annual festival in town in October that's called Retour des Alpages - part of an old tradition marking the return of the the cows (whose milk is used for cheese) from the mountains, where they've been grazing all summer. Apparently they parade the cows through the streets of the old town before they put them in their fall and winter digs inside, and there's a whole day's festivities associated with big event. Love it.

We're surrounded by the French Alps, so there's no shortage of skis, sleds and other rustic wooden implements and furniture. Another great local find are lakeside or mountain paintings, like the ones you see propped against the canal railing. I spied some beautiful tiny paintings of the lake, but some were as pricy as 150 Euro. I would love to have a work of art depicting local scenery in our place, but will hold out spending that kind of cash until we see one we both love and can't live without.

Another thing I saw a lot of: ornate tin boxes, most of them larger and more rustic looking than the one pictured above. I really loved this one (but didn't buy it as it was 40 Euros!) as it was so folky looking. Maybe next time.

This was the least rustic Alpine booth of all so I thought I'd show it to you: I call it the Mod corner.

We need a chair in our apartment - and wouldn't you know, I found this one right under my window! You know my penchant for green velvet upholstered furniture. (I left a chair and a loveseat on the sidewalk in Toronto when I moved, as I couldn't get any charity to pick them up, wah). This one was comfy, slightly worn (my preference, always), with a strong wooden frame. Price: 135 Euros, but we could have talked the guy down, I bet. Mon mari wasn't convinced that it would show beautifully in our lovely pad, but I know I'm right: let me work on him for three weeks until the next market. If it's still there, we wouldn't have to try too hard to get it into our apartment!

We did come home with this beaut of a rug, old, worn and featuring an almost Peacock blue that is rare in rugs of this kind. What started off as 50 Euros went down to 30 Euros the longer we stood there and hemmed and hawed (thought of course I knew it would work, and ultimately darling hubby deferred to my decor authority). And it does indeed look grand in our huge living room, and actually complements the one old Persian rug I did bring with me.

All in all, in spite of a few freaky-scary dolls, it was a fun day . The next market is July 28, and I'll be there!