And now to France...

It is nice being in France because at least I can communicate a little....I am always happy being in la belle France and it feels very comfortable being there....let's have coffee and then go out and see what's out there, d'accord?

A few blocks out and I spy a flea market...let's have a look...

I always MUST look thru the old postcards...

Old coins, old currency, postcards, stamps, letters.....
what's not to like?

If you see this guy, follow him....trust me....he knows ALL the best places to go...

Inspiration is everywhere....even the soap looks beautiful...

La Poste has bikes all over...I was tempted to take one for a spin but I thought better of it..

It wasn't easy to keep up the travel journal with all the excitement but I did it.
Needed a pastry for energy after all that walking...

Feeding the La Poste mailbox...

This was just a brief look at Strasbourg -- a really lovely city in France -- lots to see and do and much fun to be had.  Museums, great restaurants and bakeries, beautiful old buildings, outdoor food markets, flea markets, cafes, amazing churches....You might want to put it on your list!

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL!!!

Bella Roma

Roman letters dated from the 1800's for less than a euro......was it a dream?

Yes, I am back from my latest travels and heck no, I don't want to be....but I am busy looking at my hundreds of photos, putting the finishing touches on my travel journal, printing out the zines I made while traveling and looking at my beautiful flea market ephemera.
Want to come over and hang out with me?

My wonderful husband found flea markets in all three countries and I scored! I owe him big time, especially for all the time he spend going through boxes of paper looking for things I would like...

I enjoyed seeing all the mail boxes around town too. The ones in Rome are usually covered in graffiti.

When I wasn't looking in boxes of ephemera I was looking UP a lot. Those ceilings! I really want some angels and saints painted on my ceilings here at home.

Just looking at all the beauty in the small details was so inspiring. In Rome, beauty is everywhere you look.

It is so inspiring. I came home filled with ideas of things to make...

We had cake just about every afternoon. We needed it to keep our energy up, don't you think? When in Rome.....

There is also a daily stamp market in Rome (with prints and books as well). So civilized ...I wonder why we don't have things like this in the USA?

I've got lots of collage materials to keep me busy till my next trip...

And, aren't these little tin boxes perfect for storing stamps? Italian stamps I'd say.

I have LOTS more to show you of you are interested so let me know in the comments. There is still Berlin and Strasbourg and the travel journal and zines -- but I don't know if you want to see it if you don't tell me.
Now, I think I will go and play with paper.

Spanish Words You Might Want To Know

Qulero montar en su Vespa*
I like to go to flea markets, stationery shops, supermarkets and flea markets when I travel and
Spain had them all!
I even found a thrift shop and they seem to be hard to find...

(*I want to ride on your Vespa)

PAPELERIA
If you see that STOP. Papeleria means "stationery" and you know you've got to go inside....not just drool on the windows...

And, there was a lot to drool over....

I think Salazar was the name of the shop -- but it was a papeleria too. The ladies inside couldn't speak English (or French or Italian...) and I can't speak Spanish but they were amused by all my excitement and cheerfully went outside with me so I could point at the things I was interested in.
Many shops in Europe are nothing like our self-serve shops in the USA. Things are tucked away in cabinets, drawers and on shelves and customers ask for what they want.
All very civilized but tricky when you don't speak the language.
I've found ways to get around that though....

This is the window that caught my eye. I'm sure you would stop too. I go to google-translate before I go on my trips and print out little messages to hand over to clerks in shops and post offices.
Things like "I am a paper addict and I need all your stuff"....ok, not really....
"I am looking for colorful stationery" or "Do you have any rubber stamps?" on and on.....
and it works! It even worked in a post office in Russia.
Sometimes I even make little mail art zines to hand out...

Tienda de sellos
Stamps shops abounded...I was going into every one I saw until my husband finally got a grip on  me......but I did some serious stamp shopping while I had the chance...

.........how could I not?

Stamps seem to be very popular in Spain....lots of shops selling them and lots of stamp and stamp books filled with stamps at the flea markets. I'm just sayin'. In case you want to go....

Los Sellos
Sellos beings stamps!

La confiteria
You don't have to just limit yourself to stamp and stationery shops in Spain...The  candy shops are just amazing and have boxes and tins with the most beautiful graphics on them. I bought one of these cardboard boxes to bring home. I had to eat the candy first to make my suitcase lighter....

And then there are the billboards and religious shops. This is a multi-layered billboard that I was swooning over. I managed to tear off most of the big poster....and the eye......(while my sweetie was busy pretending he didn't know me).
I also rediscovered my love of holy cards in Spain and found many, many santo tarjetas to bring home too....

And then there are the mercados de pulgas (flea markets). Don't get me started.
This is a little haul of vintage holy cards from one flea market. I  found old postcards, a book filled with stamps, vintage photos and various other treasures at the flea markets I went to. The secret? A pencil and paper. I learned how to say "Cuanto cuesta?" and then hand the paper and pencil over to the vendor. A lot of bargaining was accomplished this way, along with a little acting and smiling...

Sorry about the missing accent marks on the Spanish -- I don't know how to make them on the laptop.
Hope this word list will give up a heads up if you are off to Spain. And some of the ideas work in any country.
Have any good ideas yourself that you want to share?
My next trip I won't need these tips -- I'm off to NYC in February and I can actually talk there -- so watch out! You never know what kind of trouble I will get into.
And the Vintage Paper fair is this weekend here in San Francisco -- need I say more?

Enviar correo bueno - conseguir un buen electrónico
OOPS
Asli tells me this translation is wrong...

And I forgot to say who won the stamps -- I will put that important information in my next post.
Bye kids!
(off to the Vintage Paper Fair)

Budapest Flea and more Postal Love

Budapest was a very postal-friendly city. Lots of charming post offices and mail boxes to look at, at well as a Postal Museum and a Stamp Museum (another post on those).
And a fabulous flea market. 
Want to come and check things out with me?

POSTA
Post Office and Post Box
No photos inside - no fun. But the outside looks good. And I did get my hands on free postal forms.

The Mail Boxes have legs!

Budapest Flea Market -- my husband always takes me to really cool, really off-the-beaten track flea markets. And then the poor guy has to wait around - forever - while I fondle everything postal.
What a guy!

And, this one had a lot of postal ephemera...loads of old stamps, first day covers, stamp books, old letters....just the sort of things that make me go crazy.
Forget department stores.

Give me the old paper...old photos...

Just look at those little packs of stamps. And they were cheap. Why don't I ever find things like this here in California?

Oh yes....this is where I found many of my treasures. No one spoke English but  writing numbers on paper works fine...

Some nibs for a fountain pen lover..

How could I possibly resist? Right. I couldn't.
Now that I look at this photo I am wondering why I didn't get more postal stuff. 
(It may have been the 50 pound limit on my suitcase)

After all that excitement at the flea market I needed to sit down and  have some  calming coffee and cake at the very beautiful New York Cafe. (Why New York? I don't know. I haven't seen anything like it in NYC)

OOps, I did it again. Another day, another beautiful cafe. This one is the Bookstore Cafe.
Now you know, if you are going to Budapest, you can visit lots of nice post offices, the flea market and eat cake. What more do you need?
(Maybe the Stamp Museum and Postal Museum? I'll show you those soon)

UPCOMING -- Interview with MISS RED LETTER DAY herself.
Co-author of GOOD MAIL DAY and organizer of the Ex Postal Facto mail art event coming up
here in San Francisco in February.
Anything you want to ask Jennie? This is your big chance. I'll show you a little of her studio and she'll tell you about Ex Postal Facto.
Stay Tuned.

Are the holidays over yet? I'm ready for "normal", whatever that may be.
Vintage paper fair here in SF next weekend. Maybe not as great at the Budapest Flea Market but it's one of my favorite local paper ephemera events.
See you there?