Happy Easter!

Easter has sent the chocolate makers of France into a frenzy of ever more elaborate creations. Shops are stuffed with eggs, rabbits and hens, all presented with miles of ribbon and chic plastic packaging. Here's the window of Apt's finest patissier-confiseur J. C. Rousset - a personal opinion, of course, as the French will happily debate the relative merits of competing establishments (especially where bread and desserts are concerned) with gusto and forensic attention to detail.

And it may be Easter Sunday but there were plenty more shoppers with exacting standards at the local Vide Grenier this morning. This may be of lesser quality than a Brocante - literally, a "Clear the Attic" sale - but the crowds were out and the prices ranged as ever from the near-gift to the insanely optimistic. (Perhaps both ends of the scale are a reaction to the eye-wateringly high cost of all the Easter chocolate: the large egg pictured, gleaming dark and red-marbled, was 53 euros...) 

A bright sun shone cruelly on many of the dustier items but in amongst the mountains of rubbish, you can always find gems at these events. Today there was plenty of nice glassware, and some interesting pieces of garden furniture. Here's what we came back with, given that our intent was just a stroll around under blue skies: a small wooden side-table, useful in all sorts of places, for 5 euros and a pretty tray for one euro. Last of the big spenders, eh? But there's nothing like coming back with a bargain!