Tools/furniture/woodworking in London & Paris

I was in Paris a few years ago...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>I didn't find much of anything. One of the big dept. stores has a cafe in it with a bunch of old hand tools on the wall, but nothing to write home to mom about.

Paris

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi Rob,

I don'T get to Paris as much as I used to, but I always try to drop by the flea market at Porte de Clignancourt (the north end of the city). Don't get your hopes up too high though, nice tools are few and far between, and not cheap. As is often the case, the best place to find used tools in France is in medium to small sized towns. In big cities most of the stuff has ben picked up by antique dealers (although ironically most antique dealers in Paris are too upscale to sell tools). You'd have to ask around to find out more, but last time I went it was on Sundays.

However, Paris is a great place to go see furniture. My two favorites are the Mus�e D'Orsay, and the Mus�e des Arts d�coratifs. There's some really awe-inspiring Art Nouveau stuff at these two places. Of course there's always the Louvre, which can easily take half a day just for the furniture, if you want to see classic stuff by Boule et al. Chateau de Versailles is worth a visit too if time allows (about half an hour southwest of Paris, easily accessible by public transit/RER). Most of the furniture is not original to the chateau but they have done a great job of finding nice pieces from the 18th century.

Re: Paris

RobR

>Thanks!

Re: Paris *LINK*

Miles

>There is a truly wonderful tool museum in Troyes, a town within easy reach of Paris, described as follows in one tourist guide:

"Maison de l'Outil et de la Pens�e Ouverte, (Mon 1–6pm, Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; €6.50). Troyes' most original tourist attraction by far, this surprisingly fascinating museum of tools, with seventeenth-, eighteenth- and ninteenth-century exhibits, provides a window into the world of the workers who used them and the people who crafted them, with emphasis on context. State-of-the-art techniques have somehow managed to transform shoals of hammers and spanners, flocks of axes and chisels, and myriad implements used by coopers, wheelwrights and tile-makers into jewel-like treasures."

You can easily spend most of a day in this museum, and the town's about 100 miles from Paris so a pretty easy train ride from Paris - trains in France are excellent. It's also a very pleasant place to go in general, so perhaps a planned alternative to Paris for part of your trip, if your other half doesn't want to do the tools all day.


Troyes, France

Re: Paris

RobR

>merci'