braderie de lilles

we spent yesterday at the braderie de lilles, in the north of france. touted as the largest flea market of europe, it is really more of a street festival, with lots of booths selling t-shirts, socks, gadgets, and most of all.... food! in fact, the signature dish of the day is mussels, and the restaurant that has the largest pile of empty mussel shells at the end of the weekend wins some sort of prize. of course, i was mostly looking for the booths selling vintage flea-market stuff and i did find those, mostly on the outskirts of the town and away from the commercial center. here are some pictures to wet your appetite.