Musings on Thrifting and Flea Markets

My sister is super cool. She lives in the City (what us East Bayers call San Francisco)and has the most amazing wardrobe. She also has an extensive Fiesta Ware collection and makes her coffee every morning in a stoneware French Press. Once she was accussed of being some rich bitch, but it's so far from the truth: in fact, she buys nearly everything at the Goodwill on Mission and South Van Ness.

Ah, the City by the Bay. San Francisco is a beautiful place and, let's face it, it also has quite its share of rich people. Luckily a fair amount of them are also apparently shopaholics who donate to Goodwill (for tax reasons, to make way for the new, who knows?)and my sister is there with her hawk-like eyes, ready to gather and glean their cast offs. San Francisco, the city where you can have a world class wardrobe at five bucks (or less)a pop....

Unfortunately Berlin doesn't have much in the way of thrift stores. What we DO have, however, are flea markets. Any travel guide will have some of the bigger ones listed, but for the most part, they are all quite touristy and not the place to go if you're looking for bargain. Here is a list (in German) of the flea markets in Berlin: Click Me.
Personally, I think the best are the one in Mitte on Arkona Platz, Boxhagener Platz in Friedrichhain, and the one by Rathaus Steglitz.

Today I took some pictures at the one near my house on Marheineke Platz. As you can see, there are many things to be had there, including sex toys (though somehow I have the feeling, sex toys and underwear are things you should probably be buying new!!!)

As a last note: Isn't baby Li adorable? (I promise I will not end all of my blog posts with pictures of my children. I may fancy myself one hip mama, but in the end I'm really just a mom. ;) )