Fish, cows, and cherries. Oh my!

5-20-11

Sorry for posting this entry a little late, but Friday was a LONG day! We started the day by getting on a bus at 4:30 in the morning. We went to the Rungis Market, which is huge!!! This market consists of 26 (gigantic) buildings, is the largest wholesale market in France, and sees about 30,000 buyers in one day's time.

The fish market was the first to open and the first to close, so that's why we were up at 4:30am. The fish market starts selling at midnight and closes at 6am, so we missed the big buyer crowd thankfully. Next was the meat market. That building housed carcasses of cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and a few chickens. It smelled so good and looked amazing. Well, to me it did anyway. I was mighty hungry for some steak. Anyway, the next building was still a part of the meat section but it was a little different. It was the meat "specialties", i.e. tongue, tail, brains, stomach, occasional face, ear, and testicles of basically every animal that had been butchered. I figured I'd save those images for my own gain and not post them here. ;]

Poultry was next, which had rabbits and other random small game mixed in as well. Then came cheese, flowers, and fruits and vegetables. Thankfully the buildings were progressively less refrigerated as we continued the tour. We definitely saw a LOT of product move before 9am. After the tour, we had breakfast in one of the many restaurants that populate the area. Rungis has just about everything, let me tell you. Then we climbed back on the coach bus and slept until our next destination: an organic farm.

It was very nice seeing said organic farm. I find it intriguing to learn about what guidelines they have to follow and how they differ from US standards. There's a lot more enforcement when it comes to policy adherement in France, I'll tell you that. We were given a walking tour of the farm and had the opportunity to talk with the farmer and ask specific questions. I found it funny at one point because I imagined a group of French speakers visiting my farm and my own father trying to explain our agricultural practices to a translator who didn't understand them too well to begin with. Then I wasn't as frustrated with our translator stumbling through his English.


We got back around 2pm and crashed, hard core. Most of us passed out for a few hours and just slept. After a much needed nap, we met up as a big group and went to the Eiffel Tower that evening. We had a picnic on the grass and watched the tower light up. If someone tells you it sparkles, they aren't just waxing poetic. It does actually sparkle. I kept waiting to see Tinkerbell fly out on a zip line and light up the rest of the city. It really felt magical. And then some gypsies got into an argument with Meghan in French and the magic was over. Never forget that cities equal pick pockets and theives. Thankfully we all made it back without too much trouble and none of our belongings got lifted. Overall, it was a really fun night. A great way to start the weekend, for sure. :]