Going to the Market in Paris

In Paris, it seemed that little fresh food markets popped up in every neighborhood. I am so jealous of this and desperately wish there could be a little farmers market every week in Potrero for me to get my week's cheese and veggies. This is the market that appeared one morning a block away from the apartment we were renting in the Bastille neighborhood.

Another market we visited in Paris was the one right under La Motte-Picquet/Grenelle Metro station (open Wednesdays and Sundays). Unlike the Portobello Road Market, where there are distinct sections for antique housewares, vintage clothing, or food, at the Marché de Grenelle everything is jumbled together—at one stall could be baskets of bread; at the next, some leather coin purses; and the next, piles of fresh fish. Our pointing and hand gesturing skills were really put to the test here where all the sellers we encountered only spoke French. We shared a good-natured struggle with a nice old lady selling olives and dried herbs as we tried to convey how much tapenade we wanted to purchase. In the end, she kept pointing at the receipt and the tapenade and talking excitedly in French, which we could only take to mean she had given us a break on the price on account of taking pity on us, because the tapenade was ridiculously cheap.

The best part about the Marché de Grenelle is that after you make your lunch purchases, it is only a short walk to the Eiffel Tower, where you can enjoy a lovely picnic on the grass (as seen here). We bought a loaf of bread and a small wheel of soft cheese to go with our tapenade and ate everything with our hands because we forgot to bring a knife from our apartment. Nick and I agreed that the picnic was our favorite part of our visit to Paris.

| Photo Credit: Me. |