Sunday in Paris

You can usually count on Sunday mornings being pretty quiet and tranquil in most of Paris, and especially in our neighborhood where there are many offices and businesses, which are closed on the weekend.

However, down by the Place Bastille, it's anything but quiet or tranquil. The Marché Richard Lenoir sets up before dawn, running four aisles wide down the center median strip of Avenue Richard Lenoir for several blocks, and offering the biggest variety of fresh foods in almost all of Paris.

Shoppers come from all over the city to take advantage of the astonishing range of foods and other goods offered. And not just from Paris. You hear dozens of different languages, along with French, as tourists also flock to soak up some authentic French Market atmosphere.




This morning, I counted at least four large fish stalls, all well stocked and most of them well attended. It's pretty clear which ones are the best:
they always have the longest queues, and they always sell out the fastest.









Whether you fancy a slab of hake (tranche colin), or filet of cod (dos du cabillaud)....








....or perhaps shrimp, lobster, crayfish, sea urchins, you will not go home empty-handed.








Not to mention the oysters (les huitres), the displays of which would give our local West Marin Drake's Bay Oyster Farm pause for thought!


Are you hungry yet?





The overwhelming numbers of stalls, though, devote themselves to fresh, delicious, fragrant produce, each stall owner proudly and loudly proclaiming the superiority of his or her particular cauliflowers or leeks or salads or carrots, squash, turnips, potatoes, celery...

French law dictates that stall holders must show where their produce is grown, passing the burden of being a strict locavore (or not) onto the buyer. How badly do I want to buy those juicy looking Spanish oranges, crisp Kenyan green beans, Algerian tomatoes....?




As this stall owner finishes filling a bag of mixed salad for a customer, he says (as do all stall owners) "et avec ceci, madame..." which means, literally, "and with this, Madame", but which really means "what else will you be buying from me today, Madame..." And it's always easy to find something else when you're confronted with so much good stuff to choose from!








Some stalls focus on just a few vegetables, like this gentleman with his mountain of carrots









Others prefer to specialize in fresh herbs....









...and still others in wild varieties of mushrooms!


Now, are you hungry?




Somewhere in the middle of the market and, in some ways, taking the central place in French eating is the all-important stall selling bread: baguette, pain levain, brioche, croissant, pain multicéréales, pain de mie, or just plain pain blanc. Whichever you choose, you can be sure it came out of the oven just a few short hours ago.









Once you have bread, of course, then you need cheese. And once again, the choices are endless!

Along with Cantal (a cheddar-type cheese), my favorites are the...









...many chèvres. Yum! I'm definitely hungry...








They don't have live chickens at these markets any more, but they do offer the next best thing: fresh farm eggs, at just 15 centimes a pop. I love how these are displayed.







In an earlier era, this sign could be found in every neighborhood, right alongside the local butcher and baker and greengrocer...







...and, judging by the line at this stall, there's no shortage of French families who still enjoy a bit of horse meat. The choice may well be economic. Beef, pork and lamb are expensive.









Here's another sign that indicates "specialties" -- Triperie...











....meaning, here are all those various so-called "organ" meats, like liver, kidneys, brains, sweetbreads, heart, tripe itself...and, let's not forget...







...tongue!

Lost your appetite now? Never mind....









...You actually can go to this market and not buy food. Maybe you need a whirligig for your balcony, or another kitchen knife, or a magnifying glass, cigarette lighter, key chain







Not to mention all the missing bits and bobs from your kitchen drawers.






Finally, along with every French newspaper imaginable, for those of us who hunger for news from abroad, you have your choice of leading English Sunday papers and the good old International Herald Tribune, perfect for those of us who need to exercise their brain by tackling the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle.




Armed with my newspaper, I headed back home on the #29 bus, whose route provided just about door to door service. My market purchases this week were modest: three small pots of herbs - thyme, rosemary and English parsley - to put on the shelf outside the kitchen window. And a little bunch of fresh jonquils for the kitchen table.




Later in the afternoon, I strolled over to the 17th century Église St. Roch, on rue Ste. Honoré, where violinist Dominique d'Arco and his 15-year-old pupil, Jonathan Dong, presented a recital of works by Tartini, J.S. Bach, Leclair, Pleyel, and six duos from Bela Bartok's 44 Duos for Violin. One of seventeen free concerts offered in churches all over Paris today.

Just a normal, ordinary Sunday in Paris, with everything you could possibly want to nourish the body and the soul.


À bientôt!