Markets and Music

On Friday morning, in the tradition of my family, I went to the flea market, the Marche d'Aligre. Really, the market is mostly food, and food of all shapes, sizes and colors. Beautiful purple (!) tomatoes and fruits I've never seen or heard of before. It's really quite remarkable a market, and very very cheap. If only I had a proper kitchen here....the market also has a flea market, with old books, magazines, clothing, dishes, and the various trinkets one would normally find at a flea market anywhere, except in French. It was fun, though I didn't bring anything home with me. I might try a more reknowned market before I leave...we'll see.

Friday afternoon we had a meeting at the French Senat, which would have probably been cool, but they didn't have enough headsets. Being unimportant that I understand, I let the students take headsets before me, so I relied only on my French skills to listen, so the lecture and the tour were less than compelling to me. I'm glad we did it last year too, so I had an idea what the tour was about.

After the visit, we ate dinner on the Rue de Mouffetard, which also has a fun market and is filled with people. It's a great place to eat and go out, since it's cheap! Post-dinner, most of us went to a bar near our apts, Wide Open Spaces, to watch the Turkey-Croatia game (what a great game!!) and then a few of us went bar-hopping at St-Michel. Being broke, I walked back a little earlier than the others. Ah well.

Saturday was the Fete de la Musique! Paris suspends its noise laws and runs the metros all night, and there's music on every corner, bar, restaurant, square, monument, bridge, etc. It's really quite remarkable. People also get extremely drunk. It's a fantastic time to be in Paris. We saw a jazz band on guitars and saw a guy tap dance! I love this city. It just comes alive, all the time.

Sunday a student and I went to the Opera Bastille to see Don Carlo, by Verdi. The building was so beautiful! I was quite impressed even before it began, but the opera was magnificent. The conductor was so vivid and expressive and specific in his gestures, the artists were so talented, the staging was so inventive and minimalist...it was wonderful. Ah, the arts.