This morning, Ben and I went to our neighborhood market, Marché des Arceaux, for the last time (it’s only open on Tuesdays and Saturdays). It’s known in Montpellier as the expensive market, mostly because everything is organic and local.
Expensive or not, it’s our kind of market. They have the freshest fruits and veggies and all kinds of other goods – fancy mustard, homemade confitures, a huge selection of differently flavored olives, and lots more.
I’ve had such a love/hate relationship with the market, though. When we first moved here, of course it was such a lovely and romantic experience. ‘I live in France, and I’m going to the market just like a French person would! My life is so fabulous.’
But little by little, that fabulous feeling started to wear off and I began dreading the semi-weekly market trip. So many people, so much hectic French being spoken, so much juggling of bags and bills and vegetables. It turned into kind of a chaotic experience.
Luckily, in France, almost everyone takes the entire month of August off. (Yes, US friends – the. entire. month. One of the huge perks of living in Europe.) So things these past couple weeks have been much less chaotic and about 1,000 times more pleasant.
In fact, during today’s visit, we strolled slowly, looked at everything, and chatted with just about everyone whose products we purchased. (This hasn’t happened in a long time.) One vendor accidentally gave us too much change, and when Ben returned it, the man gave us a big smile and a huuuge bunch of grapes. These people! Just when you think you can trust them to be standoffish, they let you down.
It was a beautiful morning and an excellent end to our market experience, this visit. Many thanks to the month of August for clearing out the masses and helping me to regain some of that lovely and romantic feeling that living in France is supposed to be all about.
French expression of the day
Faire une croix dessus – To kiss something goodbye/to know you’ll never get something back (literally: To make a cross on)
Playful Rooted 
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