a few olives at the market
Today Claire offered to show us the large Sunday outdoor market in Gardanne. Including Claire’s daughter-in-law and grand daughter, the five of us took our car south to Gardanne. I don’t remember now, did I give our car a name befitting its many fine qualities? Sorry to side track so early. I know I called it the rocket in an earlier post, but I was being somewhat sarcastic, and I didn’t know how else to refer to the car. OK, so I’ll have to come up with another post that covers what, for now, will remain ‘the car.’ The open air markets in France are always full of wonderful food & nic-nacs and are typically swarming with a diverse range of patrons in search of the veritable goodies. While many items are similar at different markets, and you even see some of the same characters at different markets, the market place carries favorite and/or local food specialties.
It’s a good idea to take a rolling cart with you as the plethora of fresh vegetables will quickly get heavy, so you either have to plan to buy the heavy items last (very difficult to time right, because you don’t want to come back and find all the goodies gone.) Or you have to be ready to carry or pull your loot with you as you wander through the crowds. The blog, even with the small addition of photos can not capture the range of smells, sounds and sites that make the outdoor market what it is.
When it comes to colors there are a lot of beautiful fabrics to choose from as well as an staggering array of women’s clothing. One specific thing I’ve noticed is that there are always several tables of women’s under garments for sale. These garments are usually arranged in two different formats. In one, there are 6 or so different types of underwear and bras that are neatly placed on the table with matching sets on display. In the other, there are piles of underwear and bras piled chest high in no apparent order, with women sifting through the piles in search of the one piece that the other women haven’t yet found and will be the under-garment score of the day. Now, both of these types of display tables (in different markets) are usually staffed by men that are very hairy everywhere except on their heads. Why is it I don’t have a photo of this for you all to see? I’ll try to get this photo for you soon, so you can see what I mean.
Another popular item available at the market is the day-glow green safety vest. This particular vender has chosen to model his safety vest as the only piece of clothing on a female mannequin. Yes, for 5 euro you too can wear this high fashion safety vest, which is also very supportive and won’t leave any un-sightly tan lines. I finally asked why it was that there are as many as 6 different venders selling the chartreus vests and triangular safety reflectors. Apparently after October 1st, french law requires you to carry these items in your car, in the event you should experience mechanical difficulties whilst navigating the french roadway. If you do not have these items with you, and you are stopped by an officer, you will be sited for the fashion infraction. I think that about covers this post about the market place in Gardanne. I shall be back soon with more wonderful news about my exciting experiences during my year in French. I’ll leave you all with this lovely image of a couple of. . . hmmmm. I’m not sure how to address these fellows in a PC manner here in France, but I believe one would still say native Americans. They had a battery powered amplifier on the street and were playing some very nice music that they were selling recordings of.
So, until next time, I hope you all are well,
-G
