We left the apartment in the early afternoon and caught the no. 10 from Jussieu to the 12 at Sevres-Babylone and then got off at Vaugirard. Susan wanted to stop by Le Cordon Bleu and say goodbye to her friend Julie (she was the one who tipped susie off about Pascal and his pastry shop as a possibiloity for her internship).
From the school we walked the few short blocks down rue Vaugirard to the Porte de Versailles and the sprawling Paris Exposition complex. (We had been here twice before: once for the Paris auto show and again for the Salon du Chocolat.)
We bought our tickets and found a place to relax and eat a couple of baguette sandwiches I had prepared. Afterwards we strolled past the large outdoor Stihl chainsaw display where a chopping contest was underway (photo above), into the nearest hall, filled with horses, dogs and poultry. Fascinating. There was a low-key horse show going on in one ring while in another was a dog show (bringing to mind Chistopher Guest's hilarious Best of Show).
We continued our walk from one hall after another, past displays for clothing, jewelry, lots of farm-oriented stuff,
But it was the food and wine that just simply overwhelmed us. and when I say food and wine, I mean lots and lots of food and wine. On both floors of the large, cavernous hall no. 7 of the Paris Expostion we found ourselves confronted with row upon row of vendors representing the foods and wines from every region and department of France, and many of the territories as well, like Martinique, Tahiti and Guadeloupe. For example, Alsace had constructed an Alpine village where they served large portions of the region's culinary specilaities. Indeed every major (and minor) French cuisines were repsented not only by vendors but by eateries set up for the express purpose of serving the local food. More than 600 food and wine vendors! people who raise snails for the dinner table to folks selling foie gras sandwiches (with a free glass of wine of course)!
It was quite simply too overwhelming for the two of us. We had to leave.
So we found our way to the last hall on our itinerary, no. 1, the "large animal hall." Here we saw sheep and pigs. We were just in time to witness the concluding ceremonies of an award ceremony apparently giving out handfuls of medals to winners of the, I don't know the Biggest Pig, the Nicest Pig, the People who Most Enjoyed working with Pigs, whatever. Lots of smiles, costumes and clicking of photos.
The pigs were nowhere to be seen though (with the singular exception of one fairly stubbon porker).Leaving the Pig People to their own devices we walked over to check out the Cattle People, saving the best for last I suppose. Of course we had to watch where we stepped very carefully, if you get mah drift. I did see one job which I thought looked rather unappealing: a young woman standing directly behind a cow holding a large bucket strategically placed in order to catch . . .
Walking on we were duly impressed by the enormous size of the Charolais beef, which were well represented. We were also pleased to see the Holsteins were black and white (regulation colors). And speaking of dairy cows we found a couple of seats in the large grandstand, where we sat and relaxed and watched the Miss French Holstein contest, lots of focus on large udders it seemed, reminiscent of a nearly identical experience we had at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield so many years ago now. Not surprisingly all the judges were men.
Eventually we had to leave, so we said "au revoir" to the cattle and the pigs and the sheep and soon found the sortie, the metro and home.
Whew! What a weekend it had been. Wonderful things seen, good food eaten, and great company enjoyed, animals included.
Wish you had been here.
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment