Paris County Fair.

Friday I went to the apparently famous "Salon d'Agriculture" which draws people from all over the country to Paris for the showing/tasting/buying of all products French and foreign. Unfortunately, I did not see the whole thing, but I saw enough to understand why so many people come, especially families.

One main aspect of the Salon is the market they have for the French from all parts of the country to come and share their culture with the visitors, i.e. sell them food. This is the list of the regions of France represented divided between two floors.

The list does not look particularly impressive until you see the map of what one of the floors looks like:

Each purple square you see is one stand and/or restaurant. Each stand may house something like...

rock sized loaves of bread,

huge slabs of meat,

or grandfather clocks...?

The best part is some offer samples :) I found as I went through my pictures afterward that it was pretty obvious that I was attracted to one particular product...

CHEESE!!

Please notice the credit card scanner is sitting on a mountain of cheese rounds :)

I also visited the building housing the horses, dogs and cats, and it was quite strange because this building felt incredibly familiar. I'm not a farm kid, but I've been to my fair share of county fairs and this was almost exactly the same. Slightly more decorated and expensive, but the same general idea: people showing their animals with stands trying to sell kids stuffed animals and cowboy hats. A couple of guys walked in and muttered something about the smell of nature. It made me smile.

I like how this man looks amongst all this stuff.

And the tacky things you never thought you'd see anywhere near Paris...

Yes folks, they have them here too. The horror continues.

All in all, it was quite enjoyable. I probably should have stayed a bit longer but after buying cheese, eating gelato, and seeing the bunnies they were trying to sell, I had had my fill. I talked to a couple little French kids on the metro on the way back. They were all giggly and enjoying the jerking movement of the car as it stopped. Made me miss all my little friends back in Indiana. Wish you could have come to the fair with me!