Food Shopping by CALSF
Everyday you will notice that the Parisians go shopping for food at the neighborhood shops and/or street markets. For example, at the rue Mouffetard and rue Buci street markets, they are busy from morning until closing time. Locals hurriedly check out each produce stall and shop in the hopes of buying some fresh food to take home for dinner and/or supper.If the Parisians don't have the time (due to working in offices) to drop by the markets then they make do with the shops that open later than the street markets. Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, quite a few people leave work and head to the shops to buy the night's meal: boulangerie, fromagerie, bucherie, and of course the best shop of all, the patisserie. When you pass these shops you will notice huge lines. It seems to me that the patisseries garner the most lines. ;)
And there are times when the supermarkets are overflowing as well. It could be that on a given Monday night around 7 p.m. you will find huge lines at the neighborhood Monoprix! The Lafayette Gourmet is busy from the afternoons! Everyone waiting in line looks so tired (well, of course, they've just come from the office) and disgusted as they've got their shopping carts filled and they just want to check out and leave! But the cashiers, who sit down on the jobs, take it nice and slow no matter how long the lines get!
This is one slice of Parisian life that is so different than what we Americans know, and if you decide to do some food shopping as well, go earlier in the day to save time.
