Field Trip Part 1: Rungis

You read that correctly. I got to go on two field trips this week. Like when you were a kid and woke up extra early and excited to go somewhere besides school. It is just as fun at 24, in case you were wondering.

Part one of field trip week is actually the second trip we went on Friday morning (read: Thursday night). My alarm starting yapping away at 2:45 am for this little trip of ours. Inhumane. I know.

My friend Stephanie spent the night so we could brave the wee hours of the morning together. We walked to school at 3:20 am when the bars of the Latin Quarter are still in full swing, got on the bus at 4 and we were touring Rungis by 5 am.

Let me answer your question for you. Why in the world are you going on a field trip at 4 am?? Rungis.

Can you see Paris and the Eiffel Tower in the background?

{via}

Rungis is the largest market in the world and it runs from midnight to 8 am with most of the action happening around the 2-3 am hour. Farmers, fishermen, butchers, and other tradesmen come from all around Europe to sell their products each day. Rungis supplies almost all Paris restaurants, markets and they export to surrounding cities. You must have a member card to purchase here, which means you must own a business. We were lucky enough to have a guided tour of the warehouses. It was an experience! They have buildings the size of football fields that hold everything from: poultry, beef, veggies, fruits, cheese, fish and even flowers!

{readers: if you are sensitive to photos of butchery, you may not want to read any further}


There is nothing like the smell of fish to wake you up at 5 in the morning.

I may or may not have gagged while walking through the pavilion of internal organs. Exactly why I am not a doctor or a cuisine chef. Yak!

Stinky cheeeeese! They have rounds so big they need a pallet jack to move them!

Two full warehouses of fruits and veggies. Now this is up my alley! It was all so beautiful!

Last but not least, the cut flowers!! I thought I had died and gone to flower heaven! Stephanie and I were basically the last ones back on the bus because we couldn't get enough! (and this smelled a whole lot better than that fish pavilion!)

 

We finished the trip at 8:30 or so and had a lovely breakfast of crispy baguettes, flakey croissants, jam, ham, fruit and cheese. Oh yeah, and wine. How could I forget, standard wine for breakfast? 

This trip was brutal but amazing at the same time. A once in a lifetime experience and I am really glad I had the opportunity! I got back to my apartment at 11 am and took a well deserved and long awaited nap.