Day 17: the Market of Angers

Today I was able to sleep in, and it was quite nice. I woke up, got dressed, and headed down for breakfast. I had the usual; French bread, jam, butter, and French-pressed coffee. I was petty excited though because today Dominic would be taking me to the weekly market in the town center of Angers. We headed out with another student and came up to what was once a recognizable area of the city for me, but was now unrecognizable due to the vast amounts of huts and tents set up along the sidewalks and street sides! We came up the bottom side of the market and I immediately became overwhelmed by the mass amounts of food products for sale. Various meats, fish, tapenads, oysters, clams, mussels, horse meat, crabs, cheeses... You name it, they had it! It was awesome! As you walked up to a tent, the seller would usually cut/peel/slice a price of whatever he was selling for you to try. The cheeses, cured meats, fruits, and wide assortment of colorful vegetables were all delicious! After a quick and initial overwhelming of my senses, we met Claudine at a near-by cafe to have a quick coffee. More Americans sat and drank with us, and after this, we headed to another end of the market where merchants sold various antiques. It was so interesting seeing their versions of what we call "antique", as the artisanship in their products are so different from our own at home. Unique, pretty, and embellished to say the least. Unfortunately it began to rain on us, so we headed out to the nearest restaurant we could find...which happened to be Mexican! I ordered a quesadilla with chicken. It was pretty decent, a good effort to make Mexican food, but not the real deal, especially since it was served with a glass of red wine and chocolate ice cream for dessert. But, it was as close as I could get! Tonight we're having dinner and then I'm headed out to Falstaff with the rest of the gang. Somewhat beginning to notice things I miss back at home, like driving, hot weather, pools, friends, Mexican food, etc. But, it is quite nice here!