E-gads. Is there anything more beautiful than the flower stands at Paris market?
I wanted to buy every one of these roses and just dump them onto my coffee table, just as they are.
If there’s one thing I could and should add to make life more beautiful, it’s fresh flowers. There is a market within a 4 minute walk of my office and apartment, and I go about once per month, if that. Why? What am I thinking? Walking up and down that big central aisle filled with flowers, vegetables, cheeses, farmers shouting out their best deal for two melons, and busy French shoppers eyeing a big pile of cherries and buying fresh fish – it makes me smile, by myself, walking. I love markets. There it is, just steps down the street, and yet I never go. Talk about not taking advantage of a good thing.
And those flowers. Something that surprises me about Paris is that fresh flowers are actually pretty cheap. Compared to a bouquet in the U.S., anyway. I’ve gotten a gorgeous bouquet at the market on my lunch break for 6 euros, nearly the same cost as my lunch, except it lasts a lot longer and brings me more joy. Okay lunch does bring me joy.
I love seeing a French woman walking down the street with a giant bouquet, imagining what giant vase is sitting in their apartment ready for that beauty. Or maybe she’s going to a dinner party and the bouquet is for a hostess. The way they wrap the flowers here, with beautiful sturdy paper, really done with care – it makes fresh flowers a special treat. You know that flimsy clear plastic film around flower bouquets? Childs play, an embarrassment to the bouquet. I know it all comes off in the end, but the French wrap them up like the precious gift that they are.
Note to self: Buy more fresh flowers. And visit the market.
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Yay, Julie!! Yes, you must treat yourself to flowers!!! you remind me that a picture I had of myself in my mind before I ever went to Paris the first time was me walking down a cobblestone rue, cradling a warm baguette and a bouquet of flowers. And when I went the first time (eons ago in 1993) that was partially fulfilled when every other week I was assisned to fetch the breakfast baguettes for our missions group. What a sensory delight it was to hold my “bouquet” of fresh warm baguettes (about 12) tenderly in my arms so as to not press the first fracture in the beautiful crust before breakfast. But never in that time did I grab a bouquet of flowers….need to remedy that.
Ahh, I love this so much!! What a great visual. An armful of fresh baguettes is truly the best kind of bouquet. You can’t top that. I now feel like my life is lacking since the most I’ve carried is 3. New goals. 🙂