Rungis: biggest fresh food & flowers market in the world
Next morning I was up at 4.30am to go to market. Not just any market but the largest fresh food and flower market in the world.
The figures are mind blowing:
The market is larger than Monaco.
There are 12000 employees.
It has a turnover of £8 billion
Each pavilion is the size of a big
supermarket
And guess what? A tour here ends with a huge breakfast including carafes of red and white wine. For those who work here, it is of course lunchtime. Though Rungis market is not open to the general public, (it's strictly wholesale), tours are available via rungisinternational.com and utterly fascinating.
My final visit in complete contrast, was to a small artisan brewery in the heart of the city. I opted for a brief tasting and the lightest of lunches at bapbap.paris and was amazed to find the shop not only sold their own beer but also bottles of Hook Norton.
After that it was back to Birmingham with Air France for me. When I landed I phoned home to tell the wife what time to expect me and couldn't help shuddering when she asked “will you want anything to eat?”
Paris is open for business, as exciting as ever and “Paris is Delicious “…