Throughout the time here in London, I have made numerous trips to the 24-hour market down the street. It’s not that big, but it does have the basics of a larger grocery store that you would see back home. There definitely isn’t that much of a variety of certain types of food. For instance, I was looking for cookies one day and there were maybe five different kinds to choose from, where as if you turned around there was a whole boatload of magazines instead. You could tell that the fruits and vegetables definitely weren’t fresh either and there was not much to choose from, as well. I also noticed that it was always busy there. There was always a line to checkout and the line wrapped around the corner, though there was seven cashiers working. Once a cashier didn’t have a customer, they would press some sort of button that had a pre-recording of what register was open. It would said, “Register 2 please. Register 2 please” until the next customer walked there way to that register. It was really weird. I also noticed that they do sell alcohol on Sundays, but not for the whole day.
The markets in Paris were different. They all had extremely fresh fruits and vegetables that were sitting on stands waiting to be bought. Like London though, these markets were rather small. But there was one market that was actually two floors. The first floor had basic breads, drinks and things of that sort, but when you went downstairs it was like walking into a giant refrigerator. The produce as well as dairy products were kept there. The Paris markets did have more to offer than the one we go to here in London, but it was so hard to find what you were looking for. Everything was in French and I know for a fact that I had no idea what any of them said. I would go by the image on the box or whatnot to see if it was what I actually wanted. I did also notice that the cashiers in London and Paris aren’t really that friendly. There is no small talk. It’s like they go about just doing their job and getting you out of the market as quick as they can…a simple “Hello…How are you?” would be nice.

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