meat+museum=bloody mess

last week while leslie was visiting, i wanted her to see the wonders of the meat market... it's definitely not like the deli section in your neighborhood grocery store! so we went to the marché, where i stood in front of a freshly dead cow and asked some young guy to hack off half a kilo to be ground for me. he stuffed the raw meat into a black plastic baggy and handed it to me with a smile. so friendly. leslie and i then walked in a circle to see the rest of the dead animals just waiting to be eaten. i wouldn't recommend this tour for the weak stomached... or vegetarians.

after our marché adventure, we had about half an hour to kill before lunch, so we stopped into a free art museum i'd heard good things about. we enjoyed looking at the lovely photography exhibit, laughing at some pictures, talking to our guide... and then leslie got my attention--"lauren, you're dripping blood..." ah! sure enough, my raw meat purchase was dripping all over the sparkling white tiled floor. oops. i turned to the guide and started apologizing and explaining in french, "ah, we just came from the market and the meat i'm carrying has made a mess of your floors!" he smiled and said it was no problem at all, as if this kind of thing happens all the time. in a few moments he returned with a rag to mop up the mess.

and again, i find myself asking... since when did this kind of thing become normal?