Market Day

After six years in spread-out Chicago, what a treat it is to see throngs of people going about their Saturday business on foot, strolling in the Altstadt, eating ice cream, lounging on stone steps, buying vegetables, window shopping, and just generally getting on with their day. Crowds gathered around accordion-players laying into Beethoven - Beethoven was born in Bonn - and I was struck by how good it sounded, how venerable! Really wonderful and energizing to be around so many people.

We checked out the market in front of the old Rathaus (the old town hall, a pink confection of a building, in the photo). Not a farmers' market - the vendors seemed to be grocers, not farmers, selling produce from far and wide - but fun to check out, and bustling. Not exactly sure what the point is of this kind of market - how is the stuff on offer different from what's at a supermarket? We passed up mounds of red currants (which tempted me) and headed on and stumbled upon a tiny version of the main market: the Oekomarkt (Eco-Market), where everything is organic! The vendors here seemed to be farmers, but most of the stuff they carried is from off the farm. I miss the Green City Market! Best thing about Chicago.