Ceret - market and carnaval.

Just a few pictures of the market today as the high point was the second carnaval. We got going earlier than usual as we knew the market would have to break up right on time for the carnival to get going.

We have been buying from this olive stall but discovered another one today with a different selection.
We already had our olives so will try that one next week. Today we got black olives with parsley and green
ones with garlic and lemon.

At the stall where we bought our ginger root we got behind the owner of this basket. We figure she
was making soup ... 3 onions, bunch of celery, 6 leeks, 3 carrots etc ... it took her quite a while but
we were in no hurry and enjoying the process.

Some people do as we do, walk the whole market and pick and choose where they will buy each item. For instance for our regular veg purchases we buy from the stall that has everything already in 1Euro baskets. They also have the biggest, cheapest cauliflower. The ginger root at another stall, the lettuce at another (huge selection of different kinds of lettuce, good size, .80 each) and Dad has his favorite cheese stalls. Others obviously have a favorite stall and buy all their vegetables there, they even may trust the vendor to pick it out but most examine, feel, weigh in their hands before handing it to the vendor to add to the bag. There is discussion, negotiation, laughter and annoyance, its a process.

For those readers still in the grip of Canada's freezing winter the flower stalls were
brimming today.

Masses of cut flowers and also flowers to plant in the garden or containers.

Anthonie serving the market day crowds at Le Pablo. I'm not sure how much English he speaks
but when we order he will say "Yes, yes, soon, I'm not superman" - every time.

Another guest at Le Pablo.

Lunch today included some market purchases, a fresh salad and 2 different quiches (Trois legumes which had sweet potato, onion and celery and Roqufort et noix which had a slight flavor of the blue cheese and walnuts on top). Desert was a tarte with almond cake, pears and a fig glaze.
It wasn't long until there started to be some carnival activity, both the Hippy float and the Shades of Grey rolled in and took some liquid lunch at Le France before heading up to Place Libertee  the marshalling area. We headed over to Le Pablo to get a seat at about 2:30 and ordered a coffee.

The parade, sorry, cavalcade, was lead off by a man in traditional Catalan dress
and the Catalan flag.

The Carnival was a totally different experience this weekend. To start with, although still coolish, it was sunny and no wind so occasionally actually felt warm. The parade itself was better organized, there were more floats, they were closer together and they stopped at Le Pablo and did their choreographed dances. It was almost as if last weekend had been the dress rehearsal.

Baton twirlers with the hairiest legs

followed by a band dressed as sailors.

A float and following troop depicting carnival in Venice

We had managed to snag the last remaining table next to the road but that made Dad
a bit of a target. Here he's being smacked in the head with a frozen fish.

The young man on the left was the perpetrator. Mum was having fun trying to catch the fish
 and he was having fun whisking it away from her. That was until she realized it was actually
a half frozen fish, slimy and stinky.

The tuba player decided Dad needed an earful and

these kids

decided he needed to get "creamed".

The bees managed about a third of the route. They deeked into Le Pablo for a drink and were
still in there when the parade was going around for its second time.

The parade takes about an hour and then circulates for a second time which takes considerably longer. Why? Well, the participants and the drivers are getting thirsty so there's a lot of stopping at the bars. There's a lot of friends in the crowd to kiss on the cheeks and chat with. Every now and then the whole thing grinds to a halt as one of the drivers  heads to the washroom, bar, chat with friends etc.

If your dressed as a bunch of grapes, on a float covered with grape vines
you really shouldn't be drinking beer.

We had progressed from coffee to wine and this was the only way to keep the
confetti out of it. I wasn't entirely successful.

Shades of Grey, bare assed all the way. Lots of whips, chains,
masks and hand cuffs on this float.

People on the floats threw confetti at the people watching, people in costume following the floats
threw confetti at the people watching, people on the street watching threw confetti at the
floats and each other. We were covered.

We only watched it go around once and then headed back home. We tried to shake all the confetti out of our hair and clothes before we went inside but we'll be sweeping it up for days in the apartment.

I went out again later. The floats had all finally gone (after stopping outside our apartment for
a while) and now the the bands were playing at Le Pablo and Le France, people dancing. Both
bars were full, eskimos talking to hippies, dancing girls talking to cave men, rabbits talking to
super heroes.

The confetti looks like snow on the ground. But here it will be gone tomorrow, swept up by the street cleaners.