Stock Market Market

Every Tuesday and Friday that I spend at the BN's Département de la musique, I'm treated to this delicious sight:

I call it "delicious" in part because the fruit, veggies, meats, cheese, and ready-to-eat goodies at this farmers' market always look so amazing, but also because there's something cosmically satisfying in this juxtaposition of a financial stock market and the original "stock market" that we now call "farmers' market."

Unfortunately, it looks like no one's buying - outside or inside.

Regarding the imposing edifice behind the temporary stalls: construction began on the Bourse de Paris or Palais Brongniart (after the architect) when Napoleon laid the first stone in 1808, but the place wasn't finished until 1826. You wouldn't know it just by looking at the Palais Brongniart, but it played host to a whole range of speculative and oppressive financial (mis)adventures over the course of the 19th century, including the expansion of railroads and colonial endeavors. Today this stock exchange likely continues to witness the pursuit of morally-questionable profits (how's that for populism?) as part of the NYSE Euronext system, which groups together the bourses of New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Porto, and London. Here's a view of the two markets on a different day, from a different vantage point, so you can see just how epic the building is, and so you can imagine its checkered history:

If you're interested in checking out the markets, you'll find them at Place de la Bourse, Paris 2e, with the farmers' market open Tuesdays and Fridays, 12:30 to 8:30 PM.