Fete de la Musique, Sales, blah blah blah

So yesterday was this city-wide music festival in Strasbourg, that went from 5 PM til midnight.  The best way I can describe it is the crowds and fried food of the county fair mixed with the atmosphere of the Ocean City boardwalk.  All in all it was pretty cool.  The city set up these huge stages in every major square in the city, and even on random street corners or underneath restaurant awnings bands would just be there performing.  Plus street vendors were selling sodas, churros, crepes, doner kababs (like a pit-beef sandwich equivalent), icecream, cotton candy, balloons, sweets, fried waffles, etc just about everywhere.  It was really fun staying out late into the night, meandering from square to square and dancing to music.

Starting today and going through the beginning of August is a government mandated major sale.  This means that most stores (clothing and accessories, not food or restaurants) have to slash their prices by around 50%.  Sweet, right?  But apparently it's this HUGE deal.  This happens twice a year, and the interns at my work are all into it...they even made lists of what sales are happening when and where, like a hit list.  It takes a lot of strategy.  The sales are smaller at first, and then by the end of July everything is dirt cheap.  BUT you have to decide how bad you want something, because if you wait until the end when it's the cheapest, there might not be any left!!! Such decisions.

On Tuesday I went to the market that I blogged about a while ago and helped shop for our weekly picnic.  We bought all sorts of lunch meats, sausages, breads, tarts, cakes, peppers, tomatoes, fresh berries, olives, greek spreads, and cheeses (ew).  Such a cool place; they had EVERYTHING there.

I do have to admit though, while I'm loving it here, there are some things from home I miss.  Like taking a shower standing up, for example.  Or hilly trails in the woods to run on.  Or regular sized water glasses.  Or even, surprisingly, french fries.  Oh well, I guess that will come eventually.  The only thing I'm really actually getting bugged out about is all this freakin RAIN.  Seriously, it's been raining on and off everyday for the past 3 and a half weeks, literally.  Gettin a bit weather depressed here.  Hence the dependence on icecream.