The outdoor market is something I’ve never experienced. It is like a giant farmer's market with more variety and food. In Groningen, the market is open Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. The vendors bring their own booths and line themselves up in rows in the square. The booths are lined up differently each day, so I wonder if they jockey for the best position or if it is organized so that they regularly rotate.

There are food vendors, of course, but also booths selling fresh fruits and veggies, cheese, raw and cured meats, nuts, flowers (both freshly cut and in pots), olives, spices, bread. Europe has different standards for refrigeration, so it seemed strange to see all of that meat and eggs sitting out in the open. And the smell of the meat almost turned my stomach. A pregnant woman would have to stay away from the market.

There were individual loaves of bread piled in stacks – not in bags – getting stale as the day went on. There are giant wheels of cheese being sold by the chunk. There was so much of everything that each booth seemed like it was overflowing. And there are people standing in line at every one of them waiting to make their purchase. This is completely normal for them.

The fresh fruit and veggies stands seem pretty normal, except that the vendors don’t want you to touch their wares. You have to trust that they aren’t putting rotten apples in the bottom of your bag or giving you the unripe pears. And there were at least seven or eight fruit and veggie stands – several of them right across from each other, which makes me wonder how they can compete with each other.

There were also other booths selling purses, shoes, clothing, scarves, material, wooden toys, statues, watches, carvings, cellphones. I wonder why anyone would want to buy clothing at the market. The prices might be good, but I’m not sure about the quality. And there is nowhere to try anything on. However, the fabric is cheap and the purses are a good price, so there might be some real jewels hidden in that section of the market.

On this day the experience was quite enough -- we didn’t buy anything except a delicious helping of Belgian-style fries. And of course everyone looked at us funny when we ordered ketchup instead of mayonnaise - especially after the two customers prior to us ordered double mayo!

The prices and selection of the food is certainly better than in the grocery store. So in the future, especially as our Dutch gets better, I’m sure we’ll be jostling for position at our favorite vendors!