Have you ever heard of Rungis? It's the world's largest wholesale food market, it provides all the Paris markets and restaurants with their fresh produce, and you can find it near the Orly Airport.

Or can you?

This place may as well be top secret. Only the vendors and restauranteurs can access it - yet it's as big as a village. Every night, at around 2am, produce sellers (like fishermen and cheesemongers) open their doors to the eager buyers, who charge in and negotiate prices for the goods.

And even though it's closed to the public, I got an invite to make this episode. My invite came from April Pett who runs April in Paris tours, check her out here: https://www.aprilinparistours.com/

Big shout out to market vendor Jaad who took us around and whose laughter echoed through the halls of Rungis all night.

You can find more about the market here (but remember, it isn't open to visit to the public). https://www.rungisinternational.com/

Here's the replay of the short live video we made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeiII9gqlZo

And the rest of our pictures are on social media, the rest of my videos will be for the members, only. Links below.

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The Earful Tower exists thanks to support from its members. For just $10 a month you can unlock almost endless extras including bonus podcast episodes, live video replays, special event invites, and our annually updated PDF guide to Paris.

Membership takes only a minute to set up on Patreon, or Substack. Thank you for keeping this channel independent.

For more from the Earful Tower, here are some handy links:

Website

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Walking Tours

Music: Pres Maxson

I speak English with our two children (soon to be 2 and 5 years old). My wife speaks Swedish with them. The outside world is in French. (Note: We all speak all three languages too).

Here's a glimpse at how that works, with special guests Otis and Astrid. Hope you find it as fascinating as I do!

This episode is brought to you by the members, who get the new 2026 PDF guide to Paris for free. For everyeone else, you can support this show by buying the guide here: https://theearfultower.com/product/guide-book/

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The Earful Tower exists thanks to support from its members. For just $10 a month you can unlock almost endless extras including bonus podcast episodes, live video replays, special event invites, and our annually updated PDF guide to Paris.

Membership takes only a minute to set up on Patreon, or Substack. Thank you for keeping this channel independent.

For more from the Earful Tower, here are some handy links:

Website

Weekly newsletter

Walking Tours

Music: Pres Maxson (his take on Douce France, by Charles Trenet)

Paris has a new mayor! That's right, after 12 years at the helm, Anne Hidalgo has stepped down. Parisians voted for a new mayor, and taking her place will be Emmanuel Grégoire.

But who is Emmanuel Grégoire? What does a Paris mayor actually do? And what will be the legacy of Anne Hidalgo?

This week's guest is Paris-based reporter Katy Lee, the co-host of the podcast The Europeans, and the woman behind the Millefeuille Substack page, which she calls the "newsletter for Parisians who are bad at local news".

Follow Katy to find out more:

• The Millefeuille newsletter
• The Europeans

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The Earful Tower exists thanks to support from its members. For just $10 a month you can unlock almost endless extras including bonus podcast episodes, live video replays, special event invites, and our annually updated PDF guide to Paris.

Membership takes only a minute to set up on Patreon, or Substack. Thank you for keeping this channel independent.

For more from the Earful Tower, here are some handy links:

Website

Weekly newsletter

Walking Tours

Music: Pres Maxson (his take on Sous le ciel de Paris, by Edith Piaf)