State Fair à la française

I had a co-worker in town last week, so in an attempt to make him feel more at home, we went to check out the Salon de l'Agriculture. I'd never been before, but I spent many-a-summer at the Minnesota State Fair, so I was sort of curious to check it out, especially after seeing online that we could get in for free due to the nature of our work.

As expected, there were some monster cows (or bulls in this case). You only need to look at the people standing around them to see just how big they were - 1000+ kilos:
There was also this weird, hairless, pink species - if you cover up their heads, they almost look like pigs:
We had lots of chickens growing up, so then it was off to check out the poultry area:Where there was a surprising number of "prize pigeons", including a bunch with these abnormal growths:I'd been trying to convince C to come with, but he refused, saying it would be overcrowded with people. I thought "No....who would spend their Friday night at the Salon de L'Agriculture??"

I thought wrong:This is one of my favorite French sayings:Which may be why this little guy looks a bit worried:And then there was this poor lass, caught with her pants down:All in all, it was a fun night - we ate a lot of cheese, had a bit of booze* and came home smelling like a farm, as you would after any good State Fair.


*I was a bit disappointed though that the large majority of wine vendors here wouldn't give out free samples - you had to pay to try their wines, especially the champagnes. And they'd also jacked up the prices - most bottles were selling for 20+ euros. So I was very excited when I came across a stand run by my favorite Cave (located near Saumur) . As usual, they were very friendly & generous with their wine. I am always amazed by the quality of their product and by the low prices - we both walked away with two bottles for 10€. So if you're every in the area, I highly recommend stopping by...