On Saturdays in the early fall and late spring, students can take a shuttle ride from Rochester’s campus to the Rochester Public Market.
Last Saturday I took advantage of this to get some fruit to keep in my residence hall. At 8:30 am, I got on the shuttle with one of my friends and after half an hour I was slightly carsick, but we soon arrived at our destination.
I think before I continue describing our adventure, I should mention that I’m from Seattle, home of the Pike Place Market. I love going to Pike Place, and to be honest, my expectations were low for Rochester’s public market. After all, Pike Place is a major tourist attraction. It has to be the best, right? Maybe not!
I was struck by the quality of Rochester’s public market. It’s huge, cute, and much cheaper than Pike Place.
It was drizzling that morning, but everybody at the market was still happy to be there. My friend and I started walking through the market and made it past about two stalls before we bought something.
She got three large bell peppers for $1. By the end of our walk through the stalls, we got three bell peppers, ten nectarines, a single egg, an onion, and six tomatoes for a total of $11.
Aside from produce, vendors sell honey, spices, meat and eggs, kitchen tools, flowers, and much more. In fact, I had my first empanada at the public market. It was really good!
Also, here’s a picture of me holding a pumpkin I thought was too adorable not to take a picture of:
My friend and I returned to the River Campus at 11:00, pleased with our purchases. I look forward to my next visit!