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Paris Market Buzzes With Early Morning Activity

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene in Paris. There's a bit of sound here we're hearing from a marketplace, Steve. I took a little trip this morning before much of Paris was awake. I know you and I in Washington, we usually take a walk after the show. With the time change here in Paris, we actually can go out and get some food at the market before the show starts.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And grab a croissant or something like that.

GREENE: Yeah, well, actually, I got some Lebanese food - a Lebanese breakfast from one of the vendors. This was the Bastille market. It's just a short cab ride away from the studio that we've set up here. And we got there before most of the shoppers did, actually. And the vendors were really rushing to set up before the crowd came.

That is Ahmed Ajed (ph). He was dumping these big crates of ice onto his stall, where he sells fresh seafood.

AHMED AJED: (Speaking French).

GREENE: And Steve, he told me that since the attacks last Friday, the crowds are much smaller at the market. I mean, people are not coming. And those who are are just scared to be in a place like this.

INSKEEP: Is that something you heard across that market, across the city?

GREENE: Yeah, it was kind of sad. I mean, it's - at least in this market, many people said their business had taken a real hit. And the Lebanese man who sold me breakfast, he said the few shoppers who have been coming, they just - they're acting differently. I mean, they seem suspicious, less willing to linger. They buy their stuff. They don't chat like they usually do. And they just head off and head home.

INSKEEP: OK. All right, David, thanks very much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

David Greene is an award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author. He is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, the most listened-to radio news program in the United States, and also of NPR's popular morning news podcast, Up First.