Culture!

This past weekend a group of us went out to dinner and found a great seafood restaurant!  I got scallops that were almost as good as the dish I had in NY and the french onion soup was to die for!  We wanted to go out on the town that night so we met up with some friends of a friend and followed them to a tiny bar on a side street in the Bastille district (big nightlife area).  We were met with music coming from an old stereo with blown out speakers and a ton of french hipsters... not quite our scene.  We left to try to find some place that was more to our liking but ended up wandering the streets of Paris into the wee hours, unable to catch a cab.  Along the way though, we met a strange girl named Margot who tagged along for a while... never a dull moment.  On Saturday night Anna and Cara came over and we decided to try cooking in my apartment on the hot plate.  We sauteed vegetables and other than the mess, it was great!  

I have finally sucked it up and experienced some culture here in Paris.  As the past weeks have been filled with just exploring the city (mostly looking for a good place to eat) I have not made time to visit any of Paris' many museums so yesterday, Anna and I decided to go to the Picasso museum.  We were thrilled and met in the Marais (on the right bank of the Seine which is THE trendy place for the young and gay), got lost on the windy streets and arrived at the museum, only to find that it was closed on Tuesdays!  After a bit of shopping and a coffee, we regrouped and decided we would not end the day without a museum visit.  Because we didn't want to brave a museum as big as the Louvre, we decided to go to the Dali museum in Montmatre.  We also got lost trying to that place but after about and hour of wandering through deserted, windy cobblestone streets, we discovered it tucked away in a little courtyard.  I really enjoyed the museum because it exhibited works of Dali that I have not seen (a lot of watercolor reproductions and some sculpture).  Seeing the wide range of art that he produced gave me a greater insight into him as an artist as my previous limited knowledge was restricted to his well know surrealist work.  In addition to works by Dali there were several mannequins displaying clothing inspired by Dali and interesting touch but not one that added to the museum as a whole.  After our brush with Art, Anna and I sat down for a snack at a little cafe that looked out onto a square full of artists selling their wares (mostly uninspiring landscapes painted in a drab color palette).  We decided to only speak french during the meal which was challenging but very good practice.  After this we headed over to Printemps which is an enormous department store (bigger than the Union Square Bloomingdales)... 8 floors of clothing, shoes, handbags, lingerie etc (and this was only the women's building!).  It was so overwhelming, definitely an experience but I prefer the little boutiques tucked away in alleys of Paris to this colossal place.

Anna, Cara and I have bought tickets to Rome for the third weekend in February... we are so excited!!  We have yet to book a Hostel and are working on our itinerary but if anyone has suggestions for us we are open!  Also, my internet is supposed to be up and running today (if i can figure out how to set it up) so I will finally be able to post photos!