Paris, At Last

I finally feel more or less settled into my residence in Paris. Yesterday I went out and got some things like dish towels, a few glasses, soap, etc. I got fantastic deals at a place called Casa that's like a pottery barn.

I think it was the day before yesterday that we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie. It has a lot of impressionist and post-impressionist art from Dégas, Cézanne, Renoir, etc. It's crown jewels, however, are 8 enormous Monet waterlilies paintings housed in a chamber designed by Monet himself. They're fantastic, and they're like 20-25 feet long. You can take pictures in there, and I did, but in person they're just much more thrilling.

The past couple nights have been fantastic. Amy and I have been hanging out with Eddy from next door and three girls from the 7th floor who are studying French. We went out in the Bastille district, which is one of the livliest and most exciting places to be out at night. Last night was pretty low-key though, we just went out to get a beer and then we all got crèpes. I got a crèpe that had chicken, eggs, cheese and mushrooms. I think it weighed a pound. Very filling.

As I mentioned, I live right next to the promenade plantée, which is an old elevated railway that they have transformed into a sidewalk lined with trees and shrubs. Pictures of that are below. Underneath the thing is the so-called Viaduc des Arts. It's a whole collection of private art workshops, galleries, and stores. One that we went into yesterday was a bit like pottery barn as well, only very much more artsy. All the stuff was handmade and there was a lot of wood and natural decorative stuff. It was all really cheap too! And that's very close to my apartment so if I feel like the apartment needs sprucing up...

Today I think my roomate and Amy and I are going to head first to the Marché Bastille, which has fresh produce, and then to the Puces, the flee market, to see what they have. The flee market is one of the biggest in the world. It covers many many city blocks on the north edge of the city. We'll see what I come back with.