How to be Parisian

I took the day off today to get some more time to explore. After a late start, I met Kara and her friends after Kara's class, to eat lunch in the Opera area. One of the interesting things about French work life is that most jobs provide a cheque déjeuner (lunch voucher) worth between 5€ and 8€ that can be spent on lunch at cafes in France. It seems to be regulated by law, but regardless it's an expected work perk. Since our office park has a cafeteria (canteen as they call it here) I don't get a voucher, but my lunch is still subsidized (so an entree, dessert, bread, and salad would be around 4€). 

Kara's friends had already been to Paris before, so after lunch we checked out one of the more off-the-beaten-path museums by going to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which is basically a furniture museum for how rich people lived throughout the ages. It was somewhat interesting (though much more Kara's thing than mine) but what made it a truly memorable experience is that to liven things up, they put random modern art installations right next to the furniture. So for instance, you would have a 19th century bed, and have a mannequin chained to the wall around its neck. Yeah, that's a bit random right? Or a 17th century chair, with photos of some guy dressed in drag  in colorful robes above it. It was so bizarre! 

After the museum closed (and btw, museums are very strict on their closing times. They want everyone completely out of the building at 6, so they start chasing you out at 5:40) we then went to see this show we saw an ad for called How to Become Parisian in One Hour.  It's by a French guy who lived in the US for 5 years, and basically plays up the sterotypes of both sides of the Atlantic. It was really funny, and provided some useful tips on how to be Parisian in restaurants and the metro.

It's also interesting that it's ranked as the 9th most popular thing in Paris, beating out Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe. Oh crazy ranking algorithms...

We finished the night with some crepes while it was pouring rain, and then drinks at a local cafe I'd been meaning to try out that was quite nice. It was a good night!