Washington, DC bonnes adresses

I’m back in Washington, DC for a week to move out of my apartment. If you’re ever visiting Washington, feel free to contact me for advice (although only for the next year or so, until my insider’s knowledge becomes completely stale…). Some of my favorite places in DC:

- The Spy Museum – One of the few museums you have to pay for, but worth it.

- Lauriol Plaza – Mexican restaurant. Especially good in early early spring, when you can sit on the heated outdoor patio.

- Bourbon in Glover Park – neighborhood hangout.

- Montsouris – Cute French restaurant with actual French staff and delicious country pate

- Teaism – Tea house with tasty bento boxes for lunch

- M St in Georgetown – For wandering, shopping and people watching.

- The Waterfront – not the best food, but amazing people watching on warm days. For maximum amusement, pay particular attention to the guys trying to lure girls onto their boats…

- Neyla – Mediterranean restaurant in Georgetown. Very dark, exotic atmosphere. Great for a late-night romantic dinner á deux.

- Eighteenth Street Lounge - late-night hangout, great music, in an old townhouse. Don't miss the live jazz on the 3rd floor.

Cheating

I think it's going to be a lot easier to cheat in Paris than I thought.

Cheating? I mean, it will be really easy to speak English. A lot. As a casual tourist to Paris, you'll find that you really do need to speak some French. If nothing else than to start off on the right foot with the Parisians. But once you spend some time exploring, especially if you speak a little French, you'll find a world of English just beneath the surface.

This weekend I went to this cute restaurant for a big lunch (I love the fact that you can have a 3 course meal for lunch in France and it's Totally Normal. I stumbled across Au Pied du Fouet by accident, and had a full meal with wine and coffee for 20 euros!). Anyway, I was speaking only French with the waitstaff, but of course I still have my Cute American Accent, and pretty soon the waitress was translating everything into English for me, even though I said "Oh no, je parle francais."

Saturday night I went out with some French friends, and I quickly realized that I could speak full-on Franglais and they would still know what I'm talking about. My French teachers would cringe. But it definitely makes it easier to sprinkle in some English when you forget some key vocabulary. We ended the night at a Canadian bar, Moosehead where speaking English was the thing to do (truth be told, perhaps there were more Anglos than usual because it was the night of the Rugby World Cup final). (Let it be noted that I do not, at all, enjoy sports bars. But for some reason I had a great time at this one. Maybe it reminded me of home!) I think I'll have to make a real effort if I want my French to improve. I can already tell my comprehension is getting better, but if I want to feel less like a 5 year old when I speak, I'm going to have to make Personal Rule #284 and Only Speak French for awhile.