Morning Monday

Hope you all had good weekends. This weekend I:

+ Ate tasty Korean at Gin Goa Gae - apparently one of the best in Paris. And it was - I ordered marinated pork and cuttlefish and it was cooked at our table on a portable grill and served up with an array of 5 weird and wonderful candied vegetables and herbs. Seriously tasty.
+ Watched The Silver Linings Playbook - yes the film that Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar for. She's good, I'm not sure that she was Oscar-winning good, but it was a great film - really uplifting, and good for anyone who has ever had doubts or suffered from some kind of depression.



+ Went for a bike ride on the Velib, followed by a freezing cold walk in Paris' biggest park, Bois de Boulogne, which is more like a mini forest. Probably not one to do on a cold day, but rather a good place to go with a picnic when it's warmer.
+ Went for dinner on Saturday night with friends at L'Atmosphere - a great bistro right by Canal Saint Martin. I ate half a lobster, which at €18 was really reasonable, and unlike most restaurants in Paris (the city is becoming more like London and it's increasingly difficult to book a table unless you call a week in advance) we managed to book a table for 8 on the same day.
+ Then had brunch with a friend in the Marais on Sunday.

I also hit a bit of a wall on Saturday - hence the 'The struggle is part of the story' quote. I'm living in Paris, but I keep going back to London once a month, so I don't feel like I've fully immersed myself in the culture yet, and I can't speak French, which is obviously becoming increasingly frustrating. So this week I'm signing up to French lessons at the Alliance Francaise to start in April and I'm looking into dance lessons - partly inspired by Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the film, but mainly because I miss dancing. I used to dance ballet on and off. There's a studio just up my road - Le Studio de Lea, which offers Salsa, Zumba, Jazz etc.. and even yoga. I'll let you know how I get on.