Paris, France

I love this city!The keyboards are different and typing takes me longer, but it is a great place nonetheless. I feel settled in after staying in various places over the past few days. I went online and found a place on the flatshare.com. We are spending about 70 euros a night and the flat has hardwood floors, a kitchen, washer, dryer, etc. We are pleased and are having a wonderful time. It is very romantic, the food is yummy, and the sites are amazing. I am glad that we are spending our fourth wedding anniversary here. Right now we are drinking some bubbly and gearing up to go to the Louvre. It's cold, rainy, and I love it because it reminds me of Portland.

Lisbon, Portugal

By Sunday afternoon I had had enough with Dakar. There was no water in the house, everyone wanted to talk about school, and we were irritated. I somehow convinced Gabbie that we had enough in savings to go away for the week. Turns out that ticket prices were not too bad and the exchange rate wasn't so bad either. So off to Paris we went. Fortunately, we had a layover in Lisbon, which was nice.

New Places

As we gear up to move back home I feel compelled to explore Dakar a bit more. Gabbie and I have agreed that once a week, until we move, we will find a new place to explore in either Senegal or Dakar. This weekend it was the IFAN museum. On our way downtown we stopped at a new store that sells fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, dried fruits, and yummy olives. The owner is super nice and speaks English. Snack ready, we headed to the museum which was pretty cool. On display were traditional masks, fabrics, and musical instruments. There were even rudimentary dioramas of African villages and ceremonies. On my out the door I picked up a book on Goree in English! Great find for sure. Famished from squinting at plaques in French, we headed to a cafe for some grilled paninis, sodas, and later espresso. On our way home we stopped at some stores that we had never been to before that sold local art. Gabbie spotted a store that sold mostly carved tall men (that's what I call them). We ended up buying a three footer. I wonder what next weekend will bring?

Dakar Champagne Tour

Last Saturday night a group of us hired a car rapide for a champagne tour of Dakar. After four bottles of bubbly and nice drive along the corniche we went for a cocktail at La Lagoon. La Lagoon is one trippy psychedelic place with a cavernous entrance and a boat bar. It is a great place to watch the sunset as it has a very nice pier. After that we headed to Cafe de Roma, which was yucky and expensive, but fun nonetheless. Then we went to Just for You, a bar and music nightclub. It turned out that The Orchestra Baobab was playing. Gina and I danced until 1:30 AM and then it was time to head home. It was a great evening!

South to the Beach House

I decided to take Jenny and Chuck to my favorite Senegalese resting place: Popenguine. We rented out the our usual house and just relaxed. The fridge broke and our food spoiled but ultimately that was a good thing because it forced us to eat out. Both restaurants we went to were very nice and the food excellent.

Shopping

I am so lucky! My sister and her husband decided to visit me and Gabbie. They arrived Monday and leave on Monday :(. We have had a fun filled adventure. We visited most of Dakar's markets and traveled to Popenguine. Today we hit the markets again to buy masks, baskets, and other things that you just can't get back at home.