Classes start tomorrow and I decided to make some plans with weekend and relax.

Friday afternoon my friends and I went shopping at the largest designer consignment shop in Paris. They have one that is women's clothing and shoes and a store entirely devoted to purses and jewelry. It was heaven! We has such a great time drooling over all the designer stuff and I found a great bargain- a pair of Repeto shoes. They look like ballerina slippers with a little heel...they are 150 euro shoes and I got them almost new for 30 euros.

Friday night I went to services at CJL, one of the liberal/progressive congregations in Paris. That night, services were being led by the high school youth group in French and Hebrew. They kids were great but slightly off-key. There were a few moments were everyone cringed but overall it was really lovely! Everyone was really welcoming and friendly with me. I met up with a friend of a friend who is the Israeli shaliach to the Reform movement in France. He invited to me to stay for the youth shabbat dinner which was delicious. French Jews are amazing cooks! Everything was fun and they kids were pretty excited that I was from New York. I hope to be able to visit some of the other synagogues in the city and keep getting invovled in the community. Maybe find some place to go for the holidays and a babysitting job or two.

Saturday afternoon my friend and I walked around the Left Bank's trendy shopping area. I didn't get anything except at Bon Marche. Bon Marche means "cheap, a good deal" in France but this store is anything but that. It is pretty much Bergdorfs in French. We were able to go to the gourmet food hall and that was an experience. So much delicious food and amazing sights and smells. They had so many interesting products including wine in a juice box. Before we leave, we are definitely going back there to buy them as souvenirs for people...yeah we are classy. We wandered around for a while and got some reasonably priced things for lunch and ate in a nearby park. Later on we went back to her apartment and made ourselves dinner with her roomate who I also know. Just enjoyed some homemade food and red wine and had a great time.

Today (Sunday) I went with my friend Deirdre to the Marais, a very trendy Jewish/LGBT neighborhood. We went to the museum of Jewish Art and History, which was very nice. It is not as big or really in-depth as some other Jewish museums I have been to, but it gave a nice overview of the history of Jews in France and how the community developed. In some of the exhibits it included little stories from modern Jews in France talking about what being Jewish meant to them which I thought was the most interesting. We then walked around the Jewish quarter and got a fantastic falafel and browsed the Jewish bakeries. Wandered around until we got to the Place des Vosges and all the way to the Bastille.

Overall a great weekend and I am excited for school to start!