IsntPrettyToThinkSo

Has anyone been here? i keep hearing rumors about plum beach and it sounds like the last pirate refuge of nyc. It’s supposed to be through a parking lot and bit of wood then you row out a bit to a little island where some fabulous guy has built a found art shack bar only open on saturdays.

Paris is one of those places you have to go to. The architecture, the history, and the experience make it worth it. All in all though i wouldn’t go back. There was virtually no music scene, hearing rock covers of “no scrubs” was a painful moment. The food was tragically disappointing and places just weren’t open late enough. Coming from nyc i expect an int’l city to provide entertainment until the sun comes up it was hard to find afterhours in paris and when we did find places, they were packed with tourists. But it was all worth it just to see Gauguin’s subway designs in real life.

I travelled to cuba with a history course on a student visa. The city of Havana was colorful and lively. As you wandered the streets, especially in the lightless night, you could trace the path of capitalism. Tenements have crumbling marble floors, decadent street lamps are black, and the children beg for pens and paper for school. Rations provide no where near enough for people to live here, but the cubans manage to get by. The lack of resources has stimulated amazing art because it’s created without traditional materials, artists use whatever they find. People are eager to talk about “babylon”, the government, and politics in general although their is a sort of defeatist attitude to their situation. Tourism changes lawyers to waiters, and gives tourists more rights in the country because they are paying with dollars. Locals are not allowed in hotels, and there are separate services for everything between dollars and pesos. If you go be sure to get out of tourist sections and see the real cuba, apart from the coco taxis and miramar sea scapes, there is some great music and even better stories to be found. If you’re a vegetarian, you will have a hard time finding things to eat. There is such a scarcity of food in cuba, so restaurants whether tourist or home based palladares have scant choices.