Sunday, December 6, 2015

A Parisian Christmas Market

'Tis the season - for Christmas markets and Paris is no exception. They have been up and running for a couple of weeks now and I have managed to make it through the one on the Champs Elysée twice already. Though with the amount of people there, I question why!



The stalls mostly sell crap but you can eat some lovely crepes, roasted chestnuts and wash them down with some vin chaud :)




Sunday, November 22, 2015

A city with a different vibe

I flew back to Paris over the weekend of the horrific events that took place Nov. 13th. Thank you to everyone that sent messages checking in and sending their thoughts. I was lucky enough to not be in the city and everyone I know is ok. I've heard from many of you since asking what's it like now in Paris. While the city definitely has a different vibe to it, people are trying to live life as normally as one can under such circumstances. It also helps if you don't constantly watch the news like it seems many of you are.

I have to admit that since I've only been back a week, I haven't ventured far from where I live though I have been out every evening after work :). I also took the chance to check out the Eiffel Tower all lit up in the French flag colours - it looked amazing!

The normal view from my office


My workplace is under much higher security than normal but then we regularly look out the window and see the military hanging out because some head of state is visiting . . . so not totally out of the norm for us. On Nov 30th our week of meetings start and registration numbers are down, no doubt due to the situation. It also marks the beginning of the COP21 so the city will be an interesting place but hopefully a peaceful one.






To lighten up the post a little, and offer a little homage to the city I love, I thought I would add some pics that never make the blog because they are just random evenings out with friends.


The exclusive wine and cheese

The social association at work organizes two wine cheeses a year at work. The last one sold out in 9 minutes so most of us didn't get tickets. As such, we organized our own exclusive wine and cheese. We headed to O Chateau in the first.  

A flight of Bordeaux's with my colleague trying to not be in the picture :)


The List

We have a list of restaurants and pubs we want to try out in the city mostly to try eat food that isn't just French. We've been for dumplings, schezuan, sushi, mexican and chinese hotpot so far. This week is going to be thai. The cambodian restaurant that was attacked was on our list, we've decided to leave it as a reminder. . .

Here are some of the places we've been:

My first office mate enjoying the stench of garbage in the 2nd as we enjoy a pint at a place across the street from one our list because the other pub was full :(
The hotpot dinner that followed the pints. There were many food items lost in the hotpot that night which might be why I look concerned!
A birthday dinner at the Petit Prince in the 5th

The most unbelievable café gourmand I have seen in Paris thus far!

I wish I had more to share but it appears I need to take more pictures when we check another thing off the list!


My first work mission

A week ago I was in sunny Brazil! Myself and several other colleagues headed there for work to attend the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The IGF is an annual event that brings together thousands of people who have an interest in the development of the internet. This year it was in João Pessoa, Brazil also known as the eastern most city of all the Americas. A year ago when I was in Brazil I has visited this same coast but never made it to this city in particular. While the location was beautiful, the event was not exactly my favourite.

The view from my balcony and preferred place to work

I arrived on a Saturday and several of my colleagues were already there. As this was our only free time before an intense week of work, we headed to the beach - by far the best day of the week :) And we even squeezed in a little chat about spectrum management #nerds

Cabo Branco Beach














And then the work began. The venue was a lovely 45 minutes away on a good day, over an hour on a regular one. "I'm still on the bus :(" became one of the phrases of the week. My first introduction to the IGF was an hour wait in the blazing sun to get through security and then another hour to pick up badges, followed by horrible connectivity and realizing the adapters that we brought wouldn't fit in the plugs a the convention centre - only the hotel.

Line #1

My colleague - Homard La Crevette's - solution to standing in the blazing sun

Line #2
The rest of the week consisted of sitting on panels, organizing sessions, WhatsApping each other to figure out where people where and of course, sitting on the bus! 

My boss on a panel, some of you may recognize the Canadian with the beard :)
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Me looking totally panicked because I found out at 10pm I was on this panel at 2pm the next day, three quarters of the speakers didn't show and it was on a different topic than I was told - awesome!
Session I organized on the meeting I am planning in Mexico

Part of what helped us get over the bus and twists and turns of the week were the capirinhas that were usually consumed at dinner.

Ok, so this is actually breakfast but I'm sure we were thinking about having capis :)

One of the many dinners that included capis and shrimp!
The week ended with Friday the 13th so despite the complaints, this was a much better place to be than the city I currently call home . . .


A little pop art on a Sunday

From October to February the Museum of Modern Art is hosting an Andy Warhol exhibit which I, along with hundreds of my fellow Parisians, checked out one chilly Sunday afternoon. About a month ago, the weather really dipped here and spending time outside was not really an option so museums go back on the list of things to do. Unlike the others, I followed the signs that said "no photos" so this is all you get:



The exhibit was pretty comprehensive with paintings, video installations, photos and sculpture. Some I'd seen before but others were new to me like his collection of electric chairs, the video of the empire state building (we didn't watch the entire 8hrs!), the silver clouds and the time he spent with Velvet Underground. There was even an interview on how the Canadian border charged him duty on his Brillo Boxes exhibit as they were deemed consumer goods!

So if you happen to be in Paris, I recommend checking it out!

The characters you run into in Paris . . .

Last month I get a call from a random character I know, my little cousin :) He happened to be in town for a few days and like all good little cousins, he was so organized I only found once he was here. . .despite this, I'm glad he called!

This one's for our moms :)

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Thanksgiving in Paris - literally

As all the Canadians know, Monday was Thanksgiving. As any North American expat in Paris knows, it is a store in the 5th that sells goodies from home (even Clamato juice!).

But back to the real Thanksgiving - I, of course, did not have the day off . . .but I did have a tasty meal. One of the Canadian pubs here, the Moose, offered a turkey dinner with all the fixings and pumpkin pie! Needles to say, the place was packed :)




Saturday, October 17, 2015

Nuit Blanche

For those not familiar with the concept, Nuit Blanche is an all night art festival. Installations are set up across the city and, in theory, are open all night. I say in theory because we hit a few that closed around midnight - they totally didn't get the memo! 


So on October 3rd, I headed out with a couple of others (and a bazillion other Parisians) to see how much art we could take in and how late we could stay up! The theme this year was climate change as part of the lead up to the COP 21. This translated into lots of ice, mostly because it melts. And not going to lie, there were a number of things we saw, I didn't get.

Some of the ice
The ice close up

There were a number of video installations. We saw cute short films on family and one at the National Archives that was shots of Fukushima. 

National Archives

There were also a number of exhibits in or outside churches. This first one was a bit haunting. It was mirrors with images of kids behind them that represented those that were deported during the war. They looked that they were there, and not.


This singer was supported by changing colourful lights.




This is one of the ones I didn't get. The light projected the words and numbers and they kept adding smoke to see the rays.

St. Paul Church

This one was supposed to include dancers but it was one of the ones that didn't get the memo. 

And this one, I really didn't get. It was a large slab with gradations in it which were covered in cheese that people were invited to eat. After watching a bunch of people shove their hands in it, I did not sample the cheese!

Jardin des Rosiers
And it wouldn't be a night out without, a beverage!


Despite my confusion throughout the evening, I'm glad I went. And for those that want to know, I made it to 2am!

The Highlands

Even though I was only Edinburgh a short time, I took a trip to the highlands. It was a really long day on a bus but the scenery was stunning. I also lucked out weather wise, despite everything I heard, it was sunny and blue skies! 

The tour went through a number of places including Glen Coe, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness and Inverness. Because it was a bus tour, I don't have pictures of all of it but I did capture some beautiful landscapes.

The first stop on the way was, well I have no idea where, but we met Hamish and saw some land that was bought buy a lottery winner - so I guess worth it?

Hamish

One guy owns this land including the mountains!

Glen Coe

Our bus driver was a hysterical Scottish lady who claims she walked across this land and it is the most beautiful in all of Scotland. Not sure I believed her about the walking (though there were lots of hikers out) but it definitely was beautiful.



A place to stay if you are ever wandering through the area.







Yay - outside the bus!
















Loch Ness

The tour included a boat ride on the lake though not enough time to visit the castle.

I saw Nessie :-P























I ended to day checking out one of my colleagues' fav places in Edinburgh the Whiski and it met expectations!