February 2008 - Posts
Today was another longish day, but we have made progress and things seem to be moving forward in a positive manner on the work front, so that is allowing to relax some. Tonight, everyone involved in the project walked to the café across the street from our hotel -- Café de la Musique. This was a neat place that was kind of a stainless steel-retro kind of place. Part art-deco, part theatre, part hip restaurant.
Food was again very, very good. For the starter, I had a cold foie gras, this time not mixed with anything, and it was excellent. Texture, flavor -- just decadent. For the main course, I had a roast rack of lamb, with burning sprigs of thyme (a rather interesting aromatic effect). Of all of the meats I've had, this was possibly the least remarkable, but it was still quite good. Instead of dessert, Thierry enticed me to try a Rocamadour cheese, which was really, really delicious. I am coming to understand why in France cheese is almost as important as wine -- they really do it well!
Today, the customer we've been working with took us to a little restaurant in the area where we're working (Pantin), and we chatted about camping and hiking in America. It is pretty neat to talk to people here and learn of their impressions of America. Some of them have traveled extensively, and others not at all.
Christophe helped us order our lunch items and was excited that I was interested in trying the truly French items on the menu. I had a warm foie gras and apple tart appetizer that was ridiculously good, and I had 'bar' l'Amandine. Bar is a fish that had a flavor/texture similar to walleye. After the foie gras, it was a little disappointing, but not because it wasn't good. 
After another long afternoon, we had a late dinner with some other colleagues, who took us to a nice restaurant near the center of Paris -- l'Auberge Bressane. This was a work dinner of sorts, but we took time to eat while discussing things. The food was quite good. I had 'Presse de lapereau aux pruneaux et au foie gras' for a starter (rabbit and foie gras). Outrageous. I had 'Les grenouilles à la Provençale' for my main dish. This is frog legs, and it was good (nothing like chicken -- don't believe the hype!). At the urging of my colleagues, I ordered a dessert, as they said I couldn't possibly eat at this fine brasserie without trying one. So I had the Soufflé au Grand Marnier. First off, the soufflé itself was incredible -- about 4 inches above the ramekin, fluffy, rich, delicious. Secondly, the Grand Marnier is poured over the soufflé, then lit, which is a rather impressive display. I totally missed which wine was selected, but it was also really quite amazing, even if my food selections didn't go with it so well. Overall, this meal was the best so far (I guess kind of obviously). The conversation perhaps detracted from the enjoyment some, as we spent the better part of the meal talking shop, but I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the task at hand, so...
Today, we worked a little later (we just lunched in the ‘canteen’ at the customer building), so we got a late start exploring. We asked the hotel staff member at the counter (no concierge at this hotel) for some areas to check out for good dining options, and he suggested several areas. We decided upon the area immediately to the east of Galleries La Fayette – a large shopping center. We took the Metro and managed to navigate a mid-trip change to a different line to get where we wanted to go. Yay, us. We headed east along Boulevard Haussmann and started looking at the menus on the restaurants to find somewhere interesting, but not too expensive. We ended up at Select Haussmann. I had a small plate of escargot, which was fantastic (garlic, basil, butter, snails – mmmmm). I think Geoff had a steak and I had duck magret. I ordered an inexpensive St. Emilion (Bordeaux) which was good but not great. Overall, this restaurant experience was a little bit disappointing, but I think it is only because the first couple places were so good. I would say the food quality was good, but not something I would seek out again. We still enjoyed the meal, and spent a little time walking around before we took the Metro home.
We were treated to lunch by the folks in the Paris (Garches) office, at a little Italian restaurant near the office. Quite good, but not remarkably different from what we have at nice Italian restaurants in America. After working the afternoon, however, Vincent and Thierry returned with us to our hotel, and we walked from the hotel across the Parc de la Villette to a small restaurant on Avenue Corentin Cariou called La Violette. Vincent treated us to a lovely 2002 St. Emilion (Bordeaux) that went wonderfully with my filet with brown sauce, foie gras, new potates, and green beans (sorry, even though I am trying to learn on the fly, there’s no way I would get the French correct). The food is as good as people say it is so far…
I am on a business trip to Paris, France to work with a customer. I have been trying to make notes of our non-work activities for my own benefit, and decided to post it here...
We landed at Charles De Gaulle airport around 11:15 or so, and Thierry met us at outside the baggage claim. He was kind enough to drive us from the airport to the hotel and make sure we were set. The rooms weren’t ready, so we sat in the café and had a club sandwich and waited. Around 2 PM our rooms were ready, so we paid and settled in. My room is a suite of sorts, it is a hotel in Europe, so it is basically the size of a regular hotel room in the states -- comfortable, but not extravagant. We decided we’d better stay awake to get adjusted to Paris time, so we met around 4 PM to go exploring. It was clear, warm (~55F?), and sunny, so we took a cab to the Louvre and took a nice long walk. We started by checking out the glass pyramid at the center of the Louvre, but decided to save the museum itself for next weekend, when we can dedicate enough time to it to do it justice.
So we turned around and walked toward the Tuileries Garden and Place de la Concorde.
We proceded to walk along Champs Elysees, and on to the Arc de Triomphe. We took the underground passage to the Arc and walked around it, but didn’t go up on top. It is very impressive just being right next to it. Those are people on the top -- it is very large!
We then walked down the Avenue d’lena to the Eiffel Tower and checked it out. It was about dusk then, so we waited until it got dark and they turned the lights on. We didn’t go up, as the lines were long and we were tired and hungry. We walked back across the Seine to Avenue de New York.
We walked along the Seine to Place de l’Alma. As we walked, Geoff noticed the tower was sparkling (five minutes each hour of strobe lights all over the tower) which looks pretty neat. You can sort of see it here, but not so well. I also tried to take a video on my phone, but it really doesn't show up. It is very clearly visible from a long way away in person, though...
We found a nice little restaurant called Mascotte Café on Avenue Marceau. I had a lovely Bourgogne with my Tartare which was really rather good. We going to take the Metro home, but the station outside the restaurant didn’t have a ticket window so we took a cab back to the hotel.
Joshua wrote me an inspiring note on my lunch bag today.
Note the "Go Dad Go" in green at the bottom.
Just makes you want to go out and conquer the world.
If you don't have kids, this is a reference to the the NickJrTV show Diego, which my kids love. The theme song repeats "Go, Diego, Go!" and the kids like to adapt it to whatever situation is currently holding their interest, like, say, a lunch bag for Dad...
Generally speaking, I don't have too many issues with my back, but occasionally (usually when I do something stupid) I'll 'hurt' it in some way, then pay the price for a time after. Well, apparently last week I did just that, and although it is mildly better, I am getting kind of tired of it. Between bowling last Tuesday and clearing the fresh snowfall Wednesday morning, I tweaked my back badly enough that I would say the sensation ranges between mild discomfort and acute pain. Both my lower back and my upper back feel so tense that every time I twist to try to stretch I hear a whole bunch of pops (which is mildly amusing, if it weren't for the soreness that accompanies the whole ordeal).
Yeah, I know, boo-hoo.
Thankfully this morning the range has fallen to somewhere between fine and mild discomfort, which is a nice change. It is good to not look like I am decrepit when I get out of a chair.
On another note, my new Motorola Q Global should be here today, so tonight I can play with my new toy while I try to soothe my back with the heating pad...
I have been delinquent in posting again. The post-holiday blahs are here and I am in full-on SAD mode. I love the snow, but I miss the sunshine. The last two weeks I have been stressed, cranky, and on a couple of occasions just plain depressed. I find that forcing myself to meditate (for lack of a better descriptive) on my current life brings me back to reality, but when I don't make a conscious effort to recognize the good stuff I get into a rut and start taking it out on those around me (either by being cranky or totally disinterested, depending on the moment). So a big, fat WAH...
In other news, I had the joy of doing an unexpected brake-job on the Jeep while I was in Grand Rapids a couple weeks ago (nothing like unplanned automotive repairs 100 miles from your tools!) -- special thanks goes out to SuperDave and BigJohn for their help/moral support/lending of needed tools, and to Dad for riding around with me to get parts.
Last weekend, we were again in Grand Rapids, but this time to celebrate 60 years of wedded bliss for my maternal grandparents. I am pretty sure it marked the first time I can remember that I saw them kiss (and then giggle and blush like they were 14 years old). Much fun. Even though we saw much of the family at Christmas, it was fun to have everyone together, and that evening at my parents' house we got to socialize with Val and Joe, Chuck and Jenice, and SuperDave brought the baby over for a bit and I got to hold my nephew for quite a while... The red wine was flowing and I had procured some Bell's Hopslam, so several of us ended up worse for the wear by the time all was said and done, but I suppose that is allowed from time to time.
This weekend our big plans are to go -- nowhere! (yay!) I am thinking about smoking a pork shoulder, so if you're hungry, come on by! (maybe, you know, give me a ring or something before dropping in) 
(Edited to protect the innocent -- only those of us staying at Mom and Dad's who were foolish enough to overindulge were worse for the wear -- some people were smart and behaved themselves!)