Paris Day One

Trip to Paris - February 19th, 2006
12:20am EST

This is the first of what I hope to be several entries in my blog detailing my trip to Paris. For those of you who are not aware, I have had the good fortune of being invited by my friends at Alcatel to attend their yearly Forum and users conference in France along with Guido Ontaneda, my boss, his lovely wife Julie, John Meyer, one of our consultants, and his lovely wife Debbie. Our invitation, like so many other things in life, is part vendor bribe, part reward for being such a good and lucrative customer, and part apology for all the issues, trials, and tribulations of the last couple of years. KVAT has been a flagship retail customer for Alcatel, and as such, we have tried, tested, broken, repaired, and beta'ed parts of what seems to be everyone of their product lines.That being said, they are a good company, despite their flaws, and I am looking forward to the conference and the bribery that comes along with it.

This first entry comes to you from the plane as we soar at a relaxing cruising altitude of 37000 feet somewhere above Limerick, Ireland and the Celtic Sea. More specifically , we are currently at Latitude 51:00N Longitude 15:48W. How can I be so precise might you ask? Have I stormed the cockpit and decided to fly this leg of the journey myself? Do we have an overeager and chatty captain who has gone intercom happy? Well, fortunately, it is none of these answers. Instead, I am being bombarded by my friends at Delta with up to the second trip statistics, travel maps, flight tragectories, and land to air speeds, I suppose all in an effort to keep me well informed in the event I jump from the plane, or get to take my turn at the wheel. Now, I do not want to seem ungrateful for the benefit of up-to-date information. I actually found the info kind of cool and reassuring when we first got on the plane 6 HOURS AGO. But now, and for the last six hours, every LCD display overhead in the cabin has been glaring this information to me and the other passengers. I feel as if I am in an extended pause between scenes in a very boring version of the next Indiana Jones movie (reference back if you will, to the visual of the plane flying between dots on the world map - Delta, I am pretty sure, completely ripped that idea off - the Paris dot keeps getting slowly closer).

Well I should be retiring my laptop soon to prepare for my complimentary fruit and juice course, which is of course designed to trick my body into thinking that it is breakfast time and time to start a fresh on the day. Unfortunately my body is way too smart for that and it is fighting hard to hold on to the thought that it is 2:00 am in the morning and i should be running for the nearest bed once my knees are freed from the chair in front of me. Once we land and I have a few moments of clear-headed thought, I will let you all know who wins that war. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on the bed. More to come.

February 19th, 2006
8:00am EST (2:00PM Paris)

Well after a couple of hours of well deserved rest in my strange, but quaint hotel bed, I am back at the keyboard chronicling my trip. Needless to say, we arrived safely at the airport, passed quickly through customs, and gathered our bags. After a quick 20 minute drive, we arrived here at the Hotel Le Meridien Etoile, just a short walk from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees (ok...my French spelling is no better than my English). I was fortunate enough to have a very quick check in by a lovely and somewhat exotic woman at the desk (beauty and the French accent are a very dangerous combination), and then I headed to my room to quickly unpack and get some sleep.

My first impressions of Paris are mixed. As predicted, it is a rainy and dreary day, with little street traffic and very little activity in general. Being Sunday morning here, I can but assume that the French enjoy their weekends and hide from the rain with the fervor as their American counterparts. Basically my drive to the hotel gave me little upon which to form an opinion - lots of small, generic cars, typical industrial buildings on the outskirts of town, and a hint of the beauty of Paris as the Arch came into view in the last minutes of our drive up to the hotel bellman. I will be heading out shortly to explore a bit, and see what I can discover on the streets and in the surrounding shops before I finalize my opinions.

The hotel room is not quite what I expected, which is a failing on my part because I should have thought through this a experience a bit more before my arrival. The room can best be described as, well, of European influence. It is relatively small, but we appointed, with a small bathroom and closet. It is certainly comfortable and I have every suspiction it will be more than adequate during my stay, but it has its oddities. The TV will hold its own level of challenges. I have no American programming whatsoever, short of the world edition of CNN. Most of the programming is French with a smattering of the BBC and German broadcasts. I have several channels of Olympics coverage, but none in English, and all with a leaning away from American athletes. Possibly the most surprising find while exploring the TV dial was the presence of Al Jazeera. I fully intend to explore this opportunity and see what this new perspective brings to my interpretation of world news outlets. Unfortunately, since I speak nor read zero Arabic, I am pretty sure I will be just making stuff up while I watch the facial expressions of the people on the screen.

Well I am off to explore a bit more and see if I can dig up an ATM that will give me some Euros. Until next time America...

February 19th, 2006
4:33pm EST (10:33pm Paris)


This entry in the log brings me to the close of day 1 on my jaunt to Paris. Since last we spoke, so to speak, I have ventured out into the city proper, both alone, and with friends, and I am beginning to feel a bit more comfortable in the country. While most of my travel companions slept attempting to fight off the power of jet lag, I changed clothes and headed out into the streets surrounding the hotel in search of anything new in general, and an ATM specifically. Though I brought enough American currency to cover my needs within the confines of the airport, I needed to procure some Euros to cover the incidentals here in the city. I first wandered across the street to the Congress De Paris convention center and mall, asumming an ATM would be readily available. Though an impressive structure with world class shopping (translated from the Latin meaning "expensive"), ATM's were few and far between, at least in my initial inspection. I did however feel comfortable enough in my surrounding to head back out into the street and up the first block of the Champs Elysees. Those first few hundred feet verified my suspiction that this part of Paris was specifically geared to support businessmen and tourists. I encountered countless cafes, newspaper stands and generic boutiques. All in all, the area was clean and unexpectedly cheerful considering the rain and cool weather. Unfortunately I did not find an ATM, once again failing to explore quite enough to discover the obvious. I turned back and headed back to the hotel to meet the others in the lobby.

Guido, John and I met up to visit the Alcatel Suites in the hotel for a quick glass of wine and some chocolate goodies, while picking up our agenda for the week. Afterward, Guido, Julie, and I headed out on foot to the Arc de Triomphe for some photo ops while John and Debbie caught up on some more sleep. The Arc is the first major highlight of the trip. Based on my knowledge of French history, and my distain for Napoleon in general, I expected to be considerably underwhelmed by his little self tribute to victories won. I could not have been more wrong. The arc is both a modern marvel of architecture and artistic expression. We climbed the 280 + steps to the top and enjoyed some of the most magnificent views of a beautiful cityscape imaginable.
It is as if the entire city converges on that point just so you can enjoy its beauty and grace and soak in its history and its significance. I will post a few pictures to give you a glimpse into my experience.

We finished the evening, after gathering our remaining two companions, by wandering the streets until we came to a quaint little Bistro for dinner. After filet and dessert, I have made my way back to the room for some much needed rest and reflection. Tomorrow morning I will be exploring the Lourve and winding through the streets of the Latin Quarters in search of new inspirations for my camera and my logs. I also hope to make my way to a few cathedrals and discover some great street art if time permits. I realize that all of this sounds very generic and touristy, but so are the first few hours and indeed days of this kind of trip. As juicy bits of knowledge come to me, i will do my best to pass them along. Good night and good luck (did I mention I saw some great movies on the flight, but that is another entry)...