Paris Day Three

February 21st, 2006
11:23am EST (5:23pm Paris)

Allow me to begin by explaining that the majority of today has been spent in the actual Alcatel Forum (you know..,the official reason I came to Paris). Therefore, much of what I have to discuss is somewhat technical, which translates to boring for most of the world. The forum has been very good to this point. Alcatel has spared no expense in both the content available and the presentation of said content. The production value of the keynote address was beyond expectations, rivalling the studio quality of most live television programs. We heard from the Chairman and CEO of Alcatel as well as the Editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review. The keynote was presented in a talk show format with interviews, video clips, and field reporters from around the world. It was informative, interesting, and, frankly much better than expected. Afterwards, Guido, John, Ando, myself, and Tom Hicks went across the street to a nice little bistro for a 3 course lunch (more on food to come). Then it was back to the Forum for some booth and vendor browsing.

Guido and I pretty much steared clear of the conference sessions, with the exception of a presentation on the use of VOIP over WLAN as case study, and we instead focused on the partner and vendor booths and new technology. Probably of most interest was the new uses of SIP technology in PDAs and cell phones, allowing you to go from cellular to free wireless and back seamlessly. We also explored some of the XML development tools available for the new Alcatel IP phones with color digital displays (Bluetooth handsets as well - very cool technology). Ok, I realize alot of the readers out there have no idea what I am talking about, but take my word for it. This is a very impressive trade show, especially considering it is sponsored by a single company.

Now, back to the discussion of food. Eveyone reading this knows that I like to eat and that I am afraid of little when it comes to trying new things. Everyone also presumably knows that Europe has some of the best, and in many cases, exotic foods in the world. It has been my great pleasure to try a little of everything throughout the week without any concern for quantity or cost. My wonderful guests from Alcatel have gone out of their way to provide for nearly every meal, at significant expense. I don't believe at any point we ate for less than 200 Euro, which shows the generosity of this wonderful company. Today for lunch I experienced a first for me in the form of my appetizer. It was a gratin potato tower with a center of seared Fra Grau (sp). This was my first fra grau and I must say that despite its strange beginnings (fattened duck liver), it has a fasntastic flavor. My main course consisted of veal medallions with spinach. Obviously, the entree was much less exotic, but equally tasty.

Now I am not going to detail every meal, but I did want to highlight a few more things. I have enjoyed a pan seared salmon with creme sauce, extremely rich pasta carbonara, and fork tender filet in bournaise sauce and peppercorns. At this point, I am not sure where we will end up for dinner tonight, but I am leaning toward searching out a nice rack of lamb. I will keep everyone informed. I doubt I will log anything more until tomorrow night, since all I have left is forum events tomorrow until dinner. Tomorrow night, I will be dining at the Jules Vern Restaurant atop the Eiffel Tower. That experience will certainly warrant a log entry. I know all this must sound so boring, but i asure you all I am trying hard to have a good time. Talk to you all very soon...Mom, please kiss Michael for me...

February 22nd, 2006
2:06am EST (8:06am Paris)

OK, I realize that I said I probably would not log back on until later tonight to chronicle my trip to the Eiffel Tower for dinner. That may have been true if we would not have had the adventure we had last night for dinner. Last night was our regional dinner involving all the customers, sales techs and regional managers from US Atlantic division. Our group was 12 strong, but our table consisted of 6 people including Guido, Julie, myself, Tom Hicks, Don (a customer and panel member from one of the PA school systems), and Dave Dwyer, General Manager of voice systems for North America. Don and Dave were both great guys and good additions to our party for the evening.

Now normally, though the meals have always been very good, they rarely warrant logging all by themselves. Lastnight was definitely different. First of all, we went to a new and very trendy restaurant called Bound. Bound is the epitemy of European cool, with dramatic lighting, cool projection art and a smoked glass and iron bar. Bound is known for its wine and its sushi/seshemi and never one to break with traditions, I jumped right in. This is where the culinary part of my adventure begins. Dave ordered a large sample platter of all kinds of rolls, sushi, and seshemi for the table to enjoy. After testing out the chop sticks and mixing up some wasabi and soy, I jumped right in and tried some snapper, salmon, tuna, and shrimp. I also tackled the california type roll. Though a complete novice in the world of sushi/seshemi, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The textures and flavors were phenomenal, with a firm and fresh feel from all the types of fish, despite their rare nature. In fact, the shrimp and california rolls were the only cooked/vegetarian samples on the plate. Needless to say, everything was fantastic and we worked hard as a table to ensure nothing was left unsampled, cleaning as a group the entire platter.

As I stated earlier, Bound is also known for its wonderful wine collection, and last night we dove in and enjoyed a very fruity and sweet red as well as a very crisp white. I stayed with the red, Mercurie from the Julliot winery (2000). When we first arrived, the evening started with some very stiff business talk and the feeling out of all the new people from both directions, but after some good chat, a few Guiness and whiskey soars, and four bottles of wine, everyone became very friendly and talkative, ending the evening as allies and friends.

The entrees were equally spendid - mine an Asian shrimp dish involving mushrooms and noodles. After some more chat, we ordered dessert. By this time, the other table decided to leave, having not been slowed by a sushi course, they were already done with dessert and drinks and ready to head back out into the city. Dessert was specifically Parisian with everyone opting for the Creme brule sampler, consisting of Vanilla, chocolate, and caramel cups. Dessert was almost beyond description, which crisp distinct flavors and a perfectly smooth and cremey consistency - truly magnificient.

If what I just described was not interesting enough, then the timeline might push you over the edge. From arrival to the final coffees and teas, were dined for nearly 6 hours, not heading out into the streets to search for taxis until after 1am. A second amazing factor was cost. As I have stated before, Alcatel has been a terrific host, providing for our every need. Last night's meal was yet another perfect example. Our party of 12 ate for just under 1100 Euros or approximately $1300 US. To help put that into perspective, our other table was drinking coke, 17 cokes to be exact over the course of the evening. Those 17 cokes were 102 Euro for the evening. Basically, last night's dinner was the most interesting and extravegant of my young life.

That is until tonights....to be continued.