Chicago - Conference

So here we just wrapped up a second full day of our Annual Sales Conference. So far things are going great, though I have to admit the schedule is alittle grooling. But I can understand what we are doing and how we are doing. Now I won't go into too much detail because it seems that our Competitors love to read my blog from time to time. :) Yes I know you are reading this :)

Any way. Tonight we are going on a dinner boat cruise on Lake Michigan. THis should be a great time as the people are fantastic and well you know how it gets when you get a bunch of working people together in one room! We love to drink :)

I'll try to make sure I post some pictures up on Flickr, as I have still to take some pictures of this great city. Walking around the city you get a great sense of the architecture and style. People here are great for the most part and I haven't experienced anything out of the ordinary for a big city.

Well I'm off to get changed and meet some of collegues downstairs for a pre-drink excursion.

And Competition..thanks for caring about me and reading up on me. :)

Chicago Bound

Now who would have thought I would be traveling twice in one month?

Tomorrow I leave for Chicago for our Annual Sales Meeting. Now I don't think it would be so bad, but I don't think I will have much free time to explore the city. Our days have been pretty much planned out for us from 7am - 7pm most days and some evening events thrown in for good measure.

Hopefully I'll get to explore some of it on Wednesday when I arrive, but I fear I'll be too worried about what is going back in the office and I'll be glued to my computer "just in case".

I'm sure some of my colleagues will be doing other things and I'll have to take some cues from them :)

Hmmm maybe I'll run into Oprah!!! :)

T.M.X. Elmo is Here

Ok so the new 10th anniversary Tickle Me Elmo has now been officially released.

I remember when the first one came out 10 years ago, my sister Maria went crazy trying to find one for my niece Samantha. I don't know how she did it, but she manage to find one and was able to give it to her on Christmas Day. Ahhh parenthood.

Now the new and improved Elmo falls on the floor, bangs his knee, rolls over, kicks his legs. WOW amazing. Hmmm maybe I'll get one this year for Christmas. :D

To view a video please see below:




Hmmm maybe I should buy one for the office. With the wet weather lately people are alittle grumpy (me included) and this might just be what we need on those grumpy rainy gloomy days!

Back to Reality

Well I have now been back to work for 2 days now and I keep wishing I was on holidays. It never fails that when you return to work you have tons more to do than when you left. I guess it will always be that way. I got in on Monday to more than 450 emails. Of course my email box was over its limit so no one could send me any messages :) (I kinda like that one). The good news is most of it was irrelevant and I just deleted them. I think I'm now officially caught up and starting to get back into the swing of things. I already have a function to attend this week for work on Wednesday and that should be "exciting".

I'm trying hard to find things that are exciting to blog about at the moment, but that might have to wait as things get back to reality.

This weekend I will be attending a birthday party of a friend and should be fun. It will be at one of my most favourite restaurants in this city, Ponchos. This lovely little Mexican Restaurant is located on Denman. Yummy foods to say the least.

That's it and that's all!

Paris - Day 12 and Trip Home

Well our last day in Paris was a fairly relaxing day. We walked around the Latin Quarter again and manage to stop in a few shops along the way. Nothing purchased.

We proceeded to the Louvre again and I was tempted to go in again to catch some of the other sites we didn't see, but alas I was worried Russ didn't want to go. Though on our return I found out he did and didn't want to ask me for the same reason as I didn't ask him. Oh well.

We walked in some shops along the way home as I was trying to find a nice casual blazer to purchase, but alas there was nothing in my size. I guess since most Parisians are small and tiny, they don't need really big clothes like they have back in North America :) Now let's see, an XXL shirt which I thought was nice was really a SMALL in my books. I couldn't buy a thing. OH well, this might be a reason to loose some weight. :D

We then went home and relaxed before one last big dinner out. The dinner was fantastic and headed home to pack for the trip back home. Russ had saved a bottle of champagne from the other day and we toasted our last night in Paris. It was actually fun.

The trip back home to Vancouver was long. Our flight from Paris to Toronto was delayed on the tar mat for about 1/2 hour as the airport was busy and we had to wait for our turn to leave. This started to worry me a little as we only had 2 hours in Toronto, and that would cut into my visit with my sister Gladys in Toronto. This made the 8 hour flight feel longer for me as I couldn't sleep and kept worrying about it. To my surprise the plane landed on time and we were able to have a short coffee with my sister and niece Amanda. It was great to see them as it has been over a year since we last saw each other. You begin to realize how much you miss your family when you are not in contact with them for a long period of time.

After our coffee we walked back through security and as we approached our gate, the plane has begun to be boarded. The trip from Toronto to Vancouver was more relaxing. I manage to sleep for abit. We landed in Vancouver on Thursday night to a typical Vancouver weather and finally got home. Ahhh HOME! It was great to sleep in our home again.

Paris - Day 11

Well we didn't get much sleep last night as we were worried we wouldn't get up and miss our tour today. The plan is to at least sleep on the bus.

We made it to the tour operator's office in good time and waited to board our bus. The bus had a tour in 3 languages, English, Spanish and Japanese. I was impressed on each translator how great they spoke their languages and was more impressed by a white person speaking Japanese.

Our tour began in the city of Reims where we stopped off for a tour of the "caves" of one of Marylin Manroe's favourite champagne - Piper Heidsnick. Supposedly one of the many champagnes used in the motion pictures as well. The tour of the caves felt like we were in a Dysney ride. We boarded a little card and were whisked away through the underground of the complex and were given the sites and sounds through a pre-recorded audio. Alittle shlacky, but the champagne tasted great after the end!

We were then taken to the Cathedral Reims. This is were many of France's Kings have been crowned. The Cathedral was going through some very extensive renovations in and around the site that it was hard to hear our tour guide at times. Inside the Catherdral you can see where the Germans had bombed this during World War I. The architeture was amazing as it is in the gothic style. Walking around you can feel the history that was there. At one point our tour guide pointed out a chair where Joan of Arc sat during one crowning. She then pointed out a statue of Joan of Arc made out of Ivory. Now the eery thing is that the face is always clean while the rest of the statue shows it's age.

We then proceeded on our tour of the Champagne region to Moet and Chandon's estate. This is the champagne that Nepolean loved. It was also interesting to note, during our guided tour, that is also where Dom Perignon is made. I even got to hold a bottle of it during out tour, a bottle that still was being aged :)

This tour was more personal as we had a person tour guide take us through the underground caves and learn more of the history behind Moet and Chandon champagne. Truely delicious in my books!

We then headed back to Paris where I crashed of pure exhaustion.

Tomorrow will be another grand adventure as it will be our last official day here in Paris!

Paris - Day 10

Today was another fairly relaxing day.

We woke up late and decided to just take it easy for the day. We headed down to a tourist booking site and signed ourselves up for a tour of Champagne France tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it as it will be the first time on our trip that we will be chaufeured around in a guided tour.

We then headed for something to eat and stumbled on a little restaurant we always walked past. The food wasn't too bad, but the people next to us seemed to have their noses in the air. Now they weren't Parisian, but American. No offence to some of my American friends, but they were just typical Americans. They complained about the service, they complained about the heat, they complained they had to go shopping. I was about to tell them to just go home them, but I was kind and concerite like a good Canadian boy :)

We then proceeded to head over to another cementery in the city close to the Moulin Rougue - Montmartre Cementery. Now this cementery isn't as grande as the Pere-Lachaise, but still as impressive. They had wild cats running around the place and it lended itself to the creepy cementery feel.

After a few hours there we headed home and rested for our big day in the morning. Now funny thing is that neither of us brought an alarm clock and we have to be up by 6am to meet our tour at 7:45am. This is going to be an interesting night!

Paris - Day 9

Today we slept in after having 2 full days of walking. Our feet have been so tired, we decided that today would be the day to just do things leisurely.

We ended up leaving the condo at 1pm and just walked over to the Latin Quarter to do a little bit of shopping. Alas since it was Sunday, most of the shops were closed. But first we stopped off for a bite to eat at a Bar/Club/Restaurant. We had their buffet brunch and then continued on our way to the Latin Quarter.

After walking around for a bit, we stopped by a a cafe shop and sat outside with our 15 Euro glasses of coke and beer and just people watched for a bit.

We got back up and started to make our way through the maze of streets and alley ways at one point getting a little lost and disoriented. At that point the map came out to see exactly where we were, which wasn't too far off a main street. We slowly began to make our way back home where we rested.

As the night drew nearer, Russ got me up and said it was time for me to get some nighttime shots I have been wanting to get. We hopped on the Metro for a 2 hour tour stopping at the famous Moulin Rouge (which to be honest wasn't that spectacular on the outside), the Arc de Triumph, and the infamous Eiffel Tower. I think I got a couple of great shots and was happy with that quick trip.

At this point we were getting a little hungry and stopped in at a restaurant for a late bite to eat. Thankfully there was one open at midnight and we manage to get a quick bite just before heading home for the night.

Ahhh REST! :)

Paris - Day 8

Today we ventured a little further out of the city to a little town known as Melun. It was a fun 40 minute train ride outside the city. It was fun to see the city slowly change from industrial, to rural, to country side.

From there we waited about an hour for the bus to show up to take us to the Chateau Vaux le Vicomte. This was the place that Louis XIV wanted to out do, and he did with Varsaille. This was a little of a disappointment having seen Varsaille first, but still a spectacular building and grounds. They were even getting ready for an Opera production on the grounds with the Chateau as the back drop. Ahhh the French! Alas this did not really allow me to take pictures of the front of the Chateau.

The highlight was definitely being able to walk up to the dome of the Chateau and an amazing view of the grounds. The gardens were spectacular and we were treated this time to the fountain show (every second Saturday they have the fountains on for 3 hours). These fountains are gravity controlled by the resevoir that is on the grounds. Truely amazing.

We of course had to walk the grounds and I was taken back by all the sites. I pictured how it must have felt back then. This was their entertainment, walking the grounds each day and stopping every so often to admire the sounds of the water, the beauty of the fountains themselves and the gardens.

After 3 hours of walking the grounds it was time to get the last bus back to the train station and work our way back to our temporary home.

This has definitely been 2 full days of walking and walking and more walking. My feet are aching and I need a break tomorrow!

Paris - Day 7

Today was a big walking day.

We woke up early and hopped on a couple of metros and then took the RER (the commutal train) and headed to the Chateau De Versailles. This GRANDE palace was started by Louis XIV when he had heard of another Chateau, Vaux le Vicomte and he wanted to out do it. And boy did he. This Palace is on 105 hectares or is that acres of land. I can't even begin to put into words how huge it is.

We started by trying to get into the tour of the Palace itself. The line up was huge, and we kept seeing people heading to another direction, the Dauphin's Apartments and we headed that way. On our way there it lead to the gardens. On look at this and I told Russ I wanted to see them first. To our surprise it was free. We didn't have to pay a thing to see the gardens. The gardens stretch straight out for over 3.5 km! Based on the guide pamphlet, it would take you about an hour to walk this. We started walking the grounds and admiring the fountains. Unfortunately they didn't have any of them on. They save this for later on in the evening and charge a fee to get into the gardens at this time.

We ventured up to the Bassin d'Apollon, a grande fountain and rented ourselves a golf cart. We drove around the guardens and came to the Grande Trianon and Petit Trianon at one end of the garden. The Petit Trianon is the area where Marie Antoinette had her residence when she lived at Versailles. She even had a little "Hamlet Village" created so she could play pesdant girl.

After we returned the cart, we headed back up to see the Palace. We paid our 13.50 Euros each to get in, and this included the head set. The tour begins with the grande Chapel. A marvel to see. This then lead to the Opera House, yup an Opera House in there. This Opera House was carved out of wood and gold leafed. Simply Amazing.

The tour then lead to the Kings chambers and the many rooms it holds. This then lead into the Hall of Mirrors. Russ has always told me about this and his mother has told me I have to have my picture taken there. Fighting off the other tourists Russ manage to get my picture taken in there. This room is also being restored to its Grandure and was only 1/2 completed. Still an amazing site.

This then lead into the Queens Chambers and the History of France area. In this area I finally saw the Corination of Nepolean painting I have been wanting to see.

After walking so much, we headed home for a well deserved rest.

Definately a highlight of my day!

Tomorrow we head to Vaux le Vicomte, the "Chateau" that started Varsailles.

Paris - Day 6

Today we woke up late so decided to just venture out to some of the local Museums in our area. Since the Picasso Museum is only 1 block away, we ventured there. This is reportedly the most work of Picasso on display. In true Parisian flare, the Museum itself is a monument. This is housed in the old Hotel Sale. Definitely looked a lot bigger in the photos, but it's still an amazing building. The collection itself was impressive, spread over 3 floors throughout the hotel. I was amazed at some of the work and a little thrown off by others. Maybe it was because he is a "modern day artist" as opposed to an artist of the 13th or 14th century. I definitely learned that he did more than just paintings, from sculptures in clay or metal to pottery.

From there we ventured to the Museum Carnavalet (the history of Paris). It was a pleasure to walk in and not have to pay for anything :). This museum houses work from the 16th century up to the 20th century both in paintings, sculptures, and furniture. This museum is housed in 2 mansions and creates a figure 8 design. There are 4 different courtyards with different gardens. Now throughout the musems, which ever one you go to here, they always have people making sure you are not touching the paintings or doing anything out of the ordinary. Their jobs are boring to say the least and I wonder how they pass the time. Well during our visit here, I found out how, they take short naps :) I just had to take a picture of him.

From there we ventured off again into unknown area and discovered some more shops and stopped off for a bite to eat. Nothing spectacular to report on the food as I just had a slice of lasagna and Russ had a salad.

From there we headed home but did stop by at a pastry shop and bought some delectable treats for later tonight. We will be eating in tonight to try to save some money as hopefully tomorrow we will venture off to Varsaille Palace, a 40 minute excursion outside of the city.

Laura's Last Day!

So one of my co-workers (Laura) is leaving today to bigger and better things.

Alas I won't be there to wish here all the best as I'm in Paris right now. But she has been so kind to look after our place and take care of Chelsea (the cat) while Russ and myself are away.

I will miss Laura's laughter, late night phone calls to me about clients, or just generally having her around the office. I know we will still be in great contact with each other as she still lives in the city, afterall.

Laura I'm still there as a movie date should you every want one!

Hugs and big toast from Paris!!! SALUTE!!!

Paris - Day 5

Ok I just can't help myself, I'm going picture crazy here in Paris. I'm so glad Russ has brought his laptop with him without it I don't know what I would do with all the pictures. I think in the past 5 days I have taken over 200 photos. UGH! But hey you have to take alot to get the best ones :)

Today was a better day heat wise. Definately a hot day, but bareable.

We went to the Musem D'Orsey. This museum is housed in an old train station and has been redone to be able to house all the fantastic work. Now there is work from Monet, Van Gaugh and an exhibit of Rodin, just to name a few. You get to appreciate the work much more seeing it up close and personal. There are times you just want to actually touch the work, but that isn't allowed. There are signs through out the museum warning you of this as well as warnings about leaving your bags behind - "any unattended bags will cause the museum to be evacuated" OUCH!

After 3 hours at the Musem D'Orsey, we walked along the street and made our way to the Latin Quarter. Now this is full of fantastic Art shops which line the many streets. We just wondered around, at one point lost, but that was half the fun. We entered a back alley, which turned out to be full of little stores and cafes. One which we sat out and enjoyed a glass of Pepsi, Beer, Crepe and salad, all for an amazing price of 29 Euros! Ahhh the French! But it was fun and enjoyable and we don't regret it at all.

We slowly ventured our way back to the condo, but managed to stop along the Notre Dame Cathedral and took pictures of one side we didn't take pictures of yet (I know, unbelievable!!!). We stopped by a tacky shop where I bought some postcards, and then ventured back home to do some laundry (2 loads for 10 Euro, including drying..EEK)

All in all a fun day, more relaxed.

We started planning our other ventures outside the city in the next few days, so keep posted to some new and interesting points of view!

EDIT - What's hot in fashion here, BIG and I mean BIG belt buckles, can be with reinstones or not, silver or not, just BIG and chunky. Also I was surprised to see more Parisians drinking rose wine, not Zinfindel as in North America.

Paris - Day 4

It's hard to believe it's only been 4 Days already. We've been going to bed fairly late and waking up even later. I'm starting to feel more Parisian everyday :). The cafes here are amazing. People linger outside on the street, talk, drink, smoke. Just socialize. It's interesting from a North American perspective.

Today, on advice from Laura, we decided to take it easier. We kept our walking to a minimal and went on a ride in the Metro. Our goal, to see the Effiel Tower. Now I'm not one to give you a history lesson, but from what everyone knows, the Effiel Tower was not loved by the Parisians when it was first built. They HATED it. Walking under the structure you are just awed, granted be warned that the gypsies are everywhere there asking if you "Speak English" and then hold out a card for you to read saying "we are new to this country, just arrived, we haven't eaten, could you spare some money" HA! and they look so healthy to me!

Anyways, when entering the Tower, you have the option of buying a ticket which observation deck you wish to go to. Prices vary depending on which one of course. I opted out for the 2nd level as I'm not a great person with heights. Also with this option you can choose to walk up the stairs (why?) or take the lift. The lift itself is a double decker lift and you are pilled in there like sardines. We made our way up to the second left and took some amazing photos (see flickr)

We then made our way down to the first level and ate at the cafe there, and looked at the lovely tacky souvernirs. Instead of taking the lift down back to the main floor, we decided to walk down the stairs. I marvelled at the people making their way up. Some looked liked they were regretting it from the get go, and others were just enjoying it. Ahh Paris!!!

Tonight will be a quiet night out, maybe a cafe with some pasteries or not. We shall see.

Tomorrow will be another fun filled day!

Paris - Day 3

Hot, Sticky, Humid, Sweaty, SORE, feet tired, walked way too much around the Pere La Chaise Cemetery. Napped. Went out again to do some shopping though I didn't buy anything, yet. Had dinner. Met interesting people. Walked to Notre Dame for some night time shots. Back at the condo, tired. I'm off to bed!!!!

Where's the tylenol? :)

Paris - Day 2

I can't believe this is just the second day. We did SO much today I think it's hard to put it all in words.

First we got up late, jet lag is finally gone and we headed out on our day. The plan was to visit the Louvre Museum as it was a free day (first Sunday of every month). We ended up walking to the museum which was about 1/2 hour walk from the condo. Prior to getting there we stopped off at Brasserie for a couple of sandwhiches (in a bagette). MMM nothing like a bagette with brie and tomatoes.



We got to the backside of the Museum and it was so impressive. Now this was just the backside, when we walked through a door way into a court yard and was floored away. Russ of course kept say, wait, and boy was he right. Walking through the court yard and entered the main court yard with the glass pryamid. Now for those who have never been here, the pyramid is the actually the enterance to the Louvre. Since it was a free day, the crowds were out in force! The place was SO busy I'm surprised the security was so light.

We ventured into the Egyptian area. For those that know Russ, you can see why we started there first (he just loves anything Egyptian). With the crowds, I was getting alittle over whelmed and alittle heat stricken, but I ventured onwards, up some stairs, down some stairs, up some other stairs and down some more. After the Egyptian exhibit I had to go see my Mona Lisa. Alas the usual route to her was blocked off and we had to go through a detour to find her. Up some more stairs and down some other, but first we got to see the Venus de Milo and the Wings of Victory. Of course the Mona Lisa was highly sought after and the crowd was 15 people deep. Now in this area, no photos were allowed, but hey I had to try :)

At this point I was having a hard time with the crowds and we had to get out of there. We ventured outside and got our picture taken in front of the Louvre. We started to walk through the Tuileries Gardens. Tons of people around, enjoying the nice Parisian weather. We continued our walk up to the Champs-Elyees towards the Arc de Triumph. We didn't exactly hit the Arc as our feet were getting so TIRED from all the walking.

We hopped on the Metro and went to see the famous Opera House. This is inspired the Phantom of the Opera. In true spirit, you had to pay to tour the Opera House (Russ remembers when this was free). The staircase was GRAND as grand as a staircases should be! The chandelliers were HUGE or as Russ likes to call them (earrings). Of course at this point my shirt was soaken wet from the humidity, but being a trouper I continued on. The reception area, the audience room was amazing to say the least!! We ended up taking a small break outside the Opera House and just enjoyed being there.

We hopped back on the Metro and came home. Granted we tried to stop off to pick up something at the groccery store, but nothing is really open here in Paris on Sundays! We'll have to wait until tomorrow for that.

Tonight we dined at a fantastic restaurant known as The Gai Moulin. I had to go all out and ordered the Kangaroo for dinner. MMMMM Yummy!!!

We did some more walking and returned home. Phew a HUGE Day and another one to happen again tomorrow!!

Paris - Day 1

WOW finally here in Paris!

Had a short delay in Vancouver on our way to Toronto to join our flight to Paris. Overall the flights were very comfortable. we managed to at least get some sleep and felt alittle rested when we landed in Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Interesting note, you don't have to grab your luggage before customs here. I thought that was interesting. Granted after having to fight our way through to our luggage carousel from what felt must have been a flight from somewhere in Africa where they were bringing anything and everything back (some I swear were rotting).

After a short delay there, we were on our way to our condo and it was a interesting ride. I manage to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (which we will venture to sometime during our stay). We arrived in the condo only to find the cleaning person still cleaning the place. I was so hoping to just jump in the shower and relax, alas we just ventured out and did some grocery shopping. Europeans have such a way of shopping :)

Well we finally finished and headed back to shower. AHHH a shower after a 14 hour trip was well worth it. We got ready and headed out again.

We walked around the Marais District. WOW the architecture here is amazing. I couldn't get enough of it. We walked down to Ile Saint-Louis and then to Notre Dame Cathedral. Such an amazing place. I was blown away by the gothic look of it all. I'll have pictures posted on my flickr page soon enough.

We ended up walking back to the condo but we pasted by some interesting shops and the Hotel De Ville. PHEW so much in so little time.

Tomorrow we tend to head to the Louvre museum as supposedly it is free on the first Sunday of every month.