When in Paris, there is that one picture that every visitor must take. As you may observe below, I got my picture on a boat. We've been on quite a few boats on this trip. Tomorrow will be the best boat experience yet as I cruise from Holland to England overnight. I believe that this will be the second time in my life that I have cruised to England as I have good memories from when I was about 5 years old cruising from Portugal to England. This cruise will be a bit shorter and probably not as nice, but still a highlight of the trip.
Anyway...back to Paris. After the first hour in Paris, I discovered that in this city one could spend a couple week before they see all the sights--especially if you have my propensity to get lost. Our group actually almost didn't get a hotel in Paris as this year we went in the same week as the Paris airshow and all the hotels are either double the price or booked. However, Dr. LaFrance was able to work some magic to apparently get a good deal on a hotel that was in a pretty good location. While in Paris, I finished my last big project for my global strategy class. So, I won't have to really worry about school work until I'm in India. I also decided that it was time for a haircut and what better place than Paris.
We basically had a couple free days in Paris. On one day I check out the Louvre. They say that if you spend a minute or two checking out each work of art it would take six weeks to tour the whole museum. Half the painting that I remember seeing in my humanities book are contained in this building, including the Mona Lisa. The scene in front of the Mona Lisa is more like a mosh pit at a hard core rock show than an art museum--definitely the main attraction. The next night was the Paris's Fete de la Musique. Basically, certain side of the city you could could literally find a free concerts going on every block--all kinds of music too. There were a few good shows that I hung out around for a while, one of them was a jazz quintet which was good, but it made me miss my saxophone : ( .
So right now I am at the Hague in the Netherlands. It is a good change of pace from Paris because by the last day I was ready to be someplace with less people and a place that did not seem so commercial. The first night here I went on a beautiful run down to the beach nearby. It was a refreshing time just to be by myself and reflect. The next night I did the same run with some friends. We visited Shell and Ahold corporate offices. The Shell visit in particular was especially intriguing. We met with Jeremy Bentham, the VP of Global Business Environment. He basically heads up the research that informs Shell about the future of energy and gives the action plan for that future. He had a lot of good insight especially because he was Christian who had a good perspective on life and was excited about integrating his faith where he worked.
The Famous Picture in front of the Eiffel Tower
Picture taken while waiting in a long line at the Louvre.
Me in front of a Dutch windmill. (with a box of juice sneaking in the picture)
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