Euro surprise, NY reprise
These were quite the eventful couple of weeks, as you can probably tell by the lack of activity on here.
It all started when I got shipped off to Olde Europe for a week on extra short notice — 4 days to be precise. In fact the more I complain about it the shorter it seems to get. I guess that’s just the way things work around here, and it looks like I’m not going to be the one to change it.
So I was in Frankfurt Am Main about ten days ago. Not much to say about the town, I didn’t quite get a chance to see much of it as I got there on a Monday and left on a Thursday afternoon. Plus I was staying literally on the outer edge of suburbia — I had to cross a field to get from my hotel to the client site. That was pretty depressing. I did however appreciate the ever charming sounds of the German language, and their very direct approach to public health warnings on water fountains (taken in the Lufthansa lounge in FRA — now that’s customer care if I ever saw it).
Next stop, Switzerland: a night in Geneva and half a day in Lausanne. From what I saw, Lausanne seemed as charming as Geneva was dreary, though it might just be the (very limited) areas I was in in each city. Then back to Montreal, with a short night in Paris plugged in to catch up with a friend — can’t go all the way to Europe and have it be all work and no play, can we?
More craziness awaited on this side of the pond, where my parents joined us for a week-long trip south of the border. Boston, Cape Cod and NYC did not disappoint, as usual. Providence, RI was also a highlight of the week, whereas Albany, NY turned out to be little more than a much needed pit stop on the way back home.
So now I’m back to the grind, happy and tired. Those were a really intense couple of weeks, and all this flying and train riding in Europe was a bit rough — thank God I was able to upgrade on both transatlantic flights, especially since AC now flies those kick-ass 777s with the same kind of herringbone J config as the Cathay one I took in April. Plus getting some family time was long overdue and not an easy thing to do with those last-minute engagements, and we definitely made the most of it.
(you know you had a shitty trip when all the photos you got are of planes and a potato field…)
Oh, and if you were wondering — no, the title of this post doesn’t rhyme, but hey, this is Montreal — just say it in French and pretend it makes sense.
Julien said,
May 28, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
Yop, you should now have enough miles to come see on the WCoast!
Bruno said,
May 29, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
Haha yeah, at this rate points are not the problem — it’s more a matter of finding the time… but thanks for the invite, I’m sure we’ll work something out eventually!
JelizaRose said,
June 4, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
OMG what a world traveler you are ! I know Frankfurt am Main thanks to some pain-in-the-ass-language-learning-high school journeys, and I can tell you that you did not miss much . I wish you get the chance to go to Berlin instead
Bruno said,
June 5, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
Yeah well it’s all gotten a little out of hand lately, but we’re back to normal. For now. And yes, Berlin is pretty high on my list, whereas Frankfurt only barely registered by virtue of that infamous CNN (or is it BBC) shot of the awfully tacky giant blue and yellow Euro sign on the ECB plaza. Bleh.
Oh and you really need to bring your and you-know-who’s derriere up around here sooner rather than later. Every summer it’s the same story, I fall in love with this snow-free jazzy pandemonium we call maison (or, more to the point, ‘terrasse’), and start toying with the idea of, you know, staying here for a bit longer and seeing how things play out. Who knows, eh.
JelizaRose said,
June 18, 2008 @ 11:21 am
OOOOH right i forgot about the piknik electroniks. BUT we are going to Aruba, NYC and to PARIS in July/Aug so no more money for now. Seems like I need to spend more hours under some desks hinhin MACHO JOKE. When do you plan on moving to Toronto? i think you need to set up a ligne morte with your grlfrnd and send us , like, a proper invite, otherwise S will never get her ass out of HOTtlanta.
Autre question: je suis tentee de bouger le blog sur ailleurs que blogspot, je pensais a de l’herberge sur du gratos ? tu connais de l’hebergement gratos ?
Je pensais a un dotclear 2 installé sur Win XP (sinon carrement FreeBSD et servi par un Lighty).
BUT I NEED to learn everything. What do you think?
Bruno said,
June 18, 2008 @ 9:11 pm
Hmmm je self host toute mon affaire (serveur linux dans la cuisine), mais j’ai qq idees pour toi. Je te shoote un email et on en reparle.
2 months in Paris? Holy crap how much vacation time do you guys get down there? anyway I’ll be in Schweiss for the summer so I might see you around le vieux continent. Facebookons nous a l’occasion.
And we’re not leaving Mtl after all. Well not for the foreseeable future anyway (which is admittedly not saying much). We really have it good here, and I had an epiphany of sorts coming back from HK… j’en reparlerai possiblement ds un post prochain.