15th Anniversary

On the 18 November I went to Paris on the Eurostar. My company celebrated its 15th anniversary in Paris. They paid for our travel and 2 nights hotel in Paris, and put on a lovely party at the Paris Stock Exchange (Le Bourse).

It was a great chance to meet with colleagues from other parts of the world, from Japan to the USA, and to put faces to the names of people whom I have emailed or talked to over the phone. The dinner was buffet/finger food style, but there were lots – sushi, pasta, foie gras, canapés and a huge 3 tier chocolate cake. And of course champagne and alcohol was free flowing. There was also a casino.

The party started at about 7pm and ended about 3am. Me and some of the guys sneaked off about 2:30am to catch a taxi back, in order to avoid the 3am exodus!!

Quite a number of people from the London office went. Some of them were French, and it was great to have a guide when taking taxis!! It’s also good to see them outside of the office. We have not had an away day for a while now.

On Saturday, James, Alex, Spyros and I visited the Notre Dame cathedral. I haven’t been there in a while but it was really crowded for me to enjoy it properly. After James left, Alex, Spyros and I walked around an area of Paris which I have not been before and had lunch. Then I went back to my room for a nap. Really that weekend should have been for resting after the “stress” I had in my first week in Rome. So, I actually forgo-ed shopping for sleep!! After I woke up I did go for a walk locally, there were some little shops and one called Monoprix which I liked, but did not buy anything. For dinner I met up with some of those who stayed behind and went hunting for a restaurant with space… took us 2 hours and did not sit down until 10pm!!

On Sunday I tried to do some shopping on Boulevard Hausmann, but I did not realise that the shops were shut. So I went to Champs Elysee instead and had lunch (both days’ lunch I had steak tartare.. yum!) before getting on the Eurostar to go back to London.