Our meetings in Paris with our French office and our Belgian office went so much better than any of us expected or hoped for. With all of today’s technologies at our fingertips, it’s easy to think that we can accomplish anything through email,phone calls, web or video conferences. This week certainly proved that there is no replacement for good old fashioned face to face meetings. We had met as a large group of 30 or so a number of times, but even that didn’t hold a candle to being able to sit, listen and understand one office at a time.
After a productive day of meetings, we took the subway to Chez Flottes for dinner. We were ushered into a basement room with one huge table surrounded by mirrors and curtains. We joked that if we were in the states this room would be reserved for the mob. Our American and UK contingent arrived promptly on time and waited for over30 minutes for the French and Belgians to navigate through the fierce Parisian traffic by car.
Ok, on to the good stuff… Food! I was surprised that most menus in Paris featured lots of steak, some seafood and very little or no chicken. Chicken being my favorite meat, I was excited to find a free range roasted chicken with potatoes. I know, doesn’t sound very exotic or French, but it was delightful! I followed my French coworkers lead and ordered an Affligem Belgian beer or three. A great pairing. I told the Belgians that Belgian beers are my favorite beers to which they said, “I’m sure you’ll tell the Germans the same next week!”
For dessert I figured it had to be done and ordered the creme brûlée. Omg was it good! I tapped the spoon on the crust a bit, enjoying the crackling noise, then dug in, pretty much inhaled it and decided it was the best creme brûlée I had ever had. It was all I could do to keep from licking the bowl.
Favorite quote of the night was from an English coworker,”they must have thought I was pissed but I was just extremely knackered!” Speaking of being knackered, we were pretty tired from a full day & jet lag,so we retired to bed straight from dinner.
We had another great day of meetings (I can’t believe I just said “great” and “day of meetings” in the same sentence.) and then, after only two nights in Paris it was time to head to Munich.
