In Paris

On my way back from Dublin I changed flights at Charles de Gaulle in Paris. The Air France flight arrived 30 minutes late to Paris, we were eight passengers who therefore missed the connection to Sao Paulo with five minutes! We could see the plane still attached to the walk ramp that leads to the gate but the Air France staff told us the gate was irrevocably closed. The next flight was going to leave at 11:15 PM so that meant a 13 hour stop-over in Paris. Frustration! I became angry and argued with the staff at the transfer desk until I got two meals and VIP lounge access. As I was entering the VIP lounge I saw an old man on crutches starting to fall down an escalator, I just dropped my stuff on the ground and ran to fetch him. He fell forward, down the stairs but I managed to get him before he fell completely. Then I turned him around and carried him to the top of the escalator where his wife was. He said thanks and then a couple of women applauded me, shouting “Bravo, monsieur!”. That made me think of a movie with Bruce Willis I saw dubbed to French a long time before, “Le Dernier Chamartin”, i.e. The Last Boy Scout.

After a quick coffee at the lounge I decided to take the train to Gare du Nord, down town Paris. I thought that why should I spend all that time at the air port, better to see “le Paris” in all its glory. It was kind of windy and cloudy but no rains luckily. I started with walking by the Seine to Notre Dame. Last time I saw the church “live” was back in 1989 when me and Jon were backpacking through Europe. It still looks the same! Then I had lunch by the Seine, beneath Pont Neuf, fighting of the seagulls.

I continued my walk along the Seine, then headed to the Louvre. It was crowded with people, of course. I entered the museum, entry fee is 9 euros and went to see the famous da Vinci painting of Francisco de Giacondo´s wife with the secret smile. Mona Lisa. It is smaller than I thought it was going to be. A lot of people were taking photos and I was thinking why, the pictures they take can not compete with any of the post cards you can by at the entrance shop. Then I thought that it is not the quality of the picture that is important, it is the fact that you can say “Been there, done that!” and prove it.

After the Louvre I was getting hungry again so I went to a brasserie on Rue Setembre 4 and ordered Entrecote with Sauce Bearnaise and Pomme Frites. I drank a Leffe beer. The food was good but the beer too sweet. The sun was setting as I headed back to Gare du Nord. It was a tired sales guy who boarded the flight back to Sao Paulo, I slept the whole way.

"Our lady".

Pont Neuf.

Lunch by the Seine.

Le Louvre.

In Dublin

I went to Dublin on a business trip September 23 to 26. It was my first time ever I went there and it was great! I stayed at the Morrison Hotel, very chic and trendy and by the river Liffey. Across, on the other side of the river is Temple Bar which is an area with a lot of pubs and restaurants. The colleagues and I ended up at Temple Bar every night of the stay. The first evening we had Fish´n Chips and an unknown quantity of pints of Guinness at the Oliver St. John Gogarty pub. It seems like everybody in Ireland drink mainly Guinness. I tried Harps and Smithwicks but then I switched back to Guinness as well. All of my Irish colleagues drank nothing but this brew so I guess that is what you need to be drinking if you want to be Irish. The brewery is promoting Guinness North Star, made from a recepy that originates from the 18th century. Slainte! By the way, when people in Ireland talk about their native language, Gaelic, they say Irish really. So, Irish is different from English and they do not want to say Gaelic since it could be Spanish-, French or Irish-Gaelic…

Here is a brief lesson in Irish:
[go-ro-ma-hag-t] means “thanks”
[slan-tchi] means “cheers”.
[ni-hig-m?] means “What did you say?”
This concludes the lesson, I have found out that with these phrases it is easy to get around in Dublin. You do not need to know more actually…

The city is growing fast. The population is 500,000 now and will reach 2,000,000 in a couple of years according to a cabdriver. Traffic jams are a major problem! The cab took 45 minutes to get to the office and cost 30 euro. With the train, the DART as it is called it takes 20 minutes and costs 2 euro! OK, you actually need to walk to and from the train station and that takes another ten to fifteen minutes.

We had dinner at the Purty Kitchen, a pub restaurant in the Temple Bar. Purty is a word that has something to do with food I believe but nobody could tell me for sure. I tried the clam chowder, I can not recommend it. It was like the chef had scraped the bottom of Liffey, put the findings in a bowl and then heated it four minutes in a micro oven! The main course was Surf´n Turf with jumbo prawns and tenderloin, very tasty. The pint of Guinness nearby was delicious.

The best meal I had was a braised lamb shank at Fitzers, also located in the Temple Bar. Recommendable. The Guinness was also good there.

In all the pubs we went to they played live, Irish music. The best band played at Oliver St. John Gogarty´s I think. Four guys, one on guitar, one on flute, one on violin and one on a bagpipe called the ellin pipe (“ellin” or maybe “illin” means elbow in Irish).

I bought two whiskies to bring back to Brazil, a bottle of Bushmill Black and a bottle of Powers 12 year-old. I do not know much about whisky but the bottles look nice at least!

Sunset over the river Liffey.

Looking cool (well, trying to at least...) in Dublin.

Live music at Oliver St. John Gogarty´s.

In Dallas, TX

A lot of travels these days. The 2008 Target Setting Process has started and I am visiting offices all over; this week I am in Dallas! The food here is great, a lot of different restaurants. I went to P.F. Chang's China Bistro on Dallas Parkway and had some delicious four-star Chinese food. As starter I ordered steamed Shrimp Dumplings, spectacular! Then I had the Kung Pao Chicken, it is a straight forward, no fancy dish with fried chicken, chili peppers, peanuts and scallions but - wow! - it is great. I washed it all down with Shiner Bock, the beer most locals drink here. Niiiice!

Bill and I went to Razzoo's for lunch. Razzoo's serve Louisiana style food - hot and spicy cajun! We both had the Cajun Combo Skillet, it comes with Andouille sausage, shrimp etouffe, shrimp creole, red beans and vegetables. Hot! And very tasty.


My colleague Bill in front of his 2003 Ford Thunderbird.

Wrooom!

En Panamá de nuevo

Había olvidado tanto calor hace aqui. Y la humedad... Caramba! Caminé a El Rey después del almuerzo hoy para comprar unas botellas de D´Elidas Chombo salsa picante y empezé a sudar rios. Pero es bueno estar de vuelta. L acomida es muy buena como todos visitantes a Panamá saben. Ayer cenamos en el Barko, un restaurante en el Causeway. Pedí Tierra y Mar, o sea, un filete de carne y camarrones fritos con patacones. Delicioso. Tomé bastante botellas de Panama, la cerveza. Hoy fuimos a Napoli para almorzar, comí el Lasagne Gratinado, también algo muy delicioso.

Esta noche vuelvo a São Paulo, va ser bueno ver a mi querida familia de nuevo!

Bailarina folclórica en Pollera en el Barko


Almorzando con los colegas en el restaurante Napoli

"Global Chilling" in Mexico DF

I was in Mexico DF earlier this week and it was COLD. Very strange, I have never experienced such coldness there before, must have something to do with the heavy rainfalls over Mexico these days. Despite the cold and the rain it was a nice visit since I managed to eat at La Calle restaurant and also had som Peruvian Ceviche Mixto. Mmmm.

Silvia Simpson

If Silvia would ever appear on The Simpsons this is what she would look like!