Leaving Phoenix
27 мая 2015 г., Соединенные Штаты ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Heading to Paris
27 мая 2015 г., Соединенные Штаты ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
41 minute connection for an international flight. I made it, hope my bag does. I had the window, the aisle seat next to me was empty...made an 8 hour flight much nicer.
Landed in Paris
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
Bag made it too. Now to figure out the Metro.
Hotel de Grands Homme
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Home base in Paris, right at the Pantheon.
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The room was awfully tiny for the (excessive) price. Yes, that's the room. I'm standing in the absolute corner.
Note Dame
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
I got here so early in the morning there was no chance my room would be ready. So I decided to walk. Headed north up to Notre Dame and Pont Neuf.
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The Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge over the Seine. Construction began in 1578 and was more or less finished in 1607.
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There were huge lines of tourists (and tour buses) waiting to go in Notre Dame almost the entire day.
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The back side. I could barely see the phone screen in the sun...guess I didn't line this one up very well.
Musee de Louvre
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
On to the Louvre. Beautiful surroundings, but the estimated 3 hour wait to get in the main entrance meant no Mona Lisa for me. I kept walking...headed to the northwest from here.
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The glass pyramid entrance to the museum looks out of place in the middle of this old, ornate square...but the gawdy red gift store on the right really ruins the vibe.
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The head of the line to get in the Louvre. It's actually snaking back and forth many times between the glass pyramid and the far stone walls to the left of (and behind) the red gift shop.
Av. des Champs-Elysees
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
I feel so cosmopolitan! Also imagining de Gaulle returning to Paris after liberation.
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This is coming out of the Louvre plaza, heading toward Place de la Concorde (the obelisk) and looking up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. You can lookup better pictures that show the distance here.
Arc de Triomphe
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
It's been a long walk so far. The Eiffel Tower looks close enough, might as well check that box if I've gone this far already.
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The mayhem-filled traffic circle around the Arc doesn't allow for any surface pedestrian access to the Arc. You have to go through tunnels under the circle and come up in the middle. The lines to go to the top of the Arc were too long. Still impressive though.
Tour Eiffel
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
The French Open Tennis ball suspended in the tower took something away from the experience. But it's still a lot more impressive than the one at King's Dominion.
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No selfie skills- cheesy grin, subject matter in the background tilted sideways, and it looks like I'm leaning backwards.
Luxembourg Gardens
28 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Paris is full of beautiful Gardens and this is a famous one right by my hotel. I'm about walked-out by this point. I was not smart and have been lugging my carry-on this whole time after only checkingЧитать далее
Chateau Versailles
29 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Because I knocked out the main tourist spots on Thursday I figured I'd check out Versailles and Roland Garros on Friday. Turns out you can't get walk-up tickets for the tennis so I spent the day atЧитать далее
Memorial de Caen
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
Saturday is the trip to Normandy. It's a 2.5+ hour bus ride each way and 14 hours total. Caen is home to a really impressive museum covering the pre-WW2 situation in Europe, the invasion at NormandyЧитать далее
Pointe du Hoc
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
A team of 200 Rangers climbed the cliffs here to take out 6 heavy guns that could reach Utah and Omaha beaches. The Germans had moved the guns back into an orchard to save them but the Rangers foundЧитать далее
Omaha Beach D-Day Memorial
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Impossible to imagine what the American soldiers faced crossing this beach and looking up at the cliffs above. Omaha was the toughest landing spot.
Normandy American Cemetery
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Over 9000 Americans are buried here, one of many American cemeteries in France. Can't really attempt to describe it in just a few words.
Croix de Lorraine
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Site of de Gaulle's return from exile after D-Day. Part of Juno Beach.
Juno Beach
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Canadian landing site, much flatter spot than the Americans had.
Paris, Île-de-France
30 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Evening after the Normandy tour, walking back to the hotel.
Capitolium (Capital Square)
31 мая 2015 г., Франция ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
This is basically the mayor's office, the central square of historical, "old" Toulouse.
Toulouse Business School
1 июня 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Toulouse walking tour
1 июня 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Guided tour of the city center. The big church dates from the 12th century.
Toulouse class day #2
2 июня 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
The school is on the site of an old military barracks. New buildings surround the old parade square; a nice park separates it from our hotel.
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In the Toulouse region the second language is Occitan, a mostly dying language that sounds a lot like Spanish. All of the historical street names have both. Sometimes the names like similar and sometime not at all.
Chateau Bellevue La Foret
2 июня 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Wine tasting at a nice little place outside of the city.
TBS day #3
3 июня 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Nothing exciting today, just class- "international market risk and the threat to portfolio valuation." I had to present on the collapse of NatWest Markets back in 2000.
TBS day #4
4 июня 2015 г., Франция ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Just walking to class after lunch. It's so nice and green here.