It was our first proper dinner party since moving to Paris. The party was a pretty good success, with Anne Laure and Neil imported from the UK for the evening. Despite having been in Paris for nearly five months, it was the first chance I’d gotten to catch up with Alain and Faouzia.

It was only a matter of time before Neil pointed out that I hadn’t pulled out the camera all night. Like red to a bull, I grabbed the camera (and embarrassingly large flash) to shoot a few shots of the evening.

Faouzia doesn’t seem too happy about having her picture taken…

I can’t see what all the fuss is about, actually…

The gang on the couch after dinner. Anne Laure is helping Neil with his impression of actually having some hair.

A quick swap of photographers so Matt can get into the picture

 

With all the lead up to the Euro2008 matches being hosted in Switzerland, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that the towns might put on some sort of special events. But I arrived in Zurich on Wednesday night to find the entire Limmatquai blocked off to traffic for an enormous street party. There were bands, hundreds of street vendors selling all sorts of food, beer tents and lots of big-screen TVs.

And fans. Lots and lots of patriotic fans, all decked out in red and white. So I decided to grab my camera and walk down the street, grabbing a few pictures as I went along.

And then it hit me. This was the quietest, most well behaved crowd I have ever seen at a sporting event. Despite the large numbers of people (certainly numbering into the tens of thousands), the police presence was incredibly limited. People were well-behaved. No one was staggering along drunk. There was no litter on the ground. Not in Switzerland!

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008. Without a doubt the most well-behaved football crowd I have ever witnessed.

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008

Everyone is watching the game — TVs are in every shop window!

Patriotism was on high display

Football…what else?

Getting into the spirit of things

One-man fan club.

Amazing. Thousands and thousands of spectators lined the Limmatquai for the match. Absolutely no litter dropped on the ground, not even a cigarette butt. Only in Switzerland.

In England, this would be followed by an arrest for drunken assault. In Switzerland, it’s a couple saying hello to their neighbour

Turkey vs. Switzerland compete in Euro 2008

The only thing more embarrassing than having a weiner is having to admit that you can only handle a weinerli. Particularly when you then lose the match to Turkey as well…

PS – I have also modified my blog a little bit to accomodate slightly larger photos. Hopefully these are easier to see than the old 400×300 pictures that I have been including until now…

I spent Monday through Wednesday in Barcelona, or more accurately, outside Barcelona. The factory is just beside the airport and the hotel was in Gava, directly on the beach but a fair way outside the city centre.

Looking out onto the pool from my room. Unfortunately, cold weather and rain plus long working days means that this was as close as I would get to going for a dip…

One of the nicer hotel rooms I have been in on this project…

One of the nicer hotel rooms I have been in on this project…

Free minibar. The sweetest words a travelling consultant can hear. Is there any reason not to love this hotel? (For the record, the minibar contained 3 bottles of soda, 4 bottles of water, and a 25ml bottle of beer. Before anyone gets any ideas…)

This was my first trip to Barcelona, but I didn’t get to see much of the city. I saw quite a lot of the airport (although not the airline lounge, despite being entitled access I was banned because my codeshare was apparently not eligible). My experiences flying with Iberia confirmed my worst fears: the airlines of Latin countries are generally to be avoided. Tiny seats, surly service, and not even a free glass of water. Not exactly what I expect when I’ve paid nearly EUR600 for a ticket.

I did get to see a lot of Barcelona that was not on the tourist track, however. The taxi driver did not know where the hotel was, so we relied on GPS. And GPS decided to take us on a tour of some of the grottier areas of Barcelona. And right through the middle of the trucker’s strike.

The factory itself was interesting, although I have not had a tour of the production facilities yet. The overwhelming smell when I was there was of fruit flavouring, cloying and sticky-sweet. Apparently this isn’t too bad – when they produce mint products, the smell is unbearable. Remind me to give mint day a miss.

We had some great tapas at a restaurant near the hotel, washed back with a good bottle of Rioja. I was pleasantly surprised after coming from Switzerland – I had to ask the waiter if the wine was priced by the glass or by the bottle, because a bottle of wine in Spain was roughly the same price as a small glass in Switzerland.

It managed to rain for nearly the entire trip. Not quite what I had expected from sunny Spain. Overall, my first trip to Barcelona wasn’t an overwhelming success. Maybe next time will be better.

It has taken time, but after months of trying I am finally finding my way around the office. My progress has been helped along by a French colleague who is now working in the London office. He is working on my project, and in addition to his project duties, he has become my unofficial guide to the French firm. Thanks to him I am learning the peculiarities of the expenses system, which restaurant has the best lunch on a given day, and most importantly, where the stationery cupboard is!

After four months, I have finally managed to find the stationery cupboard

In the UK, we used to have large stationery cupboards on each floor, and you could basically go in and help yourself. Anything else could be ordered by your secretary.

There’s none of this self-service business in France. Instead, you have to turn up at a window on the 23rd floor where a little man disappears into the back and produces what you’ve asked for. Trouble is, as a non-French speaker, asking for things is a little tricky. Pointing is a lot easier. Still, I managed to do okay.

The view of Paris from my office window

Summer is here and I’m enjoying having an office with a nice view – even if it isn’t quite as nice as the view from our London office, it’s still nice being up this high.

It has been a very busy month at work – which explains why my blog has come to an absolute standstill. We at a very busy stage of the project, which means that there isn’t much time to focus on putting together entries for the blog – but I am also travelling constantly. Last week was Paris, London, and Zurich. This week is Paris, Zurich, Geneva, and Barcelona.

Luckily, most of the travel is by train, so it isn’t nearly as stressful as if I were constantly having to catch flights all around the world. But there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight, at least not before August. In August, all of Europe goes on holiday at once, so there should be a brief respite before things pick up again in September.

More and more of the travel will be to Barcelona as the project progresses – not a bad place to spend the summer and autumn, as the hotel is right on the beach and the weather will hopefully remain good.

The Swiss office has a big marketing department. We took advantage of some of the props to take a few photographs.

And yes, this is as fun and exciting as tax gets.

One of my team members posing with a marketing bear

The team poses with the bear. You can tell the consultants from the clients — check out who’s wearing jackets!

More team photos

My team thought that it would be funny to replace me with a jackass. I don’t know what they were trying to imply.

View out the office window. You don’t get views like this in downtown London or Paris!

View out the office window. You don’t get views like this in downtown London or Paris!