Location Paris for the upcoming 2 months

[Beam]

Felt getting pretty OK the last couple of weeks but the project I was assumed to return to appeared to be stagnating. So I spoke with a couple of ppl this week to get another assignment and actually got one in Paris (Versailles) for the upcoming 2 months! :)

The job is with EMEA HQ of a Japanese carmanufacturer and has a very nice fit with the kind of jobs I like. The real proof is in the eating of the pudding of course, right now I am really looking forward to it. Starts next monday and krys can be sure to get a call for diner some time afterwards. :) First I have to get a bit more familiar with the environment however, the local PBEM infrastructure in particular. ;)

Stay tuned.

[Pastorius]

Sounds nice. Lucky you. :) I wish I had time to go abroad. BTW - what exactly is it you do?

[Beam]

My company developed a Europewide Portal application for customers Intranet, I am going to develop the user support process for that application. Like how to request a new user account, manage change requests, solve service interruptions etc. Couple of challenges like customers support infrastructure isn't organized on an European level yet. Might end up talking to 45 countries. And my Estonian got a little rusty lately. ;)

[Kingreno]

That is great man![eek]

[ERIKK]

Nice! Will they rent a appartment for you or will it be a hotek for 2 months? I was in a hotel for 2 weeks (for
work) but that gets very boring real fast!

[Plux]

Very nice for you, congrats! Will you be staying @ the palace? ;)

But does that also mean we won't see you on the LAN on the 26th/27th? :(

[Socrates]

Hehe, cool ! :D I was feeling a bit lonely these days, lost in the southerner location of CDZ. ;) Versailles is nice to see, but it is in fact a rather boring town (I took my Uni course there). You may want to go to Paris at night instead. ;) PM me about your address and stuff, so I can locate you. I'll be looking forward to seeing you, whatever the place, but 2 months is enough to see. First make sure you have Internet and MSN. :)

Hey that reminds me that my parents are going to our ski station soon, in 10 days IIRC. LAN, I hear ? [groucho] Or maybe some cool places in Paris ? (and once again I'll pretend to know my city well where I barely know it, SHAME SHAME SHAME)

[Beam]

I was hoping for the palace ;) but it will be a hotel where the team is staying so I hope we can have a great deal of project humor and nonsense.

Plan is to travel there by car on monday and get back on friday, Breda - CDG should take about 3,5 hours and from there to Versailles about another hour.

The LAN, very good question Plux. To be honest, dunno yet. It depends mostly on the state of the body when getting back. I'll keep you informed.

Krys, ever been to La Coupole in Montparnasse?

[Socrates]

quote:Originally posted by Beam

Krys, ever been to La Coupole in Montparnasse?

[cry]









Apart from that detail, why are you talking of CDG if you're coming by car ?? [crazyeye] Hmm, and I was myself talking of a LAN at home, but that may be a bit hard to fit in your schedule with your team (and I work too ;) ).

[Socrates]

Been surfing on the Net to see what that restaurant was, and all I can say... is that it's very very expensive, but the food seems to be one of the reasons. [groucho] Built in 1927 during the "Années Folles", and it even has a dancing floor. [eek] We'll see... Might want to search for a nice place as well.

BTW where are you now, Beam ? Already arrived here ? :)

[Beam]

The food at La Coupole really is excellent and for Parisian standards the prices aren't that bad.

Still at home, recovering from a cold. Because of the Pneumonia I really have to careful with that. And the first meeting is scheduled tomorrow afternoon anyway.

Everybody at the office is wondering why I'll travel by care. Simple reason: time.

Breda - Paris-Nord is about 4 hours by train, then I need to get through Paris to Versailles. Add another hour.

There is a flight from Eindhoven to CDG which is just an hour but I need to travel there and be in time. That will take about 2,5 hours to get from Breda to CDG, arriving at 8 in the morning. Add another 2 hours because of the bouchons.

It is 420 km by car, an average of 100 kmh makes 4 hours. No hassle with carrying luggage around and flexibility to leave whenever I want.

[col]

Been playing Civ too long when I immediately think of CDG as a Civ forum and have to think about how you can fly there....

[Socrates]

Aéroport Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle. :) Worked there last summer.

I can go to CDG in around 20 minutes by car from home, when there is no "bouchon". ;) To go to Versailles, I think the best is to follow A1 until a cross-highway where you take A86 and follow that one until Versailles. If I'm not mistaken... That means you'll drive through my town : Colombes (5 minutes from home by car).

[Beam]

In the middle of my 4th week here now and the assignment is quite interesting and we are working with a small yet very nice team here. My main job is centered around user support and communication processes for the European part of a global portal my company developed for the customer and although you might expect such processes are key for running such a portal most of them are either non-existent or at shoestring level. Nice thing is that the processes I'm working on are almost greenfield level, the real challenge is introducing centralized processes in a heavily decentralized environment.

Although work-pressure is very managable the team still needs time over dinner in the evening to go over things, something typical for international assignments. It also means I haven't found the time yet to meet with krys at a convenient time early evening, I really hope to be able and plan something week after next!

Off next week we'll switch from the rather shabby Novotel in Versailles to a very nice place in Ville d'Avray just E of Versailles. Looking forward to that, there really isn't a reason I can recommend this Novotel to anyone other than the Chinese takeaway just outside the hotel.