Extra Credit in Feb: Work takes me to France, but the week is spoiled by food poisoning...

While Philadelphia was the marquee trip for the month of Feb in my 12 month marathon, I had to make an unexpected visit to France for business meetings with my boss.  That makes two trips in one month, hence, "extra credit" for me in Feb.  I was debating whether or not I should even bother posting a blog for this trip, since it was more business than pleasure, which is why you'll notice significantly fewer pictures this time around.  Nonetheless, it was still a trip full of new experiences worthy to blog about, albeit not all glamorous (i.e., more to come in a bit on the food poisoning).

Looking down on Obernai

My company's offices are located in Molsheim, France (near Strasbourg, which is a one hour flight east of Paris near the French-German border known as the "Alsace" region).  Upon arrival on a Sunday afternoon, a colleague of mine was kind enough to invite me to spend the evening with her and her family.  Prior to dinner, they first took me for a walk in the hillsides of Obernai where there are a lot of wineries producing 7 types of Alsace wines:  Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscat, Tokay Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Noir.  The photo to the left is from the hillside looking down on a town called, "Obernai."  When I snapped this picture, I thought to myself "Geez, last year at this time, there's no way I could have predicted myself standing in this very spot, freezing my butt off on a hillside, looking down on a picturesque European town...This is so random!"  Similar thoughts went through my head, as I was graciously welcomed into my colleague's home sharing a home-cooked meal in a French house with a French family -- I felt comfortable, but at the same time, I felt so far away from home and my "bubble," but in a good way....

My schedule for Monday-Thursday was jammed pack with meetings, as I had to make the most use of my time visiting with my boss and team in Molsheim.  But, dinner/food is always an experience after each long day in the office.  I was enjoying oysters and mousse chocolat to start my week, but then it went downhill mid-week....It was hard for me and a colleague to find a descent place to eat at on Valentine's day, because everywhere was booked.  So, we just ended up at a pizza/pasta chain restaurant that's kinda like the equivalent to an "Olive Garden" here in the States.  I ordered a basic pasta dish which tasted and seemed fine during dinner.  But, the next day I didn't feel so well.  I woke up really tired thinking it was just the jet-lag catching up, but by the time I got to the office and the morning progressed, my stomach started not feeling so good and I felt nauseous, so I had to ask my colleague to drive me back to the hotel.  I tried to sleep it off all Wed afternoon but kept getting the chills and finally I ended up puking in my room.  At first I thought maybe it was the oysters, but that had been 2 nights earlier at the restaurant in the hotel which is reputable.  I was also feeling kinda stupid if it was cause of exhaustion from the traveling, because I was only on month two so far!  Well, I didn't feel so stupid afterwards when an admin from our Molsheim office confirmed that two other Millipore employees had eaten at the same "Pizzeria Del Arte" chain as me and fell ill the next day, as well.  The admin placed a complaint with the Mayor's office after hearing about my case.  Since it was my colleague's choice to go to Pizzeria Del Arte, I told him if he wanted to get back at me for pushing him on some reports, he didn't have to try to kill me...I'm just glad the food poisoning was over in 12 hours, because I was so worried for the plane ride back to Boston.  

Restaurant la Vignette

Was able to recover to go back into the office Thursday, but the food poisoning killed my appetite for the rest of the week, which was unfortunate.  I was able to accept a dinner invitation from my boss for my last evening at this cute little place in Strasbourg called, "Restaurant la Vignette," which was really good.  So, if you're ever in Strasbourg/Molsheim area, avoid Pizzeria del Arte, but I definitely recommend Restaurant la Vignette for some real good, authentic French food from the Alsace region.




As you can imagine, it turned out to be a really long week between the rigorous work schedule and the food poisoning.  But, I'm glad to have survived my first experience of getting sick while traveling and getting that over with.  Really hope I don't have to experience it again, at least not for a long long time.


In the last 4 weeks, I've done three places already.  My next trip is supposed to be towards the end of March, so there's going to be a little lull before my next post.  And, after this last trip with the food poisoning and 4 hour layovers at Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris, this lull doesn't seem like a bad idea right now......

In Philly: Morimoto Flops, while Garces Shines, and No One Beats Rocky...

Philly Skyline from Museum of Art

For my February trip, I got the chance to catch-up with my good friend from BU, Stacey, in Philadelphia.  Sure, I did a day trip to Philly as a kid with my parents and saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  This time around, as you can tell from the title of this blog, I had 3 main things in mind to help me really experience what "The City of Brotherly Love" has to offer -- eating at two Iron Chefs' restaurants and of course, Rocky Balboa....

First stop was Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's, "Morimoto," restaurant.  Stacey had warned me to temper my expectations for "Morimoto," and unfortunately, she was right.....The menu lacked in breadth and the service was so slow!  I wasn't expecting the Iron Chef himself cooking at the restaurant, but I still expected a lot more from a restaurant if you're going to brand it Iron Chef worthy and charge Iron Chef prices.  While my kobe steak was a melt-in-your-mouth delicious piece of meat, I still wouldn't recommend Morimoto's...

Just as I was becoming skeptical of the "Iron Chef" title, it's Iron Chef Jose Garces to the rescue in restoring what an "Iron Chef" is supposed to stand for.  Chef Garces owns a whopping 7 restaurants in Philly -- I decided to check-out his first restaurant, "Amada."  I'm usually not a tapas type, but wow, Amada was amazing!  I enjoy a good meal, but I usually don't walk away with something I can say, "wow, that was the best thing I ever ate," until now - Amada had the most amazing fried crispy pork dish I've ever had...Amada is a definite must visit for anyone in Philly!

Most Delicious Vegetarian Plate

Best Thing I Ever Ate

While food is a big part of Philly's identity, there was another iconic attraction that was a must see for my trip.......I just had to visit the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to pay homage to the one and only, Rocky Balboa!  And, of course, I had to do my own rendition of training and running up the steps to the museum just like Rocky...Can't you just hear "Gonna Fly Now" playing the background to these pictures?  Hehe...

"Trying Hard Now"

"Getting Strong Now"

"Gonna Fly Now"

While Philly is Rocky's hometown, you also see a lot of Benjamin Franklin all over town....As you can see from how we individually posed with Ben, my host for the weekend and I are pretty different in our personalities, hehe.  This is on the campus of UPenn...that Stacey is one smart chick!

Me & Ben

Stacey & Ben

Also on the UPenn campus is this iconic "LOVE" sign.  What should have been a simple photo-op turned into this massive ordeal.  Instead of just posing next to the letters, Stacey suggested that I climb onto it, like she had previously done.  Seemed like a simple notion at the time, but geez, riding that mechanical bull in New Orleans was a breeze compared to mounting onto these letters!  As you can see from the photos below, I worked-up a sweat trying to climb this thing and pretty much embarrassed myself as visitors to the UPenn campus walked by.  It was rather symbolic that of all letters I was struggling with, it had to spell out "Love," haha.

I can do this!

It would suck to fall

Now, I'm just pissed

Let's try this side; so graceful

Finally!

That took so long, I'm just gonna sit a bit

Double Meat w/Mushrooms & Onions

Sweating Meat

So, after climbing some steps Rocky-style, and trying to mount onto some letters, all that exercise calls for some more food....I've done Iron Chef, so what's left?  A Philly Cheese Steak, of course!   "Geno's" or "Pat's" are the real popular places to get a cheese steak, but they're in pretty ghetto parts of the city and I didn't want one with Cheese Whiz on it; I wanted real provolone cheese.  So, we ended up at another popular cheese steak spot - "Jim's Steaks" on South Street.  It was pretty good, but I must admit, I still love my Newtonville Pizza steak & cheese sub.  As a devout vegetarian, Stacey's a real pal for accompanying me to Jim's so I could get my cheese steak -- the poor girl ended up smelling like meat the rest of the night, haha.  Along with letting me crash at her place, and having dragged her to all the touristy sites and making her serve as my personal photographer for cheesy photo shots, I'm really lucky to have Stacey as a friend....Also, I have to give a shout-out to her UPenn cohorts whom I had a chance to meet -- real fun and nice people, and super smart...



So, while most people were questioning why I would have planned this trip on Super Bowl weekend (I didn't think the Pats' D would carry us to the big game), Philly turned out to be a great weekend getaway.  (Although a Pats victory would have made this an even better weekend).  Given the outcome of tonight's Super Bowl, I think I picked the right weekend to go to Philly.  Otherwise, the only thing I would be feeling right now is the disappointment of the Pats' loss.  So, instead of trying to avoid ESPN and the bad news of the Pats loss all over TV right now, I get to blog about having had a blast in Philly.....Thanks, Stacey for an amazing weekend!!!

My 5-Star View from "Hotel Stacey"

Grand Finale in New Orleans...

Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana

When I last left you on Wednesday, I was in search of some more wholesome fun in New Orleans that didn't involve Bourbon Street.....the company gave us a half day to attend one of several tours they were offering that ranged from city tours, air boat tours of alligator infested swamps, to an afternoon playing golf.  I wanted something that was unique to the region that I couldn't get back home.  While going into swamps seemed adventurous, it was a little too much nature for me.  So, I decided on a tour of the Oak Alley Plantation.  First, the 1hr plus bus ride to get out to the plantation site was pretty interesting.....At the risk of sounding like an "East Coast snob," to say that people in rural Louisiana live a different pace of life from the Northeast would be an understatement.  There were so many neighborhoods along the Mississippi River consisting of small "match box" like houses with tin roofs on tiny quiet streets that seem more like pedestrian-only alleys.  I can't even imagine how far away is the closest Target or Wal-Mart, but I digress......The long bus ride was well worth the breathtaking view of the quarter-mile long Alley of Oaks when you finally pull up to the plantation.....The front doors of the main house open up to the picture-perfect view of all the 300 year-old Virginia Live Oak trees.  While this isn't the mansion that Gone With the Wind was filmed at, there have been several other films shot at this site.  The plantation was a great way for me to learn about some Southern history and culture along the Mississippi River....

Alley of Oaks

"Carnival"

Later that same evening, the company had yet another surprise in store for us.  We were instructed to meet in the hotel lobby promptly to walk over to wherever we were having dinner, but we would be bused back (which I found weird to walk there, but take buses back).  Turns out they hired a legit marching band with carnival characters and police detail to block off the streets for us (all 650 Merck Millipore employees) to parade from our hotel to dinner -- we're talking about Canal Street (a major artery) in the middle of rush hour traffic!

Police blocking traffic for our parade
(No, not me getting arrested, hehe)

I feel so short...

Metropolitan Night Club

Dinner ended up being at "The Metropolitan" nightclub which they rented out for the evening just for us.  Never seen so many of my colleagues from all over the world dance together like that before.....Those sales guys sure know how to party!  I just hope no one's camera snapped a picture of me out there on the dance floor and puts it in some slide deck for some future presentation, j/k!  No one wanted the evening to end....

Closing Ceremony

Thursday wrapped-up a week-long of meetings and poster sessions.  The closing ceremony and dinner kicked-off an evening of jazz that New Orleans is so well-known for.


After one more stroll on Bourbon Street, it was time to say "good-bye" to the Big Easy.  All-and-all, I was most surprised at how much fun I had in New Orleans -- I really didn't have high expectations for the city based on all I had heard and seen on TV, and I can confirm a lot of that is exaggerated.  While the city isn't for everyone, one can't dispute that New Orleans is definitely unique and has a lot to offer if you're looking for something new and different to experience for a place to visit -- you just have to keep an open mind!

Jazz Band

From all the photos and stories posted on my blog, I know most of you are thinking, did I get any work done on this "business" trip?  As cliche as it sounds, it was definitely an exhausting week of work hard and play hard and multi-tasking.  I'm so looking forward to a tranquil weekend at home to recover.  Nonetheless, I did have as much fun as all the photos indicate, which goes hand-and-hand with a major take-away for me this past week -- while 650 employees were invited to attend our GSM, many more colleagues could not participate.  All week, it never left my mind at how privileged I am in so many ways to be given the opportunity to work for such a cool company and surrounded by amazing colleagues.  And, given some of the sights in New Orleans, I'm even more fortunate to have grown up in Boston and be raised by parents and surrounded by family & friends that equipped me to seize on such an opportunity in my career....This week was really a reminder for me not to take things for granted and how lucky I am in so many ways and to just soak it all up while I can...


Until my next destination (already scheduled for ~2 weeks from now), I leave you with my favorite drink from the past week...Cheers!

Pat O'Brien's on Bourbon St has the best "Hurricane"
(and it's one of the better, non-sleezy, bars)

Exhausted, but a lot of Fun!

Since my first post, it's been a jammed pack two days of meetings and activities here in New Orleans.  I can't believe it's only Wednesday, and I've got another two days left!  I'm exhausted, but have had a lot of fun!  Each day's routine has been round-the-clock meetings from 8am-5pm, then aperitifs, then dinner, and then more drinking...every evening doesn't get me back into my room until well past 1am, just to repeat it the next day.....Below are some snapshots to hopefully give you a taste of the past 48 hours for me in The Big Easy...

Beignets



No trip to New Orleans can be considered complete without a visit to Cafe Du Monde for the best beignets -- so good....made sure to ask for a Cafe Du Monde employee hat to bring home with me, too!



Masquerade Ball





Cafe Du Monde

With New Orleans, comes mystique, so a masquerade ball was the perfect theme for our sales awards dinner and ceremony....While everyone was polished and proper for the formal dinner, you know everyone couldn't wait to get to the post-dinner activities...Although I was exhausted and considered just calling it an early night for me, as any good group of colleagues would do, my team managed to peer pressure me into going to Bourbon Street for the third night in a row to do this at a place called "Bourbon Cowboy".............





Yep folks, that's me on a mechanical bull!  I actually did better than what the pictures would seem to suggest......After all that physical activity, we were starving!  Lots of drinking holes on Bourbon Street, but hard to find a place that we felt would be safe enough to get food and not get Hepatitis or something.  Finally found a place that seemed descent enough (relatively speaking), and cheese fries, nachos, and chicken fingers really hit the spot.  Though, at that point, I'm sure we were all so hungry that just about anything would have tasted good! 

So far, I've been to Bourbon Street every night that I've been in New Orleans, and I think I'm starting to get used to all the craziness and sleeze....nothing on the street seems to fazes me at this point, not even this sign (left) posted outside a club....And with that, I leave you with a flavor of Bourbon Street, until my next post...I'm hoping today brings some more wholesome type of fun, at least during the daylight hours...



Live from the Big Easy!

My first trip and post comes to you live from New Orleans!  I'm here for a week-long sales meeting for work, with 650+ of my colleagues from around the world.  Other than the scenes I saw on TV from Hurricane Katrina, and hearing friends and colleagues describe this city as "dirty" and "sleezy," I really don't know much about New Orleans and this "bubble girl" was a bit nervous about coming here...But, day one in the Big Easy was actually not as sleezy as I had expected and was pleasantly surprised and charmed by the "southern hospitality," that is, until I got to Bourbon Street -- more on that later...

My day started at 5:30am in Boston and arrived in NOLA at 2:30pm central time, and my first mission after checking into the Marriott:  Harrah's casino!  I did a paper in business school on Harrah's (got an A on the paper), which is known for its friendly atmosphere and I got to experience that friendliness at their Las Vegas location, so I had to check it out in New Orleans, too.  Sure enough, it lived up to the billing.  Got in a few rounds of my favorite game, "Let It Ride."  Although my wallet didn't make out so well, if I had to lose money, it was still fun playing at a table with friendly dealers and locals, as well as folks from Texas....I made sure to leave with the famous Harrah's "Total Rewards" loyalty card for next time...

Next up was dinner with some of my colleagues and exploring the French Quarter, which is literally around the corner from my hotel on Canal Street.  Most of the tiny streets in the French Quarter were surprisingly empty for a Sunday evening, so it was hard to find a good place to eat, because so many were empty and you didn't know if that was because it's just a quiet Sunday evening or because it isn't a really good place to eat at.  Plus, some of my colleagues don't enjoy seafood, so it was hard to find a place to accomodate everyone's taste.  After a lot of walking, we finally landed at Emeril Lagasse's "NOLA" restaurant.  It's one of the more upscale restaurants in the area and the service was impecable, and the wait staff really pays attention to the details.  While I could have gone for seafood, I was pretty famished after a long travel day, and decided on their Hickory Smoked Duck soaked in whiskey (can't go wrong when they have whiskey as an ingredient!).  The dish did not disappoint, and was delicious!  Would definitely recommend Emeril's NOLA if you're ever down here...However, dinner did end a little awkwardly when I asked the busboy where the ladies room was and he held his arm out and said, "may I?" and I was totally thrown off...I was like, "what!?"  He reiterated with his arm out again to indicate that I needed to put my arm around his, for him to walk me to the ladies room arm-and-arm.  At that point, I needed to pee so badly that I just needed this guy to show me where the ladies room was, so I was like "what the heck, when in New Orleans, just do as New Orleanans..."  And, of course I knew I would get so much grief from my colleagues once I returned to the table and they delivered all the jokes you can imagine after seeing that scene play out....From one colleague, "were you going to the ladies' room or walking down the aisle?"  And, just in case any of you have your heads in the gutter as some of my colleagues did, no, he did not try to go into the ladies room with me.... Anyhow, this was taking "southern hospitality" a bit far...



 

Bead Tossers

After dinner, it was time to venture out for a stroll on the infamous Bourbon Street.  Sure enough, the street lives up to the "sleeze" and corruption that I had heard about.  The street was sticky beneath my shoes and had a stench that my colleague claims to be of urine and vomit, so I was constantly dodging any questionable puddles as I was walking...I'm glad I was with two male colleagues, because I don't think I would have felt safe otherwise.  But, you can't say you've been to New Orleans until you've visited the nightlife on Bourbon Street, so I'm glad to have gotten that checked off.  Though, the whole time I was on Bourbon Street, I was thinking to myself, "why would the company select this place to hold our sales meeting? Surely, no good can come out of this..."  Just glad I didn't see anyone I recognize from work walking out of one of these joints below -- I have never seen so many strip clubs on a single street and it pretty much sums up Bourbon Street:

It was weird when I bumped into a soft-spoken colleague from Japan, who tapped my shoulder to say, "hello," and it was a bit comical to address him as "Imada San, how are you?" and bowing to him as a show of courtesy for his culture in the backdrop of Bourbon Street and all its craziness.....Welcome to America!

So, considering the shadiness on Bourbon Street, going to Harrah's is

actually a pretty wholesome activity for New Orleans.  All and all, I had a very long, but very eventful and successful first day in New Orleans, and hopefully you've enjoyed my first post enough to come back for my next blog.....

It's a busy first day of meetings tomorrow and not sure if I'll have an opportunity to sneak out to play and explore some more, but stay tuned for more later on this week!