Europe 2018: Paris is Always a Good Idea (Part 1)
Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows a few things about me…I fly helicopters, I was born in San Francisco, I am an angel investor, I can drink champagne like water, and I love France, specifically Paris. I was asked to mentor a program in Berlin for female founders and decided to make a bigger trip of it and fly in and out of Paris to get my Parisian fix.
After sitting in a significant amount of traffic to get to my hotel in the 17th arr, and a quick outfit change, I met up with my friend Terry and her business partner Mary for lunch in the same area. It was the perfect way to start the trip. A familiar hotel and familiar faces.
On Tuesday, I had a meeting at Tech Stars Paris and met with Morgane. We sat on the roof deck and enjoyed our conversation in the beautiful sunshine.
The view extended from the Sacre Coeur to the Eiffel Tower.
My neighbor Joelle was in Paris visiting friends and I ended up meeting up with them to go to the Klimt digital exhibit at the Atelier des Lumieres. Joelle and I realized that we spent more time together in Paris than we had in Redwood City over the last six months (and we live across the street from each other). This was a very local experience which suited me just fine.
As for the Klimt exhibit, it was phenomenal. We had tickets in advance and walked right in. Since we were a few minutes early we saw the last part of the third digital piece (the whole show is about an hour and I think you can stay for as long as you want). The building is a large, cement, industrial building on the inside with the walls and the floors used as the digital canvas.
I found a spot and sat on the ground against a wall and had a great view. Joelle, Bernadette and Karina walked around and had yet a different experience from me.
I wasn’t bothered by the other people in the venue. Generally they moved towards the walls and didn’t stand in front of the images.
Except this gal…she totally blocked the wall.
And this one.
Afterwards we went and had a drink at one of Karina’s local haunts. Bernadette enjoyed her mint mojito.
Karina had to take a client call but it was made ok by the glass of prosecco.
Terry ended up meeting up with us before we went to another local place, Blue Valentine, for a really good dinner. The company was the highlight, though. The conversation went back and forth between French and English.
It was lovely to be able to walk back to the 17th arr. with Terry, continuing to chat along the way. It felt so natural to be hanging out with friends in Paris that has been made possible by various decisions and actions I have made over the last 10 years (I was thinking the same thing about my arrival into Tallinn today but that will be saved for another day).
I have to admit that Paris makes me happy in ways that other cities do not.
It was 10:30 when we were headed to the Metro and I saw the moon. I couldn’t resist taking one last pic.
Ah, Paris!
