From Paris
[2007.10.08] This is already the second day in Paris. Yesterday I
arrive in the afternoon and register for the
conference at 4pm, I went on visit musee Rourve,
walked all the way through Champe-Essyel street, took
a look at the Arc de Tromph, took train to Eiffel
tower, ate dinner at a local cafe, and came back at
11pm. They are all very beautiful and stunning, but
I’m really exauted, since I didn’t get much sleep
during the 14 hour flight. Starting from the way to
the tower I slept everytime I blinked.
So the lesson is you shouldn’t try to get too much
good things at a time.
What attract me most is not the historical buildings,
but the atmosphere here among the small streets and
people. There are not many people on the street, but
not as in US, where there is none; and not as in
China… They all drive almost the same low profile
small europ cars, no Japanese cars, a few BMW, and
quite some bikes. Nothing shinny, nothing fancy, short
buildings, narrow streets. But very clean and neat.
People talk in French, but when I speak English, they
can understand and reply in simple English. They look
very same in my eyes. I have a very weired feeling
that I wish it was my hometown.
Today I attended the meeting and found that it is very
interesting. I can understand most materials and
discuss with many poster presenters. There are about
1000 paticipants from 30 countris. I need to practice
my talk this afternoon. There will be at least 300
people listening to my talk and I should respect this
opportunity. But tonight I will pick a nice
resteraunt.
Yesterday’s food is not at all attractive: French
onion soup, French fries, chicken, beef steak, or
salmon - same as America. And a big problem is that I
can’t read the menu. But today’s lunch at the meeting
is nice, especially the apetizer and dissert,
beautiful and tasty, no idea what I was eating. The
main entre is salmon, same as yesterday’s lunch.