Last Stop: Windsor, England

Train Station in Windsor

During my travels abroad, my last stop was Windsor, England. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit (what I perceive to be) the English countryside. It was also great to reconnect with many colleagues and to be able to have dinner with someone else! I ended up staying at the Harte & Garter which was the most charming hotel I stayed at during my time in Europe. It was nicely placed directly next to Windsor Castle, so much so that I could see it from my hotel room!

Fireplace in the Lobby

View with Windows Open

View with Windows Closed

Even though I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time exploring, I was still enthralled to stay in such a lovely place. (It also probably helped that I had already been to Windsor for leisure and not work.)

Random Painted Cow

Montmarte - It Makes My Favorite Parisian Arrondissement The 18th!

During my stay in Paris, I visited Montmarte, my absolute favorite area in Paris. It draws me in because of it's ability to allow you to feel like you are in a small neighborhood when really you're in one of the biggest cities in the world. Sure, Champs-Elysee is a nice draw, but quite honestly it was Fashion Week when I was there and there was no way in hell I was going to Champs-Elysee if I didn't have to. I started out my visit with a quick lunch at Le Consulat - an establishment that has hosted the likes of Dali, Picasso, etc. Of course, I people watched as well.

People Watching at Le Consulat

Once I had finished lunch (and people watching), I decided to take a stroll and find some street art for my living room at home. I currently have a large yellow wall with nothing on it.. After looking around a bit, I found this wonderful street artist who was selling ink/watercolor paintings. I decided that I had to have three that depicted the Eiffel Tour. Arc de Trionphe and of course Sacre Coeur. I'll post photos after I get them framed.

Sacre Coeur

I walked around Montmarte a little more after that, taking in all the sights and sounds that I loved, then of course, had to part for dinner. It was quite a lovely Saturday all in all, and I can't wait to go back!

Oh Paris, How I Adore You!

A few weeks ago I had the most amazing opportunity to travel to Paris for work (well Frankfurt, Paris and Windsor). This was by far my favorite spot by leaps and bounds, but I'm sure having a weekend off in Paris had something to do with that.

View from the Informatica Paris Office

So my first day in Paris, well really flying into Paris from Frankfurt, I learned that my hard drive was about to crash, lucky me! Obviously that meant that I had to rush off to the nearest electronics store (ie. Apple) to grab an external hard drive as soon as possible. Well the only Apple store I knew of was in the Louvre. Naturally, I had to stop in.

Apple Store in the Louvre

I left the Informatica Paris office a bit early that day to run the errand, but mind you, Parisian taxi drivers are TERRIFYING. Also, I would expect that the taxi driver would know how to get from La Defense to the Louvre....

Taxi Driver Clearly Paying Attention WHILE WE WERE MOVING, NOT

On my way into the Apple store, I was able to take my one obligatory tourist photo in front of the Louvre, then I whisked myself away to take care of some business.

Chanel Sunglasses | SAMMA necklace (old, similar here)

Lilly Pultizer belt (old, similar here) & dress (old, similar here)

After I was done with my errands at the Apple store, I had some spare time to kill before meeting up with a friend from Davis for dinner in Bastille. Since I decided to use the metro I had extra time to spare and decided to walk around Jardin des Tuileries and soak in the gorgeous early evening and start of fall.

Jardin des Tuileries

It was really quite a pleasurable Friday, especially since my week started out with staffing Oracle Open World and a trans-atlantic flight! Stay tuned for my posts on Montmarte and Laduree.

Frankfurt, Germany

So this is a very late post, but as I have been crazy busy with Dreamforce planning, the only thing to slow me down enough to blog has been getting sick - stuck at home sick, but not sick enough to sleep through the day sick ie. the worst kind of sick possible.

A few weeks ago I was blessed enough to be able to travel to Frankfurt, and even though I was only there for a night, I was able to experience a few things. First up, I was a little shocked to find a see-through shower waiting for me in my room, guess it was a good thing I was traveling alone?

Taken from the BED

Interesting Installation at the Informatica Frankfurt Office

Just to note, I had the most fabulous dinner there at Pasta Panini. Amazing food, normal (read: not-American portions), super friendly staff - you really can't ask for more than that!