TC in Europe

Sometime late October, I got asked to attend a meeting in Europe. So quite quickly, I organised the main meeting in Brussels and a couple of meetings either side in Spain (2 days) and France (2 days). The way it worked out, I had one day free in Spain and two days in France either side of the working week. So here are some pictures on the tourist part of my trip.

Firstly, Girona in Spain. This is a city of 95,000 in the north-eastern part of Catalonia, a region bordering the Mediterranean Sea. This place was settled by Iberians and then the Romans built a citadel there, so it goes back a fair way. At one stage, it had a strong Jewish population and so there is still an old Jewish quarter. There is also a stone wall that surrounds the old city on the northern side of the river, apparently for keeping out the invaders.

I had business in Monells (near Girona) then Sant Carles de la Rapita (near Tarragona, in the south-western region of Catalonia). I got around Spain by car, which is not to be recommended. It's a bit like playing a car racing game for the first time, and the other cars keep speeding by you both sides (even when you're doing the 120 kmh speed limit!).

Sant Carles de la Rapita is a town of about 15,000 people situated on the coast near the mouth of a saltwater lagoon. It was settled somewhat later than other parts of this region, as noted by the style of the church to the left. The region is known for rice growing and salt production and of recent times is becoming know for fishing and aquaculture - thus my visit.

From there, I went to Brussels for the main meeting. And then to Nantes in the west of France for two days of meetings. From Brussels through Paris to Nantes, and then back to Paris a couple of days later, I took the fast trains (~200 kmh). A good option for getting around without too much hassle.

Nantes was nice - I had a half day looking around there after my meetings. This is the 6th largest city in France, with about 800,000 people in the wider metropolitan area. About 50km from the Atlantic coast, it is the historic centre of Brittany and is now centre of one of the strongest food producing region in France. The evening I was there, they were starting the Christmas promotions and I walked around the stalls having a look at all kinds of locally-made knickknacks (but buying none of them!).




















Nantes: near the main city centre Paris: Dome des Invalides

Finally Paris. The capital of France, with a population of 2.2 million and a wider metropolitan reach of 11.8 million people, is one of the world's leading business and cultural centres. In my short stay, I was located not far from the Tour Eiffel, beside the river Seine and near the historical heart of Paris. This is the tourist area. My expectations were neutral but I have to say that I was impressed by the pure majesty, magnificence and magnitude of the sights on offer. I told Cerian that if I ever get back that way, it has to be experience we enjoy together.

So a brief visit. Overall impression is the history of Europe and the blessings and disadvantages of living in such a young country as New Zealand.