Naquada

Yesterday we did some exploring of Paris, TLE was quite exhausting (mainly the heat and the early and some late nights) so we didn’t actually get up until about 10am.

First stop of the day was Sacré Coeur, and as the weather was still very hot, it was a slow walk up from our hotel (along side the Moulin Rouge) to the top. I got some pretty good photos on the way up, although I’ve yet to geotag them and get them onto Flickr.

When we reached the top of montmartre the views were amazing, montmartre itself is gorgeous, like a small French village in the center of Paris with many winding alleyways, stone walls, and glimpses down streets over the city in the distance.

We met some friends at the steps of Sacré Coeur, although the definition of which set of steps was not quite clear!! Once we’d met up, we headed off towards the main part of montmarte to find a cafe soem some well earned and typically parisian food and the odd bottle or two of wine.

Obviously a bottle or two of wine on a sunny Friday afternoon meant that the walk back down Moulin Rouge.

Unfortunately Paris decided that it was time for one of the biggest and loudest thunderstorms I’ve seen for some time, It eased off slightly before we headed out, and our hotel was less than a minutes walk to the Moulin Rouge.

The Moulin Rouge is amazing, although they pack in lot of people for dinner (if you book as a couple, you will be sat next to at least one other couple) with table sizes ranging from 4 to 12. Cameras are not allowed inside the theater, so I reluctantly gave over my Cannon for safe keeping (thankfully it was only the Ixus 700 and not the 350D!) before being shown to our table.

The inside is a spectacle, set out as a mixture of theater and village square, with trees pushing up into the tented ceiling, the odd street lamp and house frontage, surrounding a dance floor and large stage. We got the chance to dance between meals to the band and singers before the stage extension silently slid out to cover the dance floor.

The show itself is fabulous, and excellent value at just over 2 hours (and no interval). I’m sure there is some reason why most of the girls are topless, although I cant think of any better misdirection than having 20 girls on stage naked from the waist up whilst a massive fish tank the size of the dance floor comes up through the floor filled with snakes and girls.

We sipped champagne though the show, and wandered back to our hotel at about midnight completely knackered…

Tomorrow we’re hoping to explorer the river and surrounding areas..

Technorati Tags: montmarte, moulin rouge, paris, Sacre Coeur

Well the hedgehogs are turning up earlier and earlier in the evening now..

Its been pretty hot today and they made straight for the bowl of water I left out for them..

Oddly I seem to become head of the hedgehog clan, as they have started to follow me round the patio when I’m out there, its a little odd to have a trail of hedgehogs running behind you as you walk up your garden!

Poor picasso is on his own now though more and more, for a good week hes been feeding alone most evenings, although hes eating enough for the entire family.

I did see this behaviour last year as well, just before there was an influx of baby hedgehogs..

..so maybe theres going to be more mouths to feed in the next few weeks..

Well been a product two days in Dublin, TabletPC has been great, done some nice work with the customer and a few pints of the real black stuff (just doesn’t taste the same back home).

So now I’m sat at the airport enjoying one more before I fall asleep on the plane home. Plug in my noise cancelling headphones and drift off..

So Christmas is over.. its odd something you put so much effort into the build up and then its over in a few days.. But its great, and I enjoy the family time at Christmas probably more than anything else.

We spent a great few days with my parents, and I got time to do some (not all) of the things I haven’t had time to do the rest of the year, the only downside of that is that I enjoyed doing it and now I’m spoiled and what to do it more..

..So maybe that my goal for next year… to take more time for myself.. Its exactly what I was saying a while back about escalators its like running really hard up a down escalator and never getting any place..

So it’s starting to feel like Christmas now, we almost have all our decorations up, both trees!! The wonderful smell of pine tree is filling our home. Now once I’m on holiday, that’s Christmas starting…

Well.. Tomorrow is my birthday.. I’m 32, which is good as I miscalculated my age last year and was under the assumption i was going to be 33 this birthday!!

Well, I’m planning on having a very large.. very filling curry.. As I think I mentioned before, the best thing (Apparently) to drink with a hot curry is a good champagne, and I think I will put this to the test tomorrow night..

Otherwise I’ve had a very good experience of following a bottle of Muscadet de S

Its been one hell of a week, Oddly though all my meetings this week seemed to be organised by a sale guy that didnt then attend the meeting. I mean there nothing from with this but it was an ‘interesting’ set of meetings.

So this weekend I’m spending with my good friend and I think we may sit at home drink good quality wine and watch trashy TV..

Probably going to cook a really good curry from scratch as well..

Being home really does remind you of all the good things in life.. Sat here listening to music from SomaFM. A bottle of wine, watching the hedgehogs have their tea on the patio. Thinking randomly about bits and bobs and things that are cool..

So why the bad day? It’s mainly to do with the bits and bobs and things that are cool I guess.. Stuff I want to do I’m not allowed to do, and stuff I dont want to do, I have to do.. but thats work I guess..

So if anyone does want to employ me just to think and come up with wonderfully great ideas for products and functionality, just let me know..

Tomorrows another day, another set of tunes and another bottle of wine..

Today I spent the day at Thruxton Race Circuit having a ‘Ferarri Experence’. The circuit is 2.3 miles in total and is the UK’s fastest race track.

Started the day by having an introduction to the track in an MG SZ, followed by 3 laps driving it with an instructor.

Then moved onto the main event. The Ferrari F355, Ferrari’s flagship sportscar. It has a top speed of 183 mph and accelerates from 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds. This is a truly impressive car with an 8 cylinder engine that can generate 375 horsepower. I got the red one

There is NOTHING better than getting into one of these with an instructor that greets you with “Welcome to my office… thats the accelerator, when theres nothing in front of you push it, if its not on the floor, push it harder.. this is a Ferrari and you can do up to 187 mph..’

I didnt get into the lamborgini, although it looked fast

the next car was the brand new shape Mercedes SLK, another four laps driving round the course at high speed.

After the SLK I got given an Porsche 911 Turbo to take round the track for another four laps.

you can see from my score card I was the more ‘cautious’ driver

It was an amazing day

Thursday I’m taking a Ferrari 355 for a spin round Thruxton Circuit, Hants. Get to drive a Ferrari 355 and an F1-style single-seater at speed.Obvisouly you have to get through driving the ‘hot hatches’ round the circuit first.. such a bind!!!

Expect pictures Friday!!!!