PARIS Day 03

What did I do on Day 03? It seems that it was a boring day.

Oh wait, I had escargo for lunch. What's escargo? It's snail!



I didn't have much appetite to begin with but chose snails to be my lunch. Well, the snail itself isn't too bad. It tasted just like some seafood we have in Taiwan. My problem was with the cream it was in. It was too strong.

Anyways, I went to La Defense to see the new Arc as I was told that it's worth seeing.
So I made it through the doggy poos and to the metro station, took the yellow line ALL THE WAY to the end, which was actually only 7 min ride. I arrived at La Defense, which is a new business district.



It's a big contrast from Paris. Here, it's spacious. The buildings are modern with steel and glass, and most of them are tall, sky scraper-like.



Then I realized that I didn't get off at the right station. I got off at one too early, so I walked my way to find the new arc. Along the way were some interesting structures and a sculpture. Here's a steel bean, cut/sliced with a sprout emerging from the pod, which is especially fitting among the tall and strong forest of sky scrapers.



Then here's another cylinder structure made with colored pipes. I think it's some kind of infrastructure housing, but I can't tell what it is.





One of the things that caught my attention was the amount of people taking a cigarette break. There must be at least hundreds of them. Just imagine the number of billable hours that the companies are losing, makes me wonder why the French prime minister is trying to be so tough this time.







And finally, the arc!!!



The new arc is much bigger than the Arc of Triumph. It itself is an office building, with a long flight of stairs to its center and structured elevators exposed.







That night, we had a little crazy time in this fancy sushi place on Champs Elysee. Sorry, can't show the photos and videos of the dinner, but as we walked out of the restaurant, Champs Elysee lit up for us.





The next day was going to be rather intensive, so we went back to the hotel while the staffs had more meetings to attend.

PARIS Day 02

On day two, a few of us decided to take a quick tour before our speech training sessions in the afternoon. This is also the first time when we will be taking the metro, but before that, we had to over come "Champs Smeared Doogy Poos."


Buying 2-Day pass at the station

However, we decided to check out the Arc and Champs Elysee first.
The Arc stood overwhelming, not just with its size, but with the details that it wears.





We didn't spend too long at the Arc and continued by walking down Champs Elysee. It was Sunday morning, cloudy, so most of the stores were closed. I guess I like it this way. Fewer people on the street means more time for me to look at what's there.



One thing I noticed, and appreciate, is that even those shops that are closed for various reasons( renovations or waiting for new renters) are well decorated.

Like this one that is under construction. It seems that nothing will stop the French from being "beautiful". A little creativity turns a job site into a point of interest.






French Plumb... no, Fireman working on some underground thingy.

So we decided to go to the opera house and found the nearest metro station... nothing special, just want to mention it.



You know, many other cities, like Singapore, have TV's or entertainment systems onboard their public transports. In Paris, they've got live entertainers.




Here's an amazing sight. As we got out of the metro and finding our way to the opera house, we came across this bunch of asian-look folks who seemed to be waiting for something. Then all of the sudden, the gate to a store that they were standing by started to roll its gate up.... and all these people(Chinese) scrambled to enter the store by squeezing through the still-opening gate!



Apparently, it was some sort of outlet or duty free store.


We walked and walked. The map we had didn't have enough details to guide us to the exact spot, so I didn't even know if we saw the opera house(apparently not). However, we did snap a few shots along the way.









We headed back to the hotel before noon to prepare for our speech training sessions(except Joao who got so excited by the fact the the Louvre was close to where we were, simply said "good bye" and took off, and later late for his training session because he got lost in the metro!)

The afternoon was spent at the hotel perfecting our speeches, but our hearts were restless. Joao and I made a decision to visit the Effiel Tower after dinner.

AFTER DINNER???? Dinner starts at 8pm, and usually don't get done until 10.30 or later! The metro shuts down at mid night! OMG OMG What should we do????

WALK

Yes, the two of us, plus my metal tripod as our bodyguard, went to the tower by metro and planned to walk back to the hotel because the map told us that we can do it.
So on a Sunday night, 2 dudes, fresh to Paris, were wondering on the Parisian streets. What interesting things can happen? Nothing really happened, but we did see a few things.

-Homeless guy sleeping in the middle of the road


-African Immigrants chasing tourists around with blinking things in their hands.

-Soldiers with cool looking machine guns

-A car crashing into another.

Nonetheless, night shots of the Effiel tower can't be missed.









Also, just as we got out of the metro at mid night, the tower sparkled...


More videos to capture the tower better:


Looking up at the tower from its bottom reminds me of the scene in the movie "Independence Day" where they were trying to attack the alien's spaceship big gun on its bottom. Somehow this aged metal structure spells future.

The ending to the adventurous day is quite boring, except the fact that I decided to bring a pair of new shoes hoping to break-in, but it ended up almost breaking my feet...

PARIS Day 01

Arhhh.... I hate flying.

The flight to Paris was operated by NorthWest, which it bad by default. Well, this time, they have a newer plane, the Airbus 330. The interior looks relatively new. There is more leg room and they've finally got the personal entertainment system which they hid away from us for my flights to Asia. Maybe they don't think Asians deserve it.%@#^#$^

So I needed to..... and went to the rest room. Everything in the rest room has touch control, the type that has a seamless plastic film over buttons. As a designer, I can't stop but to criticize this choice of design, because we all know that things like this can fail easily. So perhaps one day, on a 12hr flight, someone takes a huge dump and the flush button stops working. Oh well....

Then I took my dump, with the consciousness that I am putting the entire plane in risk. Then as I proceed to clean my behind, I realized that there was no space to bend.... So I adjusted my posture and turned around.... finally I did it!

#$@%ing Airbus Designers.

Oh, then I realized that the door lock is more than 1m above ground, which means a 5 yr old can't use the loo on his own.... and there's no room for his daddy or mommy....

@#%ing Airbus Designers!



So I arrived at Charles Du Gaulle "aeroport"(that's how they call it in French). They pulled the plane to a half done/destroyed terminal so that we can take a bus. I was wondering if this was the one that collapsed years ago.

On the ride to the main terminal, my impression of the airp.. no, aeroport, is thrash, thrash and more thrash. Thinking about who the thrash may be coming from, I guess the aeroport staffs simply don't care about national image.

I told my friends that I will be with Paris Hilton for a week....

And I wasn't lying! They put me up in Hilton Hotel in Paris!

So they've got this weird custom which a lady will welcome guests in a box.... but it wasn't Paris Hilton... thank god!



... and the bathroom plus the view, which is nothing but office...





.. which is very interesting because I noticed that people don't get to work till 9am or later, and they usually disappear after 5pm. Lunch is about 2 hours. I didn't see many office ladies too....




So I arrived at noon and received a briefing from Ana, our coordinator. After which we went for lunch which took quite long. From now on, the time I am referring to will be in French time, because everything takes twice as long.

After lunch, there was nothing on for the day and I decided to take a walk around the hotel. I saw this city park.... wait, let's talk about first impression of the city:

Architectures with over whelming details( much like cultural overload for me) - small cars - small cars with dents and scratches - doggy poo and smeared doggy poo everywhere!

Ok, let's talk about the city park.

The one thing that shocked me is(wait, I am not going to say anything bad) that the park is filled with young parents and toddlers. Well, what's so special about this? Well, all of the parents are playing with the children like they are one of them. Hide and seek, kicking rubber balls, racing on scooters... you name it. All the fun without plastic toys and powerwheels. By contrast, from MY EXPERIENCE after traveling to no less than 15 cities around the world, spending more than 3 months in at least 5 of them(sorry I had to do this, because some people will disagree with what I am going to comment), tells me that this is special.


360 of the park

How special?

In Asia, "play" seems to be a crime, so is getting your hands on the ground, your pants dirty, yelling in the park, pushing and rolling your buddies and so on. Parents are always on the watch, telling "no" to this and that. It's more like a prisoner on a 1 hour break to get his fresh air.

In the US, yes, parents do spend time with kids in the park or their backyards, but they also hand a part of the job to tools like the "Powerwheels" or whatever fancy toy they can buy. Parents end up just watching from the side line, amazed by the wonders of those toys. This is exactly what they preach on TV commercials too - Toys that "educate" kids without the need of another human being.


A store in the park packed with toys, also serves snacks like ice creams, pop corns and so on, just like what you can find in a fun fair or a theme park.


Pony riding!


Parents and kids line up, and pay to use the swing!

Furthermore, most people in the same age group(late 20s ~ early 30s) are busy with their career and trying to build up their self-appearance, spending time in bars drinking cool beers, working out in the gym, or jogging in the park. Gyms and parks becomes less of a place for families, but a place to be seen.

Hey, that's my opinion, and this is my blog. OK!


On to the streets....

So other than the doggy poos(smeared), what else were there? I'll like to emphasize the small cars again, because they are cool! We have small cars in Taiwan too, but not this small!

New Mini Cooper Clubman, just being launched in the US as we speak.


They say Paris is a romantic city. I think so too, because cars like to French kiss each other, often for as long as their owners allow them to.


Very classic Fiat(new)


(Original)



French Public toilets. I almost had to use one.


The hotel is about 15min walk to the Arc of Triumph. How cool is that? It's on this 15min walk to the Arc where I had to overcome the smeared poos most often. So here's the street to the Arc.

Melvyn Maxwell Smith House by Frank Lloyd Wright

Just less than 5 min drive from Cranbrook is a less known Wright creation, the Melvyn Maxwell Smith House



Privately managed and owned, the Smith House was built in 1946. I cannot remember the details, but here's the brief summary of the story.

The owners were highschool teachers who aspired to become a Frank Lloyd Wright house owner. Of course, that began as a dream. Then in one occassion, Mr. Smith met Wright and asked Wright if he would design him a house. Wright agreed, and used this project as a marker for his "Low cost" design projects.

Even though the total amount of budget that took to build was by no means "low", it was still one of the more affordable houses that Wright built. I guess it's what we call "bang for the buck", because Wright's signatures are evident in the house. The open indoor/outdoor space, usage of sky and natural light and the design of the space layout are all very "Wright". The house itself is small(cosy), and not very suitable for winter times, but it does look over a nice private lake and surrounded by the wealthy. So it's an affordable designer architecture in a upscale neighbourhood... something still doesn't sound right.



Nonetheless, there are tons of details for us to appreciate. Please be sure to check out the complete photo gallery HERE

End of the Season

Tigers did not make it to the play off this season, but they definitely put up a good show for all Detroiters.

I happened to get 2 free tickets to their second last home game of the season, thanks to Michael, not the best seats, but definitely come with good views.

First of all, I was very impressed by the ball park. I've always thought it's just a stadium, but it was way more than just a stadium. It was a destination. There are food courts, stalls all over the stadium. There are also amusement rides for kids and promotional events going on. The shear scale of this event is amazing, which makes it hard to imagine this going on everyday during the season.





It was literally a festival, but more like a daily festival.



From the grand stand.



View of the Detroit city scape and the ball park.



Today is also the Chinese Mid Autumn festival, when the moon is the roundest and biggest of the year. Also a victorious night for the Tigers.



Every vendor has their own unique tricks to get attention.



Tiger's Defense!!! Double play!!!



Tigers were beating down on the Twins like there's no tomorrow, so the Twins wimped out and asked for a pitching change.



Cheers and more cheers!





Tiger Scores!!!



and a DOUBLE HOME RUN by Ordonez



Tigers won 8-0, was a good game packed with lots of offensive actions. It's definitely a good experience, good entertainment as well. This definitely beats going to a lame movie.

Leaving the stadium...





We'll be back next season!

Back to school: Cranbrook Academy of Art

Time is a tricky thing. Everyone gets the same amount, but the amount of usable time is entirely up to the individual. Before the semester starts, I thought it's time to give myself a good tour through the campus, and surely enough, I discovered interesting details and places where I didn't before.

BTW, here's the link to the photo album of Cranbrook Campus.



To cut the story short, Cranbrook was founded by a rich couple in the early 1900s. They were the media tycoons of that time and found this piece of land which reminded them of their hometown, Cranbrook of England. So they bought it and started to build an education community on it. They invited famous sculptor Carl Milles as the first director of the Academy of Art, and Eliel Saarinen to design the campus. Eliel's son, Eero Saarinen, designed the TWA( now as JFK) Airport in NYC as well as the St Louis Arc. Did I mention the Eames' relation to our 3D department?

There are also a library dedicated to Art and Design, a museum that holds world class exhibition as well as Michigan's biggest and private owned Natural Science Museum. Lot's of resources for us in the middle of nowhere.



The campus architecture is filled with intricate details that really take time to appreciate. One of the interesting features on this campus is the number of fountains and lakes there are. The land used to be a swamp, and they dug lakes to centralize the water and dry the land.







Before I go any further, the Cranbrook Educational Community is made up of different schools, from elementry to middle, to high school and then graduate school(no university). For the primary and secondary school education, it's really for the rich of the rich. Annual schooling and boarding is about US$40k, which is almost twice that of the graduate school!

Some photos of the highschool campus











Highschool library







Sports Complex



So much for the rich side, here's the Academy of Art campus







John's TP in the middle of the classic campus court yard! Reminds me of the Louvre in Paris.




Another main attraction of the campus is the Cranbrook House itself. This is the original residence of George Booth and his wife(the founders). It's a huge and beautiful mansion designed by Albert Kahn, and surrounded by beautiful landscaped nature and lakes.














Cranbrook Campus is basically a big park and welcomes anyone. There are always people picnicking and walking dogs. The campus is filled with trails in the woods. Open yet secured. It definitely qualifies as a destination.



Oriental Garden



Bog Garden



The girl's middle school by the lake



Local resident



And an announcement:



Which reads:

Wanted for crimes against plant material. Last known address Cranbrook's Sunken Garden. Aliases include: Peter, Fluffy, Flopsy and the dreaded uncle Wiggily. MO: They wear cute, cuddly outfits, travel in packs and eat everything in sight. Considered armed with appetite and dangerous! Do your part to stop these nibblers by closing this gate!