{"id":4297,"date":"2024-04-29T15:38:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T14:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4297"},"modified":"2024-04-29T15:54:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T14:54:28","slug":"week-14-paris","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4297","title":{"rendered":"Week 14: Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was in Paris in connection with important meetings at the OECD on 4-5 April. In fact, our delegation consisted of 5 people, including the head of our agency and my director. Quite an intense couple of days, but as always I made sure that I had some time to enjoy the city.<\/p>\n

14_1<\/strong>
\nAs always, I was out cycling on Sunday. I went to Jijona, and while the clouds were heavy, it stayed dry:
\n\"1040070\"<\/p>\n

14_2<\/strong>
\nJijona in the distance:
\n\"1040072\"<\/p>\n

14_3<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, I went for a beer at 100 Montaditos, the bar on the beach promenade. Some northern European tourists thought it was warm enough:
\n\"1070454\"<\/p>\n

14_4<\/strong>
\nI saw this delightful couple at a neighbouring table and of course I asked if I could take a picture. The lady was French and very friendly, especially after discovering that I could speak French with her:
\n\"1070455\"<\/p>\n

14_5<\/strong>
\nThere was another canine companion at another table:
\n\"1070459\"<\/p>\n

14_6<\/strong>
\nOn Tuesday, I had another brief photo session with my trainee Romy. She is the most cooperative model I have ever had, always happy to be photographed:
\n\"1070465\"<\/p>\n

14_7<\/strong>
\n\"1070466\"<\/p>\n

14_8<\/strong>
\nOn Wednesday I flew to Paris with three of my colleagues, including my director Patricia. Here, on the train from the airport to the city, Patricia and my colleague Harrie are both busy with their phones, but doing different things. While Harrie is checking his e-mail, Patricia is engaged in the more important task of finding a restaurant where we could have dinner that evening:
\n\"R000396\"<\/p>\n

14_9<\/strong>
\nWe got off the train and took a taxi to the hotel. Going there by metro was possible but involved at least one change, and we did not feel like dealing with this during the rush hour and with our luggage. This was how I saw Paris from the inside of the taxi:
\n\"R000397\"<\/p>\n

14_10<\/strong>
\nOnce installed in our hotel in the 16th arrondissement, I explored the neighbourhood a bit and to my delight, there was a nice bar on Place de Barcelone, a short walk from the hotel:
\n\"DSF9056\"<\/p>\n

14_11<\/strong>
\nWhile enjoying my beer, I looked around at the people at the other tables:
\n\"DSF9058\"<\/p>\n

14_12<\/strong>
\nThursday morning I was at the OECD by 8 a.m. The first item on the agenda was a bilateral meeting between the Executive Director of my agency and OECD’s Deputy Secretary-General Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, much to my pleasure, a Dane. I participated in the meeting and took the standard handshake photograph of the two principals (Knudsen is the taller of the two):
\n\"DSF9070\"<\/p>\n

14_13<\/strong>
\nThen it was time for the two days of meetings of the Working Party on Countering Illicit Trade, the OECD body in which we participate. The other participants were representatives of OECD member countries, other officials, and representatives of the private sector who also get a seat at the table under the banner Business@OECD:
\n\"DSF9082\"<\/p>\n

14_14<\/strong>
\nThe meeting got going. Patricia gave one of the opening speeches:
\n\"DSF9082\"<\/p>\n

14_15<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9090\"<\/p>\n

14_16<\/strong>
\nDuring the breaks in meetings at the OECD I like to wander around the conference centre and look at the art on display, all of it donated by the member countries over the years:
\n\"DSF9092\"<\/p>\n

14_17<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9094\"<\/p>\n

14_18<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9105\"<\/p>\n

14_19<\/strong>
\nThe original OECD building was this 19th century structure called Ch\u00c3\u00a2teau de la Muette. Today it houses the offices of the Secretary-General and his deputies, and ceremonial meeting rooms. We were going to have a reception there after the first day of meetings:
\n\"DSF9110\"<\/p>\n

14_20<\/strong>
\nI love being at the Ch\u00c3\u00a2teau. It was here that the OECD’s predecessor, the Organisation of European Economic Cooperation, was launched in 1948 to help administer the Marshall Plan and rebuild Europe from the ruins of World War II. There is a plaque commemorating George Marshall’s June 1947 speech at Harvard in which he advocated help rebuilding Europe. I find the sense of history palpable. The main hall of the Ch\u00c3\u00a2teau has the flags of the member countries as its centerpiece:
\n\"DSF9097\"<\/p>\n

14_21<\/strong>
\nAnother pleasure associated with the Ch\u00c3\u00a2teau are the receptions–both the surroundings and the finger foods are excellent:
\n\"DSF9099\"<\/p>\n

14_22<\/strong>
\nIn the evening, a smaller group of us had dinner at a nearby restaurant, hosted by Piotr, senior economist at the OECD, here sharing a laugh with senior officials from the US and the EU:
\n\"DSF9103\"<\/p>\n

14_23<\/strong>
\nThe meeting continued on Friday. Here, Nikolaus Thumm, a professor in Berlin and a former chief economist of the European Patent Office, has the floor:
\n\"DSF9134\"<\/p>\n

14_24<\/strong>
\nDuring the lunch break, I took a walk in a nice nearby park, Jardin du Ranelagh:
\n\"DSF9119\"<\/p>\n

14_25<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9122\"<\/p>\n

14_26<\/strong>
\nThe OECD meeting ended around 5 p.m. I was staying in Paris until Saturday afternoon, partly to do some sight-seeing on Saturday morning, and partly to have dinner with my cousin Francis on Friday night. He lives just outside Paris and we usually meet when I am there. After our dinner, Francis rode his bike home:
\n\"DSF9155\"<\/p>\n

14_27<\/strong>
\n…and I took the metro back to my hotel:
\n\"DSF9157\"<\/p>\n

14_28<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning I checked out of the hotel and make my way to the Chatelet metro station. I left my luggage in a small supermarket (using a very useful service called Nannybag<\/a>), and ventured out on a long walk on both sides of the Seine. Near the Louvre, I happened on a very nice event, a 4 km run for both disabled and able-bodied runners called “Paris Run for All”:
\n\"DSF9177\"<\/p>\n

14_29<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9183\"<\/p>\n

14_30<\/strong>
\nA blind runner with a guide:
\n\"DSF9184\"<\/p>\n

14_31<\/strong>
\nI continued my walk along the river. Paris has had a lot of rain this spring, and the riverside walk was under water in many places:
\n\"DSF9187\"<\/p>\n

14_32<\/strong>
\nI stopped by Notre Dame which is being rebuilt after the devastating fire 5 years ago. The work is progressing well, and the cathedral is scheduled to re-open in December:
\n\"DSF9215\"<\/p>\n

14_33<\/strong>
\nI crossed the river to visit the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. Next to it is this lovely little spot called Square Ren\u00c3\u00a9 Viviani:
\n\"DSF9221\"<\/p>\n

14_34<\/strong>
\nThe bookshop itself was a disappointment. It is crowded to the extent that it is more of a tourist attraction than a living bookshop:
\n\"DSF9224\"<\/p>\n

14_35<\/strong>
\nI walked along the river some more, passing this juxtaposition of icons of different times:
\n\"DSF9242\"<\/p>\n

14_36<\/strong>
\nI made my way back to the Louvre area, passing the long queue outside the museum entrance:
\n\"DSF9249\"<\/p>\n

Then I got on the metro, made my way to Orly airport, and flew home. More of my photos from Paris are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was in Paris in connection with important meetings at the OECD on 4-5 April. In fact, our delegation consisted of 5 people, including the head of our agency and my director. Quite an intense couple of days, but as always I made sure that I had some time to enjoy the city. 14_1 As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4205,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4297"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4297"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4302,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4297\/revisions\/4302"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}