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Kenneth Reitz
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7.8 KiB
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197 lines
7.8 KiB
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Travel: Paris, AngelHack, API Days
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:date: 2012-12-09 12:00
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:category: travel
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:aside: <p><b>Location</b>: Paris, France <br/><b>Dates</b>: Nov 30 – Dec 04</p><p>See the full album on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennethreitz/sets/72157632156365245/detail/">Flickr</a>.</p>
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I just returned from a lovely trip to Paris, France. I was there for a Heroku-sponsored hackathon: AngelHack:Paris.
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Getting There
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-------------
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Unfortunately, I had to fly to Paris straight from Las Vegas, so I had a grueling ~15 hours of flying ahead of me. Luckily, the flights on the way over were lovely. I got bumped up to premium economy and had power outlets on both flights.
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I took advantage and brushed up on my Ocarina of Time skills.
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.. image:: http://distilleryimage11.instagram.com/8edd0bea3b9711e29d3822000a1f90e8_6.jpg
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:target: http://instagram.com/p/SsEIkgmtNf/
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I landed at noon already adjusted to local timezone and with all my batteries fully charged.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8200/8239923051_41bc89b15f_z.jpg
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Perfect. :)
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Paris: Rich, Filthy, and Beautiful
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----------------------------------
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This was my second trip to Paris. It's one of my least favorite cities in general, I have to say. Strangers are rude, there's little English to get by, credit cards are rarely accepted, and hotel rooms are extremely small.
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Despite that, I love vising Paris for one reason: contrast.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8241038176_f35609da67_c.jpg
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Paris, where even the stray dogs are well dressed.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8070/8239968025_7446360e2c_c.jpg
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Where sketchy pepole sell odd steaming beans out of shopping carts.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8241029090_083fae9f8f_c.jpg
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Where graffiti clings to ancient monuments.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8241015112_b47005f9c4_c.jpg
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As well as beautiful buildings.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8069/8241022462_fda989d4a7_c.jpg
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Where tourists stick out like sore thumbs.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8487/8239955267_27d26931d3_c.jpg
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Where pigeons have no fear.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8240998742_196581fd0f_c.jpg
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Where families raise their children.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8241019272_0c515dda86_c.jpg
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Where motorbikes aren't in style.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8241001982_34ce8a4ccc_c.jpg
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Where the homeless are either handicapped or simply out of luck.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8239949485_39004221a1_c.jpg
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And empty bottles of wine can be found in phone booths.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8211/8255089364_0f416a8dc8_c.jpg
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It's a magical place.
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Accommodations
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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My last stay in Paris was fairly rough. The hotel featured a single wall outlet, a shower large enough for a small child, and a rock-hard twin-sized bed.
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This time, I studied up on TripAdvisor and decided to try a nicer (€220 a night) hotel in the non-tourist district of town: Hotel Magenta. While still quite uncomfortable by American standards, the Magenta proved to be a much better place to spend some personal time. It even had a bathtub (oooh).
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The room also featured a single outlet for the entire room, but this time I was prepared:
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.. image:: http://distilleryimage10.s3.amazonaws.com/e830d80c3bd811e2ab6722000a9e087c_6.jpg
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:target: http://instagram.com/p/Ss5qvMGtD2/
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Geting around the city wasn't as hard as I expected. Uber finally came to town!
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8351/8254013693_512e4f1187_c.jpg
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AngelHack:Paris
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---------------
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The purpose of this trip was to accompany some Salesforce evangalists,
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Guillaume Roques and John Stevenson, and show them the ropes of
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representing Heroku.
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AngelHack was a fantastic hackathon, with an incredible amount of energy and excitement in the air. I highly recommend checking it out next time it comes to a `city near you <http://angelhack.com/>`_.
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Much to my surprise, ran into my good friend and fellow PSF Member: Tarek Ziadé.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8239976465_6c760b1090_c.jpg
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The first and second place teams won an all-paid trip to San Francisco to pitch their startup ideas to some angel investors (hence the name AngelHack).
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8239978143_3d253bffa8_c.jpg
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The thirds and fourth place teams of the hackathon won 5x 13" Retina MacBook Pros and 4 iPad Minis, provided by Heroku. Many congratulations to the winners!
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8239979675_6b6de1c2fe_c.jpg
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Designer Jeans
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--------------
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In my travels, I've learned to pack as lightly as humanly possible. Unfortunately, a single point of failure was discovered this trip: $25 jeans. While in Vegas, my pants developed a very small tear between the legs. Much to my surprise, by the end of the hackathon, this small imperfection had transformed itself into a 10 inch hole. No number of hotel sewing kits could possibly repair this situation.
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I had a keynote the next day. My hand was forced: I had to buy new jeans. In the fashion capital of the world. On a Sunday.
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After frantically searching through the city for several kilometers, I stumbled into a men's clothing shop that was open on a Sunday. I begrudgingly walked away with a €195 pair of **Dolce & Gabbana** jeans (luckily, they were 30% off).
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Sigh.
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API Days
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--------
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The next day, I headed over to EPITECH, a technical university, for API Days:
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8498/8255083478_737485d791_c.jpg
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Due to some complicated circumstances, I had the opportunity to give an impromptu keynote. Despite only eight hours of advance notice, it went fairly well. I did make a few `comical mistakes <https://twitter.com/steveklabnik/statuses/275552778070413312>`_, however:
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My name is Kenneth Reitz, and I work for a subsidiary of Heroku named Salesforce. Err, I mean..."
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Lots of suits. Lots of sales. Lots of hackers. Lots of buzzwords. Lots of enterprise.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8074/8255082358_dcdb06d130_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8498/8254010665_f2cd666799_c.jpg
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Interesting event.
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Photo Trek with Guillaume
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-------------------------
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In exchange for doing Guillaume's API Days keynote, he agreed to take me out for a late night photo tour in the city.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8353/8254020433_69bd9cd69b_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8067/8255090676_aeb786a22c_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8254020813_46be7587c5_b.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8201/8254011775_339e2caa07_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8492/8254013299_50eefdb647_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8254017353_c0dae5ebf0_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8254019579_1b28d57914_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8219/8255092572_488865bd9e_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8214/8255094718_c9f199fe4e_b.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8254023131_ec9d4db5c6_c.jpg
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It couldn't have gone better. Thanks, Guillaume!
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8255090376_5e0fcaa5b4_c.jpg
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Heading Home
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------------
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I've flown home through Charles de Gaulle (CDG->IAD) several times.
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8077/8255096238_4b742281de_c.jpg
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8222/8254023791_8060c57594_c.jpg
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It's somehow one of my least favorite flights. 10 hours in the air seems to strike the perfect balance between *almost-over* and *never-ending*. The 16 hour flight I took to Australia last year went past faster than this.
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Regardless, it was a fairly uneventful flight. I got a good photo of two strangers cuddling while watching a film on a MacBook:
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.. image:: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8341/8255097162_7afe7763ea_c.jpg
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Funny how technology brings us together.
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