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Planes, trains and automobiles...
Jan. 31st, 2003 09:18 amJust back from a two day business trip to Amsterdam. Left on Tuesday evening. Yup - two days magically became three - of which more later.
The meeting was good - despite being holed up in a Holiday Inn (really - I ask you!) on the outskirts of the city. It was the first big European meeting I have been to for some years - lately most of my travel has been to the US and Canada. So it was a chance to renew some old friendships and to meet up with people I haven't seen for the last few years.
I get a real buzz from these meetings - it is great to be sitting in a room of 40 or so people, and count up that 22 different countries are represented around the table. We talked a lot about e-business and using the internet as a technology platform for the firm. What was interesting (but shouldn't have been surprising) was that the understanding of web technologies and thier application to business varied so hugely. The UK firm has adopted web stuff very widely and it is now just another tool that we use - but for some territories it was clear that the possibility that the web might be used for something other that sourcing pictures of imaginative and probably illegal sex acts had never been considered... It was a good reality check.
Reality checked in again when I turned up at the airport on Thursday evening. It had been snowing on and off throughout the day in Amsterdam, but nothing had settled - but I wasn't surprised to see a couple of cancelled flights showing. As I checked in I asked if the flight to London City was delayed.. "No, no delay on that flight" came the encouraging answer. I must remember tophrase questions more carefully in future. There was no delay - but ten minutes before it was due to board it was cancelled. Tsk.
With the rest of the furstrated London-bound passengers I headed to the Transfer desk to get booked on a later flight. The queue was huge and each person was taking 15 minutes to be processed. Hmmm... nagging doubts began to rise as faces set in masks of frustrated anger began to turn away from their sessions at the desk.. When it was my turn I was offered a waitlist on a flight to Gatwick at 20:30 (already delayed to 22:00) with no guarantee of a seat or a flight the next morning to City.
I booked onto the City flight - and then phoned to see if I could get a train - I figured Schipol-Amsterdam / Amsterdam-Brussels / Brussels - London should be feasible and get me home by around 11:00pm UK time. It transpired that the last train from Brussels to London left in just over an hour...and Amsterdam to Brussels took an hour and a half. Bugger.
Back to the Holiday Inn.
Things began to look up. A few of the folks from the meeting had stayed on for an extra night and I met them as they were heading out for dinner. I tagged along.
We went to an Italian the Ristorante D'Antica. Go there. Trust me. The food was very good but the service was fantastico. Orchestrated by an eccentric Italian maitre d' with shoulder length hair, sun glasses propped on his forehead and a bedazzling array of expansive Sicilian arm gestures. And he was a show off (in the nicest possible way). An artist and a showman who was a pleasure to watch - not least because he was soooo good at his job. For a starter I had the house special pasta - now forgive me while I salivate at the memory, but here's what they did.
They wheel a trolley to the side of the table. The trolley holds half a complete parmesan cheese - about the size and shape of a half-barrel. The centre has been scooped out. Into the well in the cheese the maestro pours some flaming grappa...as the falmes die down he pours in a pan of heated spinach linguine with wild mushrooms and tomato sauce. He swirls this around the now melting centre of the cheese then scoops it out and presents it to you with a flourish. It was soooo good.. Words fail me...
A couple of the party headed off to a coffee shop after the meal, but I was sated with good food and wine and needed to be up early the next (actually the same) morning so with the rest of the group I headed back to the hotel.
Got up at 4:30am (UK) this morning and headed off to the airport - the flight was inevitably delayed but not drastically and we landed at 8:00 back in the UK.
Tea is in my hand - the heating is on - and I am going to bed for a couple of hours. Anyone want to bring me some toast at around eleven ?
The meeting was good - despite being holed up in a Holiday Inn (really - I ask you!) on the outskirts of the city. It was the first big European meeting I have been to for some years - lately most of my travel has been to the US and Canada. So it was a chance to renew some old friendships and to meet up with people I haven't seen for the last few years.
I get a real buzz from these meetings - it is great to be sitting in a room of 40 or so people, and count up that 22 different countries are represented around the table. We talked a lot about e-business and using the internet as a technology platform for the firm. What was interesting (but shouldn't have been surprising) was that the understanding of web technologies and thier application to business varied so hugely. The UK firm has adopted web stuff very widely and it is now just another tool that we use - but for some territories it was clear that the possibility that the web might be used for something other that sourcing pictures of imaginative and probably illegal sex acts had never been considered... It was a good reality check.
Reality checked in again when I turned up at the airport on Thursday evening. It had been snowing on and off throughout the day in Amsterdam, but nothing had settled - but I wasn't surprised to see a couple of cancelled flights showing. As I checked in I asked if the flight to London City was delayed.. "No, no delay on that flight" came the encouraging answer. I must remember tophrase questions more carefully in future. There was no delay - but ten minutes before it was due to board it was cancelled. Tsk.
With the rest of the furstrated London-bound passengers I headed to the Transfer desk to get booked on a later flight. The queue was huge and each person was taking 15 minutes to be processed. Hmmm... nagging doubts began to rise as faces set in masks of frustrated anger began to turn away from their sessions at the desk.. When it was my turn I was offered a waitlist on a flight to Gatwick at 20:30 (already delayed to 22:00) with no guarantee of a seat or a flight the next morning to City.
I booked onto the City flight - and then phoned to see if I could get a train - I figured Schipol-Amsterdam / Amsterdam-Brussels / Brussels - London should be feasible and get me home by around 11:00pm UK time. It transpired that the last train from Brussels to London left in just over an hour...and Amsterdam to Brussels took an hour and a half. Bugger.
Back to the Holiday Inn.
Things began to look up. A few of the folks from the meeting had stayed on for an extra night and I met them as they were heading out for dinner. I tagged along.
We went to an Italian the Ristorante D'Antica. Go there. Trust me. The food was very good but the service was fantastico. Orchestrated by an eccentric Italian maitre d' with shoulder length hair, sun glasses propped on his forehead and a bedazzling array of expansive Sicilian arm gestures. And he was a show off (in the nicest possible way). An artist and a showman who was a pleasure to watch - not least because he was soooo good at his job. For a starter I had the house special pasta - now forgive me while I salivate at the memory, but here's what they did.
They wheel a trolley to the side of the table. The trolley holds half a complete parmesan cheese - about the size and shape of a half-barrel. The centre has been scooped out. Into the well in the cheese the maestro pours some flaming grappa...as the falmes die down he pours in a pan of heated spinach linguine with wild mushrooms and tomato sauce. He swirls this around the now melting centre of the cheese then scoops it out and presents it to you with a flourish. It was soooo good.. Words fail me...
A couple of the party headed off to a coffee shop after the meal, but I was sated with good food and wine and needed to be up early the next (actually the same) morning so with the rest of the group I headed back to the hotel.
Got up at 4:30am (UK) this morning and headed off to the airport - the flight was inevitably delayed but not drastically and we landed at 8:00 back in the UK.
Tea is in my hand - the heating is on - and I am going to bed for a couple of hours. Anyone want to bring me some toast at around eleven ?
