Milan city center

Here is the church on the main square of Milan. The architecture is very different from Paris. Note how the statues are at the top of the spires, instead of being embedded in the walls.

Paris poop

I must be back in Paris. I know this because the sidewalks are covered with poop. I am still amazed that in one of the most beautiful cities in the world the people have their dogs poop all over the sidewalks without picking it up.

Swiss Army display

Since there is a display of Swiss Army products in the hotel lobby, I must be in Switzerland!

Back in Paris....

Well, for a night that is. The adventure continues.

Barcelona sunrise

More Barcelona

Here is the view from the hotel. It is probably only interesting to me since there is a yacht-yard in the foreground.

Another city, another hotel

Yesterday I had breakfast in Belgium, lunch in Paris, and dinner in Barcelona. The hotel is nice, but it is on a peninsula covered with shipyards and construction projects.

Leila found the chocolate

Birthday in Brugge

I tool a break from big deal seminars to celebrate my birthday in Belgium, home of the world's best beer and chocolate.

Not much of a shot

When one travels on business, there really isn't time to do any sightseeing. Airport to hotel to meeting room to airport. Repeat.

However, I promised pictures from around EMEA, so here is one. The really dark thing on the right is the bridge that connects Europe to Asia. The equally dark thing at the bottom is the body of water that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. There were oil tankers passing every three minutes to fetch Russian oil. The only thing that is lit up is an old castle that prevented unauthorized ships from passing through this straight. There is a twin castle on the opposite bank.

Welcome to Istanbul

So far, Istanbul looks like most cities when you land after dark. I'll try to find some more interesting sights tomorrow.

The world's largest shopping mall

The world's largest mall, the Dubai Mall, has over 1.2 million square feet and 1200 retail stores. It houses the world's largest acrylic panel aquarium and an underwater zoo.

Since the competing mall has a ski slope, this one has an ice rink:

It also has a three story waterfall:

And about a billion butterflys:

And a "Gold Souk" mall-within-the-mall:

I am seeing a trend here. Texas has nothing on Dubai!

So what pays for all of this? Oil, of course. But there are other sources. After I sent my first photo from the last blog post, I received a message that I had just spent 25 Euros. That's right, 25 Euros to email one low resolution picture!

The world's tallest building

Dubai is home to the world's largest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, at 2,717 feet. There is also an amazing amount of construction of new buildings.

18 seminars in 8 weeks!

SAP in Europe has finally figured out that I can show sales people how to do really big deals, so they are sending me on a roadshow to do 18 seminars in the next 8 weeks. The planned destinations are:

Paris

Dubai

Istanbul

Barcelona

Switzerland

Milan

Poland

Madrid

London

Moscow

Germany

Belgium

Hawaii (nice break)

Germany

Milan

Netherlands

Denmark

Sweden

London

I will try to post some photos from each location. Wish me luck!

RickO

Best laid plans

I packed the car the night before so we could start our 700 km drive to Paris at 6am. But the winding mountain road did not agree with Leila's stomach, and I had to completely unpack the car to get her a fresh set of clothes.