Oriol and I are in Paris to meet with potential investors. I haven’t been here in about 4 years, and even though I usually think that I don’t care for Parisians (I do try to make it more often to the South of France), I must admit that I was very excited as I boarded the Vueling flight.

I slept most of the way. I’m sure I was snoring, but luckily it was a relatively empty flight.

Once we got in, we saw democracy (?) in action, as the transportation workers were on strike, which meant that the only way to get to the city from Charles de Gaulle was via either an airport bus for €13.50 per person or a €60 taxi ride.

We opted for the bus, which meant standing in the cold rain for about 20 minutes. We’re still stingy entrepreneurs.

Oriol was generally surprised by how unengaging most of the Parisians were to him. He’d ask questions in French, but they all responded like they were in a rush to be somewhere else and he was bothering them. That might have been the case, but it was striking how universal their reaction seemed to be.

Once we got to the city (and it really is a very beautiful city), it was nearly impossible to get a taxi. There was a line of cabs, but I think that most of the taxi drivers were rushing off for a free bottle of Bordeaux or something, because they pretty much ignored us.

Finally, we got a taxi, arrived at the two-star, very French hotel with views of the Eiffel Tower. We dropped off our bags and went to eat. The cocktails were amazing, and the dinner was pretty nice too. I had the onion soup and steak tartare.

I generally liked it, except for one truly mind-boggling fact: The restaurant didn’t have French fries! How ironic is that?

(I added this last pic, because I think that a sexualized photo of a beautiful interracial couple like this one might still be controversial in the US, but it was prominently placed in the exclusive neighborhoods in Paris.)