One of the funnest things about my trip this week to LeWeb3 in Paris (and there were lots) was going on le Eurostar from the new St Pancras station.
It's all new and shiny, but, frankly, unfinished. A at dinner on Friday night had forewarned me that there was only one coffee outlet once you get past passport control, which was no biggie. But getting to St Pancras at stupid o'clock in the morning only to discover that (a) there's not a cashpoint machine to be had and (b) no bureau de change either, kinda pissed me off. I sorted it, as a resourceful person should, but it was... annoying.
Everything's new and shiny, like the floor - fabulous Yorkshire slate (I'm guessing) with a rich... cedar (surely not, in these sustainable days) wood floor. It's actually darker in real life, come out more oak-ish in the photo.
Reminds me of when you go to a friend's house when they've just moved into a developer-converted apartment and everything's oak and slate and shiny and new with a few things left off the snagging list shouting out at you. I half expected the station master (or is that the Fat Controller) to offer to doa tour.
Still, two hours fifteen minutes, you really can't complain.
I went to a meeting in West London and couldn't help noticing the MoneySavingExpert (or EExpert) listing on the reception. Makes me think of the Aasus EEE. There's a lot of it about, right?
11:23 AM
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Here at LeWeb3, and only just blogging now, as had no-wifi at my free-wifi hotel, and slightly flakey wifi here at the venue, depending on where you're sitting.
Met a bunch of great folk, hung out with friends (great meal last night in a little bistro recommended by N's Paris-dwelling brother, who must surely be my new facebook-friend (as in I don't actually know him)), and moderated the virtual worlds panel yesterday afternoon, which was fun, although tough squashing a whole sector into 40 minutes. Marc Samwer from the European Founders Fund, Stefano Crosta from Cisco, Matthias Mikshe from Stardoll and Dominique Ribeiro da Costa from Les Plus Belles Lunettes du Monde talked through everything from consumer/marketing to enterprise virtual worlds, real cash economies, virtual world interoperability and the future of virtual worlds.
10:55 AM
