Pictures From Paris And Amsterdam

This July I went to Paris and Amsterdam for a bit of work and a bit of vacation. In Amsterdam, I presented at a workshop for security engineers and academics, and in Paris my manager and I met up with friendly Chrome people there who do work adjacent to ours.

I didn’t do anything but the workshop/conference in Amsterdam, unfortunately. I’ve loved Amsterdam in the past and should have scheduled more time there. It’s a chill town.

In Paris, I mostly walked around and ate food in neighborhoods I hadn’t visited in previous trips. Here are some pictures!

(You can get full-size versions of each picture by clicking on the picture.)

Outbound airplane food #1
I was very fortunate, and got to fly business class. Entrée: raw salmon with herbs, some kind of pùté, bread, salad, wine.
Outbound airplane food #2
Main plate: chicken, mashed potatoes, cheese.
Outbound airplane foor #3
Dessert: confection squares, mint tea.
Outbound airplne food #4
Breakfast: omelette, bacon, potatoes, coffee, yogurt, fruit.
Address
plate: “I’m Feeling Lucky”
The Google Paris office entrance.
An
overpacked brasserie
I arrived on the Sunday that France won the World Cup. Every brasserie, bistro, bar, and coffee shop was over-full of people eyeing the TV.
Belgian
waffle pop-up store
Down the street from my hotel. I swore I’d get one, but literally forgot!
View of
a bistro
While I was eating dinner a relatively less-animated pizza place, the post-World Cup celebration was heating up. And the weather was incredibly hot. Not pictured: people laying on the hood of a taxi while it drove backwards down this 1-way street; person dancing on top of a dumpster.
Hotel
breakfast
The hotel breakfast was the same every day, and very bad. The texture of the scrambled eggs was unholy, and the beans were always cold. Good bread though.
PĂątisserie
Down the street from my hotel, this fantastic pĂątisserie. I got at least 1 thing here every day, until they closed for vacation.
The
Google campus courtyard
Many doors on Paris streets open into courtyards and building complexes like this. The Google office ‘campus’.
An
ourdoor pathway
The entrance to my hotel.
Philosophy and psychoanalysis books in a bookstore
window
Interesting-looking bookstore, but closed for vacation.
Evening
traffic in a traffic circle
A nice vibe in the evening.
A sign
on a door saying « DĂ©fense d’uriner »
At Gare du Nord, this sign (“No urinating”) has been ignored.
Inside
Gare du Nord
Inside Gare du Nord, waiting for my train to Amsterdam.
Outside
Amsterdam Centraal station
Arrived at Amsterdam Centraal station, going in circles trying to find the tram to my hotel. It was marginally less burningly hot in Amsterdam.
View of
a highway and a river
View from my hotel room in Amsterdam.
Bimhuis
and Muziekgebouw
View from outside my hotel.
Picture
of a traffic light Walk button
Instructions on how to push the Walk button in Amsterdam.
Classic-style « Métropolitain » sign at a Métro station
entrance
Back in Paris, riding on the Métroooooo.
More
Paris traffic
More Paris traffic.
2
lutherie shops at street level, below apartments
Every building in this neighborhood had at least 1 lutherie shop, piano store, or sheet music store.
Restaurant: O’CrĂȘpe
...they’re closed.
A
community library cubby
Nice to see they have community libraries in Paris, too!
Le
Moulin Rouge theater
Le Moulin Rouge.
A
breakfast of hot chocolate, orange juice, and a croissant
A proper breakfast snack.
A
graffiti sticker: « C’est le bon endroit et c’est le bon moment
»
“This is the right place, and the right time.” But they don’t say for what. đŸ€”
Brasserie lunch
Fantastic ham sandwich on perfect toast, with perfect fries.
Sign
alerting pĂątisserie customers that they are closing for
vacation
When the pĂątisserie closed for vacation, it was a sad day.
A logo
on the wall of a building: sp ligature
I just like this shape.
Street
sign: P, with a bicycle. Graffiti makes it say « Paix »
Peace through bicycles.
Coffee
shop named Braun Notes
A coffee shop. đŸ€š
Café
Jules: « Le hot dog à la français ! »
I did not try French hot dogs.
View of
the Seine
The river Seine.
Dense
buildings
On the bank of the Seine.
Placard: « 1643 : Demeure de Philippe de Champaigne, Peintre et valet de
chambre de la Reine MÚre »
Placard on the front of one of the entrances.
Cappuccino and croissant
Fantastic coffee on the other side of the Seine.
Croque
monsieur
More pastry pictures.
Street
art of a protester wearing a helmet and other gear
Street art near the jazz venue that I literally could not find, presumably nestled in among roughly 9,246 tiny restaurants.
Hamburger and fries
Extremely well-crafted yet completely incorrect hamburger. Strangely tall and steak-like.
Storefront: « Les Productions du GOLEM »
I was not able to see the golem, or its productions. Alas.
Storefront: « Plus de Bruit »
“More Noise”, buying and selling records, CDs, and comic books.
Salted
caramel ice cream
Ice cream in Montmartre. A suggestion from one of our colleagues. This place also had great beer, which we chugged as appropriate in that heat.
Sunset
Sunset in Montmartre.
Restaurant « Blabla »
Blabla!
Restaurant: Banh Mi & You
I mean...
Electric motor scooter, chrome
This electric scooter was right outside a shop selling more in different colors.
Pasta
lunch with prosciutto
The sauce on this pasta (underneath the prosciutto) was perfect.
A large
caffĂš latte
This is what I got when I ordered a cappuccino. It was good though.
Chicken
in a pocket bread
Chicken, excellent fries, and soda.
Statue
of Athena
Athena doing a victory dance.
The
Eiffel Tower, from afar
The Eiffel Tower, on an unreasonably hot and humid day.
Inside
the MusĂ©e d’Orsay
Inside the MusĂ©e d’Orsay, a museum built inside a former train station.
An
impressionist painting by Paul Signac, « Femmes au puits
»
These paintings were lit to glow, but I think they would have even without the light treatment.
«
Pierrot Pornographe »
A program from the Black Cat Theater.
Cover
of a program
Another program cover.
A long
shot of the interior of the MusĂ©e d’Orsay
Sculptures in the MusĂ©e d’Orsay.
Restaurant: « L’EpĂ©e de blĂ© »
Good bread is a big deal.
Sign on
a building: « Spectre »
Technically, the reason I was there.
Flower
buds from trees on the ground after rain
It finally rained, and the heat broke. The ground was covered in these buds.
Cheese
and charcuterie plates
Cheese and charcuterie, with a colleague who sits next to me in SF but who was (unknown to me) in Paris, and a friendly Parisian whom I know from security industry stuff. At a hipster beer place suggested by another security friend on Twitter. Everything was v tasty.
Street
sign: « Place Henri Bergson »
Henri Bergson.
Elegant
graffiti of a smoker, in an alcove where smokers hang
out
Fumeur.
Intersection
Walking to l’Arc de triomphe.
Croque
monsieur and fries
A slightly strange but tasty croque monsieur.
l’Arc
de triomphe
Long shot of the Arch.
Salad
with cheese and prosciutto
For some reason, I ate a lot of prosciutto on this trip. This was dinner on my last evening before coming home.