En route

About

Several years ago, I would have said that I was a travelling epicurian sharing my taste for good food and ideas for trips. Now, while this is still valid, it is more like a journal for personal use, which allows me to remember where I was, as it seems the busy life and maybe the age is starting blurring my memory. So I have officially dropped my Moleskine and became online.

A lot of people around me tend to remember me not for what I accomplished in the different steps of my career, which is quite worrying to be honest, but they always do remember me for my advices in places to go. I might have chosen the wrong career, and I indeed somewhat betrayed my ancestors who were all, on both maternal and paternal side, despite the two very different regions (Normandy and Switzerland), farmers, winegrowers and winemakers. This is maybe an attempt to appease their wrath.

An anecdote, which, many said, defines me:

While staying at the Park Hyatt in Hamburg in 2000, I insisted for about 4 months, at my weekly dinners in the hotel, to get Evian, since they were offering it in the room mini-bar. They were only offering Vittel in the restaurant, which is not bad, but it is not Evian so I half-jokingly requested Evian on every single visit. After four months, on what happened to be my last week in the hotel, the restaurant manager came to my table and proudly announced they were now carrying Evian as well. Very doubtful about my genuine interest in Evian and persuaded about potential snobism on my part about Vittel vs. Evian, he questioned whether I would make the difference between both. I agreed to a blind testing and to the great surprise of the entire staff (and the bemused worrying other customers…) I clearly and immediately separated blindly the Evian from Vittel. I am not sure whether Hamburg Park Hyatt is still serving Vittel or Evian today, but let me assure you that none of my friends and colleagues dared to challenge my taste for Evian ever since.