Champ de Mars

Paris, for most people is a magical place, it is also an expensive place for most. Amazingly, some of the better experiences can be fairly cheap. A ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower is not cheap, you also have to fight the crowds, wait in line and get pushed around.

Champ de Mars is an excellent place for a picnic, in the late summers afternoon, watching the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower is truely a wonderful experience. A picnic comprising of French loaf, smoked salmon, swiss cheese, olives and dip washed down with none other than a bottle of fine French champagne allows you to experience the best of what Paris has to offer without the exorbitant Paris price tag. The limiting cost factor is the quality of champagne you are either willing to swill or sip.

The Mona Lisa

Getting into the Louvre begins with an epic wait outside; the line usually stretches around past the glass pyramid, through the main courtyard, then through the passage and into the rear courtyard. Once you have successfully navigated the entrance challenge, the line for entrance tickets begins on the lower level.

At the height of summer; multitudes of visitors flock to the busiest museum in the world, 9.3 million people passed through the turnstiles in 2013 with numbers growing every year. The sauna like atmosphere of room 7/8 housing the Mona Lisa in the 13th to 15th century Italian Renaissance wing adds to the uncomfortable experience that is the Mona Lisa.

Da Vinci's masterpiece is seen as a cultural rite of passage; souring attendances requires institutions balancing art preservation with public assessability to limit crowds. Getting anywhere near the painting requires skills in balance, movement and evasion. The frantic pushing, shoving and crushing by people fighting for position is only surpassed by the clicking of smartphone cameras. Besides myself, not one person was actually viewing this painting, it was all about getting the shot and then the selfie.

I always thought the reason to visit art museums was to actually view the art in the flesh. All people were doing was fighting for position, snapping a pic and getting out to probably view in the future or brag to friends. Why wouldn't you view a high quality copy in an art book or download a high resolution picture?

I still can't believe no one was actually viewing this Renaissance masterpiece.

Taking the easy out of easyJet

Taking the easy out of easyJet is a fairly simply equasion unfortunately. I think this is an excellent low cost airline, things can spiral out of control in a low cost airline very quickly, this I found out for myself.

They are very hard to actually contact, navigate around their webpage and there is no option to contact them electronically. So I joinded their Facebook page and posted a request for them to personally contact me, initial contact was via Facebook chat. As they had double charged me, they then requested I send them my credit card details, expiry date, cvc code and other confidential information.

The other issue was they had not emailed my booking confirmation and I was unable to log into my account to obtain the relevant details, this was sorted fairly easy, took a couple of days but it was done.

Naturally, I said no way, such details are sent to websites via https 128 bit encryption, not a chance would I divulge such sensitive personal via Facebook chat. That totally confused them, I told them to send my booking details to my email account and I would forward to their accounts department.

That resulted in a no-reply email informing me the accounts department was backed up and will start to look into it in 7 - 10 working days. That was three weeks before the no-reply email was received, this was going to take a while - that I knew.

Lisbon metro

We arrived at the underground station just after six on a weekday morning, much to my astonishment, the network is still closed, gates were locked and the lights switched off.

As 6.30 rolled around, the lights were switched on, the doors opened and we then strugged to purchase two one way tickets to the airport, some help was rendered by the lone staff member working. When people wandered into the station; every passenger had either a backpack, a bag slung over their shoulder or wheeled their bag in. The morning metro clientele was all destined for the airport, as were we.

We headed down to the platform; I questioned if we had the right train, it was headed in the wrong direction as the European trains select the right track as they drive on the right hand side of the road. I rechecked the direction against the metro map, we were heading in the correct direction - nothing to worry about apparently,  yet I was.

As the train pulled into the station, my fears were allayed, the direction was correct; the Lisbon metro runs on the left hand track - just as the London undergroung does. This begs the question, why does the Lisbon, and I guess, the Portuguese system utilise the left track when vehicles use the right lane?

Was the system designed and built by the British?

Are rail cars and carriages similar to the London underground?

I never used the Porto metro, is this system designed in the same fashion?

A close call maybe?

There doesn't seem to be much room between trams and parked cars in Lisbon, if a tram hits a parked car, the car is at fault - no worries there. But what if a car is parked in the way and the driver is not present, the tram is held up and the whole network shut down?

I am sure the tram drivers don't go around deliberately hitting cars, the tram frequency is high, surely there is plenty of hold-ups from inconsiderate car owners, I saw plenty of double parked cars with trapped in drivers holding their horn down waiting for drivers to return to move their vehicle.

Lisbon tram schedules

The trams must be running different routes crossing over at certain stations, you will frequently see two trams pull into a station directly aligned, sometimes the opposing track will have two trams ensuring a busy station.

You will frequently see trams following each other around on some sections of the same track before they part company and head their seperate ways. I was interested in how many people they had squeezed into the carriages at times, this is a well used system.

Lisbon trams

Absolutely loved the tram network transporting people around Lisbon's old town, weaving around narrow side streets, this is a pretty good way to get around. I preferred getting around by foot as we had a number of days and poking around small alleyways was fun.

Vila Nova de Gaia

Dropping a few kg

This is not my preferred method of shedding a few kg, yet it seems to be having the desired effects. Arriving back at the hotel full of port in Porto, Noriko wanted to head out for dinner, so off we went.

On what appeared to be a fairly uneventful meal, headed home and played on the tablets for a while before drifting off to sleep. Seems a fairly sedate evening so far, you would be correct in thinking, I was reasonably relaxed at this stage.

Sometime after midnight, that is when the stomach aches started kicking in. This I have been used to, for a couple of years leading in to having my gallbladder out, I spent most nights unable to sleep, my life is supposed to be different without a gallbladder diet wise without the stated organ, in most cases, it isn't.

This isn't good.

Ponte Luis I

Drinking port in Porto

Well, I'm in Quevedo and shitfaced; Noriko has wandered off and I am alone, no complaints. I'm old and I need to piss, I blame it on multiple kidney examinations where it has absolutely nothing to to do with getting old and passing your prime.

Previously, I had been in Quinta do Noval, Taylor's and now Quevedo, this is embarrassing, only three wineries and in a poor condition. I will have to eventually head back to the hotel room, no doubt, she is waiting in ambush for me with all types of questions, yet I have no concerns just now.

Yet, I don't care, piano keys are being banged in random inteludes, some actually sounding in time, others, well, bad luck. The woman in the slinky back dress is pretty good, the fat one taking over the signing is so so.

I have a 2000 vintage port in my bag, another seven years and the contents will be exposed to air again. My nephew will hopefully appreciate the effort required to bring a 2000 vintage from Porto to a second generation Australian with a Portuguese bloodline. If I get this home without breaking it, this will be a mighty effort.

First I need to stumble home.

Porto

Porto is a stunning city, maybe not beautiful like a Budapest, Prague or Paris - this is a example of an old colonial power in terminal decline hanging on tenderly to their last vestige of power and influence.

Nevertheless, this is a wonderful old city built on the banks Douro River, my only complaint was that I didn't get the opportunity to explore this amazing city further.

Quinta do Noval

Wandering around Porto, I find myself in Quinta do Noval, a stunning port house located on what I would regard as the main throughfare. The modern look of this facility is somewhat corcerning, I was expecting all old style tasting rooms.

My concerns are allayed, the quality of their product is above excellent, this is not a new business concern, this is an old school Porto business.

I am in the market for a 2000 vintage port, my nephew is of Portuguese descent and strangly enough, born in the year 2000. The first port I try is a 2000 and I am sold, now to have a lok at some more of their offerings.

Starting at €7.90 for a ruby or tawny port, a 1963 Quinta do Noval V. Nacional will set you back a whopping €5770.00 for a 750 ml bottle, a more subdued €2400.00 for a 1994, €2234.50 for a 97 vintage starting back in 1963 through to 2011. These vintage ports fall within the €1000 to €2000 range.

I might just get set in here for a while.

Six hours in Yigo

There isn't much to get excited about in Yigo, we had a layover onroute from Madrid to Porto, a stinging hangover didn't help. Neither did the fact that we needed to lug our backpacks around; there is no luggage storage facilities here, this was pretty much a city devoid of charm in my opinion.

We exhausted our limited opportunities for fun in Yigo and headed back to the train station hours early only to be met by a bunch of familiar faces from the morning train. It looks like they couldn't find much to keep themselves occupied with either.

Madrid to Vigo

It was definately a night out, I looked at my watch and it was 3 am, I had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. I had arrived half an hour early, sitting at the table running through some instructional design notes and consuming two glasses of wine before the next diner arrived, that was professor Rolf, the course instructor.

Getting slightly lost on the way home saw me travel a greater distance and added a further 15 mintues to my commute. Wandering through the streets as the bars and nightlife spilled out onto the road was worth the extra walk.

Home at 4 am, alarm set for 6 am, it wasn't going to be a long sleep, still two hours is two hours. A fast walk down to the train station, we have 30 minutes until our train departs. The train is not listed on the departure list, quickly into information, shit, not leaving from this station - you have to be joking.

Plaza Sol

Just down from our pension is Plaza de Sol, an interesting combinaion of open space and lanes sheltered by shade cloth. The plaza is well patronised during the day and really comes alive in the evening, there is plenty to do and see around here.

Dinner in Madrid with classmates

As fate would would have it, I would be I Spain when a post course dinner and get together is announced for Critical Perspectives on Management; the first foray into the wonderful world of Cousera for IE Business School, the Madrid based private higher education provider.

For an online class with thousands of students spread across the globe, the prospect of only eight people attending seems somewhat anti-climatic, it isn't, it makes the dinner more intimate. This has been tremendous advertising for IE Business School, I was interested to speak to filming director Phil who would also be attending, we will see from his perspective how the class ran and his views on the final product. I am extremely interested to see how this has translated into enquiries and ultimately enrolments into this prestigious business school. 

Not only does the IE Business School regularly rate highly with the international face-to-face fulltime MBA; the blended delivery executive MBA and global MBA requiring substancial online components and attendance in cities of Madrid, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Boston/New York and Providence. The Coursera class is an actual class run in their MBA program, we took the full Critical Perspectives on Management class in its entirely,  just as it would be done as a fulltime face-to-face student attending IE Business School. 

According to Rolf, if students do not understand or grasp a concept in his class, he tells them to go and review the Cousera video. Also interesting was the fact that the highest score was 78%, about 7200 took the final exam with about 5500 people passing. Rolf said that he has incorporated elements of the online class into the fulltime examination making the fulltime examination more difficult.

For my part, I only sought out the class for my close friend and partner; only joining her at the last moment to provide feedback and consultation building on the foundations of her mini-MBA she undertook a couple of years back. I quickly found this online offering to be very interesting, informative and challenging - I was hooked. Unfortunately, she was unable to be in Madrid at this time due to work commitments. 

Thanks to Mecky, I took the time to complete the unit, I was busy with my graded university course finding it difficult to find time to watch the online lectures, undertake the required readings, quizzes and final exam. Throughout, we were busy discussing the course content, principles, helping each other out and generally supporting our endeavors to learn the material. The course run by Rolf was so much more interesting than my change management class, more effort was put into that than actual university class.

IE Business School

Arriving in Madrid by train from Seville, our accommodation was immediately sourced and it was straight off to IE Business School up on Maria de Molina, a bit of a hike on a hot summer afternoon. I was more than happy to burn a few calories and generate some genuine sweat to actually walk the corridors of this leading business school since I had undertaken only online courses through this prestigious educational institution.

Upon arriving, I headed into the administration area to immediately book an interview with a career adviser. I spoke with a full time adviser, moving to Madrid for 18 months isn't an option for me so I was quickly introduced to the part time team.

I found to my dismay, IE Business School wasn't willing to recognise previous studies at the post graduate level. If I want to do their course, then I do their course in full without any credits, this was disappointing as I have been negotiating with a number of university and private business schools for advanced standing credits. Apart from saving time and effort, you save huge sums of money - I want to save time, effort and money.

The mode of delivery for part time international MBA students required 2 weeks full time attendance at the Madrid facility followed by an intensive 15 month course delivered via the Blackboard learning management system utilising Adobe Connect for weekly class conferences. At €55,000 this is going to be a big ask whilst maintaining full time employment, prepare to put your life on hold for that period.

As MBA curriculum is roughly similar, differentiation between institutions is difficult to identify with only reputations and alumni separating various business schools. I have learnt that high performers tend to be attracted to institutions with the best reputations regardless of cost. As I am a price sensitive consumer, in a highly mobile marketplace, I no longer have to solely apply to my local university, the tyranny of distance is no longer a deciding factor. I was also disappointed to learn that IE Business School does not really have a recruitment service organising graduate interviews with potential international employers, for that type of money spent, you want to be pretty certain you have access to top notch employers.

All in all, it was a highly productive afternoon.