Big Sky Country

Devon and I arrived yesterday to Montana for a conference I presented at. Here are some pics he took today while snowboarding(click to enlarge):





I know- its a rough life when you have to go to a ski resort for work ;).

Tar Tar Toulouse

So today is the last day of meetings- I haven't been sleeping well the past 2 nights, so I am very tired and glad this trip is coming to a close, its been good and fun, but l o n g.

The gastronomical adventure continued today with salmon tar tar and veal. The tar tar topped the meal, surprisingly, not that that says much... The veal was disgusting. As with all the other food adventures, this was not by choice... It was the set menu from the customer we were visiting. The previous foods tried were a combination of the same and pure peer pressure from my French colleague. :)

Killing time...

I'm sitting at a coffee shop this morning as we are quite early for a meeting... thought I would post a few things that haven't made it into previous posts:

• This trip has been a gastronomical adventure for me... lots of wine (including Moroccan), duck, couscous (I liked- reminds me of a variation on stew), salmon (pretty good, but salty), a strange pork sausage (glorified hot dog if you ask me) with a SPICY French mustard, a traditional French dish consisting of Navy beans, goose, and duck cooked in the duck drippings (ehh, not bad), and I can't remember what else (wearing a bit thin mentally as we near the end of the trip, I guess)... so of course yesterday I had to sneak in a piece of pizza from an airport Pizza Hut to balance this out :) -- the only thing I've refused is fish soup
  
• My suitcase is holding up well, despite LOTS of miles. I bought it a while ago at Dillards for just $75. Christophe's suitcase on the other hand has 1.5 wheels... its like a cowbell, I can hear him coming from a mile away.
  
• I finally made it through airport security yesterday (in Norway) without a pat down... not that I changed anything... proving airport security is a joke
  
• I've concluded that I don't "look" American because everyone talks to me in French first, and it takes them a while to understand the blank stare I'm giving them
• And finally, the biggest takeaway from this trip is to NEVER rent from Europcar if one has a choice... worst customer service ever.
  

Norway -- way cool (cold, too!)

Loved Oslo- hope we can have further discussions so I can go back and explore more. The weather was 30ish, snowing pretty good today. Here are some pics: