Francophile in the West

Kon'nichiwa! /  Annyeonghaseyo! / Greetings! I'm recently back from a nine-day trip to Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, South Korea. What a whirlwind, but what a blast! I was there for a traveling conference (one day in each city) and to also visit clients in their offices in each city. I had one day to explore Tokyo and just one evening to explore Seoul. Needless to say, I only got a glimpse of both cities, but I sure liked what I saw. I learned a lot about my clients and about the markets in both places, and I really appreciated the quick exposure that I had to the culture and beauty of both countries. Here are some photos from the trip:  Hello, Japan! Tokyo, Japan I arrived in Japan on a Saturday evening, after a successful 10-hour flight spent watching spy movies and even enjoying a free dram of Single Malt Scotch - international travel is so classy these days! ;) After catching the express train from the Narita airport into the Shinjuku neighborhood, I...

Earlier this month, four of us from the Korbel Crew spent a Sunday exploring Gruyères, in the mountains North-Northeast of Montreux, about a 90 minute drive from Geneva. We rented a car for the day and were 'oooh'-ing and 'ahhhh'-ing as we made our way there. Gruyères is gorgeous, as is the area surrounding it. I very highly recommend the trip if you're in the region of Lake Geneva! Our first stop was the Cailler chocolate factory, ten minutes outside of Gruyères in a small town called Broc. For only 6 CHF, we went on an amusing, if historically inaccurate, interactive tour of the history of the Cailler chocolate company and of chocolate in Switzerland. The best part came at the end... The room will a buffet table of chocolates and unlimited tastings!! Even though it was only 11:30am, we gorged ourselves on the samples. I only went around the table once, but I definitely could have eaten more than I did, haha. Their dark chocolates were inventive and delicious!...