As a sponsored trip, I had a chance to visit Paris to participate in the Fifth Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands: Ensuring Survival, Preserving Life, Improving Governance. This was held at UNESCO’s offices from 3-7 May 2010.  As France’s capital city, I experienced first-hand that Paris is indeed the city that never sleeps.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower (most-visited iconic structure in the world) even from a distance was fascinating enough.  But actually getting inside amidst the bee lines of people wanting to get inside was the real challenge. We’ve learned a trick of going up without necessarily lining up. It was only there when we realize that you have to pay additional money to get to the topmost tower! Will write a blog later about Eiffel Tower plus my promenade in Paris that included a trip to Louvre Museum and Notre Dame.

There was another international event after the above conference in another city that I thought of attending but I neither had the resources not connection to do so. Lady luck smiled, however, as I had an incredible good fortune while roaming around the poster area to ‘bump off’ with a professional mentor, Atty. Raphael ‘Popo’ P. M. Lotilla. (He was the Philippines’ former Secretary/Minister of the Department of Energy.) Atty. Lotilla knew the organizers and personally talked to them that I would be given an all-expense paid trip to this event as it would be useful networking opportunity for my academic institution. Hence, I had an extended stay in France – without spending any single Euro! More on this in my next blog.