A while back, we had a class meeting to discuss some of the points around our Pro Baking and Pastry Art’s Field School trip to Paris. Attending this meeting were both Ralph Nilson, President of the University, and Fred MacDonald, Dean of Trades & Applied Technology, both mentioning how great an opportunity this will be and how proud they are that we’ll be VIU representatives while over there.

Dean MacDonald, Andrea (modelling our new red hoodie) Mr Barnett and President Nilson

The whole group (almost) also sporting the hoodies kindly funded by our bakery suppliers Sysco and Snowcap. In the blue hoodies are the team leaders, Angelique at far left, Chef Harper and Chef Gower (center right) and Mr Barnett. We’ll be sure to stand out when we hit Paris and Europain!

We are nearly all meeting at the Duke Point Ferry on Thursday at 12:00 noon to get over to Vancouver Airport, then it’s off to Paris at 8:30 p.m.. We will be landing at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle  Airport at about 5:30 PM Friday, a total flying time of just 10 hours, 25 minutes. True, it doesn’t quite compute correctly until you account for the short layover at London’s Heathrow for an hour plus the clocks going forward 8 hours. We’ll be meeting up with a few people who chose to fly solo for various reasons and head off to our rooms at the St Christopher’s Paris Hostel in the 19th arrondissement. I’ll try to post a mini-review of this accommodation a little later on in the trip. But from what I have read, it’s a pretty decent place, rather new, clean and modern.

Then on Saturday, the fun starts with an orientation meeting in the morning and then we head into the amazing Europain exhibition and mingle with some of the world’s top bakers and pastry artists.

But I’m jumping ahead of myself a bit here; I’m writing this two days before we actually take off, so I’ll end here for now and fill in the details of the trip from VIU (or at least the ferry) onwards once we actually do it.

Keep an eye out for the next post!

Your humble blogger,
Paul

Hi, I’m Paul and this is the first post for the Paris 2012 blog for VIU.

I should like to direct you for now to the About Page directly to the left <— where I outline a bit about myself plus a lot more about the reason and goal behind the blog. I’ll repeat here that this is a journal of our Baking Course’s class trip to Paris for the world famous 2012 Europain Exhibition, an event that happens every three years and draws to very top bakers and pastry makers from all around the world. We’re also scheduled to hop over to Brussels, Belgium to visit the Barry-Callebaut chocolate factory and the Puratos (bakery supplies) head office.

Photo: Martin Barnett

We will spend the better part of two weeks practically swimming in bread & pastry-related activities. I hope you find what I’ll post of interest, even if you aren’t necessarily a bread head yourself. I’ll try to include a bit of our off time as we visit the sights of Paris and attempt to transport you, as best as a few blog entries can, to this jewel of a city.

So for now, please hop over to that About page and we’ll see you when I post the first REAL entry from the other side of the puddle. Until then, a bientôt!

Your humble blogger,
Paul