Last Thursday I arrived in Nice just in time to catch a very nice and expensive taxi (al least they are almost all brand new and very clean Mercedes Benz cars) that took me to the IBM Client Center in nearby La Gaude for my first IBM European Cloud Advisory Board meeting.

It was an interesting meeting, attended by 15 business executives, investors and analysts. Not only they were all very smart, but I was brain dead after the long red-eye flight. Even considering that, I did make my little contribution.

After the meeting and some technical workshops, we all went back to our hotel in Nice. Everybody else was staying at the Holiday Inn, but since I did not confirm until the last minute, I “had to” stay at the lovely Le Grimaldi hotel. A real treat!

After a quick shower, email check, and changing clothes, we all went to have dinner at Restaurant Clarion, on the 12th floor of the Aston Hotel, with great views over avenue Félix Faure. The night before they had dinner at La Terrasse, rooftop restaurant at the Méridien hotel, right on the Promenade des Anglais, as I was flying over the Atlantic.

I had the pleasure of sitting with Alessandro La Volpe, IBM Director of Ecosystem Development Europe. In front of us, of course, a big screen projector with the soccer match. Don’t ask me who was playing, apparently I was the only one who could care less. I was more interested in the full moon over the bell tower outside the terrace, which of course no phone camera is capable of capturing well enough.