Wednesday, December 28, 2011

36 Hours in Paris




What if world famous monuments were to vanish? What would Paris be without the Eiffel Tower? New York without the Empire State? London without Big Ben or the Eye. Still so much to see and do. Paris was veiled in a thick, mysterious fog the day 16 of us gathered around the table to celebrate cousin Sebastien's'12th birthday and the season. Jas and Iris are utterly smitten with their cousin, who looks like a manga superhero, or maybe a scholarly version of Lucky Luke. Paul and cousins Lucas (see Zhonguuo wine link top the right), Jonas (newly hired by Officine Panerai, another cause for celebration) and Basile (same age as Paul, studying at Uni) were there too. After lunch the boys hit Quai Branly to see the Samourai show, while the ladies paid a visit Le Shop au Vintage Bon Bons. Steak, cake, fog and candies. And a Mendoza from Sandrine for travel reading! 

Sebastien, Iris & Jas
We also caught up with three generations around a magnum of Bordeaux at Madame Fougeron's elegant apartment just off Place des Vosges. Martine is someone we met through her photography. It was a charm meeting her sons Adrien and Nicolas, and their friends, not to mention a wider family circle, who we've come to know in her chronicles of adolescence as adventure. Ah! The promise of being able to do absolutely anything with one's life!  


At one point, it was quite clear to me that I was destined for diplomacy. It seems diplomacy has been everywhere around me - my father studied law with a view to becoming a diplomat before the war obliged a creative detour. My godfather Stasys Lozoraitis was for many years the government in exile for Lithuania, then latterly Ambassador to the US and the UN, before campainging to be President of Lithuania (something which Mom still insists I'm destined for, naturally). Pierre & Iris of Brussels live in (ever widening or ever-diminishing?) diplomatic circles. And Pierre-Charles, true to his diplomatic training, held court over charcuterie and Malbec in his Parisian penthouse about the amazing things he'd done himself in the French Corps Diplomatique, looking like a Buddha in his robe and slippers, chain smoking Chinese cigarettes to punctuate his stories of living among the clay armies in Tsian, the haughtiness of Buenitos, recieving Godard in Peking, the inevitable Asian mistress (I've lost count how many that makes it now...). "Can you help me find a buyer for 150K tons of magnesium... How about spent fighter-jet fuselages?" 
Basile, Paul & Jonas
Always an interesting proposition from PC. I felt like I was listening to the script for the next Tin Tin adaptation (Spielberg's first wasn't half bad). But what is diplomacy for in a world of nation states in decline? When I was studying Political Economy I thought econometric tools and theory could provide something akin to a universal language of nations and societies and political organizations around the globe. Maybe by now I'm just inured to it's'propaganda, but I think that finance may yet be that universal language. Drop me into any (developed) society and I should just ablut be able to get my bearings. And what is IMF strong-arming and bond market vigilantism if not diplomacy? 

Thanks to Les Demellier-Cuzons for the apartment exchange, a uniquely Parisian blend of the orientalist and the whimsical, overlooking the Boulevard Beaumarchais (you can see it on Flo's Pirouette... under "A Day in Paris". An amazing way to be chez soit même in a city abroad. Any of you thinking of a holiday week or two in Blighty while school's'out, give us a shout! 

Eiffel Tower from below
Check out: more beautiful bikes, especially handmade Heritage frames at Bicycle Store . Ever wonder about the origins of the oysters on your platter (or your wine or mineral water, for that matter?). Check out the interactive iPad menus at Bar a Huitres. Also topical, Hugo by Martin Scorsese... Iris and Jasmine and their friends were grasping at the CG snowflakes falling on Hugo's Paris, demonstrating Scorsese's point that 3D may be as revolutionary as the Lumiere Brothers' arriving train. Lovely film.  

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Vilnius: Old Town, New Town

National Gallery of Lithuania
I travelled to Vilnius to deliver some of my Dad's prints for auction in the New Year with Simona Makseliene's Vilniaus Aukcionas www.menorinka.lt. It was clear and crisp but bitterly cold. Three years of living in London and I've forgotten how to wear a shapka. Vilnius was much changed since I was there in 2006. More and more it resembles a contemporary Scandinavian city, with the towers rising across the river from the Old Town. What tremendous luck, and no small measure of determination, that paved the road to independence for this little gemstone of a country. The city centre was pristine, cleaner than the tidiest corner of Mayfair. And yet, stroll a few hundred metres from the centre and you stumble on dusty wooden buildings straight from the pages of Dostoyevsky. The splendidly renovated National Gallery shares a riverside slope with modest houses from another time.

There will be a few of my Dad's prints on auction in April, and we're looking at putting together an exhibit of his early work next September, ahead of the publication of a monograph in due course. Check out www.viesulas.com for a glimpse of his later work, the stuff we grew up with at home. I think some of the finest work he did, through the 1970s.

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie: Brussels

A delightful weekend chez Les Lempereur enjoying Brussels' discreet charms in the snow. What a curious town for the capital of Europe. What will become of it when the eurozone dissolves? Will Berlin take its place? A fascinating dinner with Annalisa and Ole, trading in diplomacy in Brussels for art in Manhattan and Rome, and the polymath Bernard. I don't think I've ever met someone so professionally dextrous - finance, big pharma, fashion, and now editor of artbooks and director of a fund that invests in art as an asset class. There are so many ways to make a living, or simply to live. And you, our hosts Pierre & Iris? Next time we see you, will it be in Indonesia? India? Warmer than either Brussels or Berlin... But what will become of little Jean and Louise's education? And after all, what's more important, primary education or university? And how do less-than-world-famous foreigners get into Eton after all? Reader replies welcome!

Check out: beautiful bikes at www.fixerati.com, the mysterious and unheard of Alina Szapocznikow www.wiels.org, and the magical Maison Particuliere

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Occupy: the Building Next Door

UBS property across from 2 Finsbury Ave
Ironic that the morning I meet the Chairman and CEO of my new employer, the front page of the FT should carry the headline: "UBS Banker Backed Illegal Vehicle". The aircraft carrier suffers another breakdown. By coincidence, it was the same morning that I first noticed the "Occupy" banners hanging from the windows of the occupied UBS buildings across the street from where I worked until a few weeks ago.

Check out: Slavoj Zizek's speech to Occupy Wall Street

Monday, December 12, 2011

There's a Good Moon on the Rise


It was a clear blue sky, bracing and crisp outside the day after I tendered my resignation. There was also a full moon in the sky. As my new boss Philip put it, echoing the Hong Kong colleagues he's worked with for many years, "The Feng Shui is very good". And indeed it feels that way. 

After 15 years you build quite a network. I've received a lot of wonderful messages and calls from colleagues. People had particularly encouraging things to say about making it through the challenges of the last three difficult years with honour and integrity intact. And I'm very proud of what the team achieved in rebuilding the desk, regaining our standing with investors, and deepening the bench. I had always promised myself that if and when it came time to move on, I would try to exit on a high note. The European markets may be in disarray, but the European Equity Sales desk at UBS in London has never had higher rankings with clients in the City.  

That said, the move feels like jumping ship from an aircraft carrier - indomitable but slow, prone to frequent breakdowns and questionable navigation, where one spends much of the time sweeping the decks - to being captain of a PT boat - more exposed, but much nimbler and with some awesome firepower. And certainly more invigorating to maneuver. Last Friday, I met my new chieftains for a festive lunch at Gaucho, the Argentine restaurant in the shadow of my former employer in Broadgate. It was their choice, unprompted and fitting given that may well end up being our first stop on "gardening leave" tour - Argentina. Conversation revolved around the steak and the Malbec, not to mention the Armagnac, and centered on business as you would expect, but we took in the art of fly fish tying, Parisian children's couture, New Zealand volcanoes and the magical powder on the Japanese Island of Hokkaido at this time of year. Good to find some like-minded people in the industry.

PT Boat 728 moored besides Garrett's "office"
A very "spirited" lunch made for a slow start on Saturday morning (yes, the after-effects lasted that long...), and a scramble to get the Girls to French Club and start tying up loose ends, logistics etc with the prospect of travelling so soon. Where will we stay? The hunt for leads among friends is on. Before the New Year I will try to do some planning ahead for the re-entry into a new role. Link up with former colleagues of course, but also try to get to Vilnius to put some of my father's work on auction, and split for the Swiss Alps with Al (and maybe the Kochevrins? Rory and Sabrina?). First things first though, taking the Girls to school on a sunny Monday morning, then stopping off at the Mount Street Deli around the corner for a fine morning coffee. A daily ritual I could get used to...