It's that time of the year when a few of the Optician team normally climb aboard the Eurostar and head off to Paris for the big French optical exhibition, Silmo.
The Eurostar invariably limps through Kent to the channel then emerges in the sunshine to speed through the French countryside to the Gare du Nord. We stay in a chic and shabby hotel in the latin quarter, eat rustique and dance the night away, or that sort of thing.
The French have a unique way of turning a trade show for retail opticians into a cross between a fashion show and an acid trip. The grand scale of the entertainment and the surreal twists give the show its character. There is always something you don't expect to see and it's usually on stilts, in a plastic bubble or sheathed in white lycra.
![surreal silmo.JPG](http://assets.markallengroup.com/article-images/image-library/147/uploads/mt/opticianonlineweb/blogs/big-optometry-blog/surreal%20silmo.JPG")
A long weekend in Paris can be a nice way to spend a few days, at work, but there always seems to be something to take the edge away. In the past it has been the weather or transport strikes.
The exhibition has been brought forward so the weather shouldn't be a problem. Strikes are a bit more of a problem as one is planned for the first day of the exhibition.
This year the exhibition has moved from the outside of the centre to the outside of the outside. Its new home is near Charles de Gaulle airport which has posed a few problems when booking the hotel and for the party throwers. Where will everyone be? In the centre or near the airport?
Where you stay is likely to be....where you stay.
The upside is that with no public transport to travel on the threat of terrorism might not be so worrying.