One thing about being in fancy hotels in important cities is the chance of seeing important people. Or at least their posse. Today was one of those days, but in the oddest way.
Earlier, Carrie and I decided to walk around Paris and on our way out of the InterContinental, there was a red carpet rolled from the entrance to the hotel to the elevator. Well, a red carpet with saran wrap on it. On the street we saw security and french police.
Hours later, in the evening the security and french police were still on the streets surrounding the hotel. Pretty obvious that the dude arriving tonight must be pretty important if the police survey the hotel the day before his arrival.
Anyways, at like 8 pm we decided to take another brief (because of the rain) walk. Ya know, these cities take on a different romantic feel at night. But on our way out, we exited the room and started taking the stairs when I noticed an odd number of Korean men and women in suits lining the hallway.
Actually, first I noticed the french guys in black suits who had been standing by the elevators since we arrived. Now with the added posse, I knew this dude was about to arrive.
We paused and an elevator opened. Out of it came a ton more Korean men in suits. They all hurried down the hall. Then another elevator opened and the same thing happened.
But the thing that made it feel super surreal is that while we’re standing there on the stairway, about a dozen more men in suits and with little subtle ear-pieces with wires tucking into their suits sprinted up the stairs to beat the third elevator. The third elevator had a man in a trench coat who shook a lot of hands.
Then… that’s it. It was all over. I’ve never seen so many Korean people running around (except at Incheon airport). But in 45 seconds, all but a few security guards were gone.
But downstairs, every entrance, every street corner, even every shop window in the vicinity had a security guard or police man. In the lobby and around the entrance were more of the Korean posse.
I asked a police officer “is the Korean President staying here”. And he replied in the clearest english I ever heard, “Sorry, I don’t know english, do you know any french?” Typical frenchman.
When I got back to the room a quick google search of “South Korean President in Paris” showed the first result: a report that the Korean President was arriving in Paris on Saturday, November 2nd for some financial talks or something.
So, I’m 99.99% sure, a few doors down from me is the South Korean President.
First of all, I’ve never ever seen a posse like this. Lord knows how many Korean posse members there were. And then all the french security. It was a sight.
Second, It’s the biggest irony of ironies. Our poor broke selves (plus my mom) are in the suite a few doors down from the President of South Korea.
Today (rather when I wrote this – November 2nd) is my birthday. My wife emailed the hotel ahead of time to let them know and they had a great welcome gift for me. One time the IC Hong Kong gave us champagne and fruits to dip in chocolates for our anniversary, but it was nothing compared to this.
It’s a bit funny though, as the champagne is in the lounge and we have free minibar. But the snacks were too good. It was quite something. But so is the hotel.
The IC Le Grand is definitely old-world styled, which my mom loves. And as far as the IC standard goes, the treatment of Royal Ambassadors is fabulous. They gave all three of us lounge access and made it seem very standard. And we were also given a Jr. Suite. It may be one of the bigger bathrooms I’ve ever had. We’ve had plenty of suites with two bathrooms, but this was very spacious for a “Jr. suite”.
Why do you say “Typical Frenchman”? Because he came up with a clever retort to your Anglo-centric question? Dude, I wish I could be the glib on the spot!
the glib–>that glib
(see, I’m not….)
lol. French just have a different style, I get that. Like “the customer’s always wrong.” :-p
so where did all the korean secret service agents stay? were they in the same hotel too? wouldn’t they need to clear out the adjacent rooms for the korean secrety service agents and move you to another floor then?
Yea, they were all over the floor. They were all around the hotel. I did notice many doors earlier the first day (before they arrived) with Korean writing… all over.
Well, the hotel is freaking huge. There are only 5 floors though. So clearing out the entire floor would be quite expensive. And so I know he’s on the same hall and not which room. But I assume the suite on the end. I just see his posy walk by every 10 minutes. Today a crew came in and one guy with a giant camera. It was always something.
Some additional insight:
Park Geun Hye is the first female president of South Korea… in addition, her father (former president) and mother were both killed in assassination attempts, although her mom died when would-be assailants targeted her father. This was back in the 1970’s.
PGH herself survived an assassination attempt from a knife-wielding psycho some years back. I don’t agree with her policies all that much, but she’s one tough cookie and there’s probably a reason why security was so damn tight.
*blinks* wow. Interesting. That’s funny because I in now way exaggerated how intense it was. I have tons more photos of security. And it’s nearly 24/7 on the street too! Then, there is a white wire taped to the wall going down the hallway.
The entire thing is surreal. Every freaking time I open my door there are men in black with wires in their ears walking by.
But crazy history. Both assassinated! My mom said that she things they would have background checked us to be on the same floor. I’m not sure about that, how could they do that for every one? But either way, it was tight, and that explains why.
And either way, a president is a president.
I encountered a similar situation in 2004 at the Conrad in Istanbul. As the taxi drove me to the hotel, I was amazed at the large police presence, which seemed very unusual since I had hardly noticed a cop on previous visits. Like you, there were also guys in nondescript dark suits with earphones hanging out in the hallways. Turns out, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright was hosting some “Islam and Democracy” conference. So certainly there were other important VIPs staying there. The irony was that the Conrad had a great rate that week – it was like $140-$150/night, well below the usual rate.
Do you think Madeline was there because of the $140 rate? Perhaps it was an MR? :-p
Yea, I certainly don’t get invited to those events. I hear about people spotting celebs a lot, but the truth is, I could see one and not know it. But you certainly feel the presence in situations like that.
Well… and Happy Birthday!
Thanks Andy 🙂
do you have to buy the “ambassador” status ?
You can buy Ambassador status with points, you can get Royal Ambassador referrals for trade, even for sale on ebay.
You do realize the President of South Korea is a woman, right? Not a “dude” or the man in a trench coat you saw.
Yea, Dr. Google told me as much. But, that’s what happened. I’ve tried to figure out who the trench coat person is but I have no idea. I’m pretty sure she was in that group, but I hadn’t seen a picture at that point.