Thursday, September 25, 2008

Morning in Normandy

Hi Debbie, Jillian, Nicholas,

Here's a short video showing the view from my room this morning. The white roof you see is the tent of the outdoor restaurant area in front of the hotel. It's a typical fall day in Normandy, a little gray and rainy. I guess the weather here (since it's fairly close to the ocean) is often like this in the fall.

I can hear the sound of church bells from the old cathedral now, coming through the open window. A nice sound.

Time to head to work.

See you, Love,
Mark

PS I posted the video after supper. We had another good day at work today, and finished up our visit here. We leave tomorrow for the Schneider office in Bourgebus, France, for a 1 day visit with another project team there. After work tomorrow, we head to Paris to the hotel "Le Meridien".

Here are the directions from Pacy to Bourgebus:
http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Bourgu%C3%A9bus,+France&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=pacy,+france&f=d&sll=49.121298,-0.295601&sspn=0.14133,0.411644&ie=UTF8&z=9
Zoom out and you can see where we are in France, and in relation to England. It's not far from the English Channel (or as they call it in France "La Manche", which means "the sleeve").

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

My 3rd day in Pacy


Hi Debbie, Jillian, Nicholas -

I had some time before dinner tonight, so I went for a walk, and crossed over the bridge near the hotel. This was the first time I walked across the bridge toward that part of Pacy. Here's a picture that shows the best view of the hotel.

Here's a picture of the Schneider office in Pacy. This office is a joint venture of Schneider and Toshiba (from Japan), and that's why it has both names.

There are a lot of interesting old houses. Here is one I saw on my walk today. What's especially neat is that the turret on the right ends rather abruptly. There is a driveway next door, and the turret ends like it was cut in half!


We had a regular dinner today - pizza! I had a salad Nicoise to start with, which is good since I've been eating too much rich food on the trip so far!

Hope you're all well,
Love,
Mark

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

My business trip to Pacy, France

Hi Debbie, Jillian and Nicholas,
Here are the picture from the trip so far in Pacy, France. A different picture of the front lawn of the hotel, and also of the Eure river. You can see Ron Naismith, Bruce Dunbar and Bill LeRette (from left to right).
The hotel L'Etape is at a beautiful spot. It was built in 1769 as someone's home. There are also pictures from the afternoon on the first day we arrived. We took a walk to a park that's just a block from main street, with views of the river and the gardens. Nice, huh?

We stopped to get a sandwich and a pastry at a boulangerie (bakery). I got a small ham and butter sub sandwich, an apricot tart (very tasty) and a blackberry soda. I thought the tart looked a little like a pineapple, but it was apricots. The shops in France all do a great job with their displays. Here's a picture of the bakery window and display case inside. Both look good, don't they?