Normandy

June 12, 2006 –

This past weekend Tim Shaw and I drove out to Normandy to tour the D-Day beaches and memorials. We also through in a bonus trip to Mont St. Michele, which is a beautiful abbey on top of what was once an island of sorts. It is truly amazing!



Saturday, before going to Mont St. Michele we stopped at the Caen Memorial, which sets up the situation that allowed Hitler to rise to power along with Mussolini in Italy, and the general situation in Europe following WWI . The most memorable part of the museum for me were two video’s. The first started with a split screen image of both the allied forces and the German defenses relaxing, rolling dice, training, and dealing with “normal life” at their various posts. Then the scenes begin to be more and more tense as the allied forces start towards the beaches of Normandy and the troops are readying themselves to go ashore. This continues to build as the allied forces start to come to shore, the German forces sound the alarms, and eventually the two screens melt into one that is similar to the scenes we have all seen in movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Longest Day, and Band of Brothers. The movie then becomes a series of still before and after shots of villages that are really powerful. Where there once stood stores, homes, and churches, nothing is left but rock walls and rubble.





That afternoon evening I went for a bike ride through some of the small villages and country roads not more than 15 miles from the coast line that made up the D-Day landing. After having seen the video, the images were still fresh in my mind and as I passed through several small villages, the scars of the war became very real and visible in the walls of homes that had clearly suffered great damage and had been rebuilt using what remained of the original rock walls.

The next day we took a Battle Bus tour which was very thorough. We covered the Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, Point De Hock, and the American Cemetery that overlooks the beach. Our guide was excellent. He was and Englishman who had a deep passion for the men who fought in the war and the individual stories, but just the big pictures. At each stop he shared stories of American soldiers, the events that lead up to the landing, including plans, weather, good fortune, etc. that either made it harder or easier for the soldiers landing on the beaches and dropping from the sky’s. He had an obvious affinity for the paratroopers and since he lived in the area he has actually befriended several veterans that were there on the days that he was describing to us. I found the entire day to be way more emotional than I would ever have imagined. I actually felt a bit chocked up at several points and was blown away by the gravity of the difficulties these men had to face and overcome to free France and eventually Europe from the grip of the Nazi’s. I even was able to take a quick dip into the Ocean at Utah beach, which felt oddly cleansing and refreshing. This is a tour that I would recommend to anyone. It will blow you away! The day ended with a visit to the American Cemetery, which receives 3 million visitors a year, second only to Arlington. Of those 3 million I was surprised to find out that 2 million visitors are from France, 800,000 from everywhere else in the world and 200,000 from the US. It really seemed to show the appreciation that the French have for what this generation of individuals did for their country. I was extremely humbled.

Nouvel appartement

I’ve moved into a new apartment. Technically 2 rooms, but one of them is the exact same size as a queen size bed that is squeezed into it and a curtain separates it from the hallway. However, I have to admit that this is the largest apartment I’ve lived in, and the most space I’ve had to live in since I left Gridley after high school. I’m on the top floor of a building that dates back to the mid 1700’s and supposedly an Artist (whose name is escaping me right now) used this apartment as a studio. Some of his work is now in the Musee D’Orsay and Louvre. The living room has all glass sky lights and all the windows make it impossible to sleep past 6:30 or 7 because of the sunlight that comes streaming into the apartment. As for location, it’s across the street from the Seine and about a block from Notre Dame. Just outside the window where I’m sitting now is a great little ally way of restaurants and bars and is always hopping with night life. I’ve left to work twice now when the bar just outside my front door is still going strong! It’s definitely a tourist hot spot, but the great thing about Paris is that it’s full of people from all over the world, including a lot from other parts of France. I don’t feel at all like I’m surrounded by American’s, not that that’s a bad thing necessarily. As I’m writing this I can here the cheers of the futball mad crowd below who are routing for their teams in the world cup. USA just lost 3-0 and Italy is currently leading Ghana 1-0. World Cup matches from 3 – 10:30 for the next month! I love this place.

Progrès de Français

June 12th -

So, I’ve been taking privately tutored lessons in our office 2 to 3 days a week and I think it is finally paying off. I had my first 3 days of site visits last week and the week before. The first 2 days were to a Continental Tire manufacturing plant and I was acting as a mentor/second set of eyes during the visit which was conducted completely in French, with limited translation, by my colleague. I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to understand a lot of what was being discussed. I think it helps that I know generally what types of questions were supposed to be asked and could assume what some of the answer options might be, but it was encouraging none the less. Then last week I was the lead on a visit with a different colleague who acted as translator, but again most of the discussion was in French. My understanding is improving quickly, but my speaking ability is slow to follow. I’ve come up with the analogy of a baby who knows what we are saying to them a lot sooner than they are able to coherently share their ideas and thoughts with us.

I played in my first real futbal match in several years a couple of week ago! That was great. It was 7-v-7 on a pretty good sized outdoor field. We only had 5 so I got lots of playing time. We didn’t stand a chance, but it was fun to get out there and play some real futbal here in Paris. Unfortunately the seasons all ended two weeks ago. Seasons start up again in September. I’m hoping that my colleagues continue to play after work, which we’ve been doing Wednesday nights for the past few weeks. I’ve been representing the US well. ;)

"La dernière photo de mon chat"

Rouen, Paris

May 20th -

Last weekend Tim and I headed up to Rouen, north and slightly west of Paris, to check out where Joan de Arch was held and eventually burned at the steak. There’s not much to see at the site itself, but plenty of information around, and from the bits and pieces I know and learned there, I’d really like to learn more about her. It’s fascinating that a woman in the mid to late 1400’s, only 16 years old, was able to capture the hearts of a country and was feared by another so much that they put her to death!!

On the drive to Rouen we discovered that there are 2 ways to get places. One is on the auto routes, which often have steep tolls, or take the smaller back roads. We started out on an auto route but quickly changed our minds and exited on to a smaller set of roads that wound along the Seine River, past Chateaus in tiny villages, and through green rolling fields. It was hard to imagine thousands of soldiers marching through these fields, but the scars are still evident in some areas of the smaller villages and stone farm building half missing. It took a lot longer to get to and from Rouen, but I would definitely recommend the roads less traveled.

Faire du vélo par Paris

May 27th -

Today was my first bike ride through Paris! It was great to get my bike put together and take if for a spin. I found some great links and maps on-line (thanks Google) to help me navigate my way around. One claimed over 350 km of bike trails within Paris. The bike trails were easy enough to find. They all had arrows and pictures of bicycles every 10 meters or so. However, there’s also a stop light almost every block and navigating the circulars is near suicide! I found out very quickly that these trails are meant more for general transportation or touring around. I was trying my best to get a good work out in and I wound up in a version of an old Atari game with cars, motorbikes, buses, families, and tourists flying out at me from every direction at the last minute. It was kind of like navigating time’s square at rush hour. Despite the hazards, I was able to cover a lot of the city, riding past the Eiffel Tower, down St. Germain, Past Notre Dame, the Louvre, Montparnasse, the Arch de Triumph, down Champs Elysee, etc. 30 miles in all.

Ahh the French system…. As most of you know, it took my nearly 6 months to get my work visa approved so that I could come work in France. Well, now I’ve been told that I can’t leave France until after June 26th, which was the earliest appointment they could make for me in order to get my card de sojourn, which is my 1 year residency card. This was discovered after I had a work trip planned to Spain and the HR folks caught wind of it and decided to check on my Visa details. Sure enough, the trip was cancelled because my 3 month visa is only good for 1 entry to the country!?!? I’ll be breaking this law when I head to Boston this Friday for Rajko’s wedding. I don’t understand…. Although, I now can sympathize for all of those who have moved to the US and have probably had to deal with similar circumstances.

My time as a host started early. Saturday of my second weekend in Paris, Deepak and Rashani, friends from the Bay Area, arrived from southern France (and previously Italy, India, and Shrilanka). The next morning, Tim Shaw, a good friend and mentor of sorts from Berkeley arrived. Deepak and Rashani stayed for a week and explored Paris, relaxed in preparation for their trip back to the U.S. and decompressed a bit after 5 weeks of traveling through various other countries. I was most impressed by their packing. They each walked in with just a day pack on and 1 suitcase between them. Tim meanwhile spent the week charging hard each day into the city to see everything Paris has to offer and following some of Amy Reynolds guided tours. (For those that don’t know, Amy is a friend of Tim and myself from Berkeley and has spent several months in Paris on 2 separate occasions. So, she’s practically a local. And the walking tours she put together for Tim and I have been great! Including, among other things good restaurant suggestions and the best croissants in Paris – Thanks Amy)

The first week my guests were here I got to head south for 2 days of training in Annecy. Annecy is just south of Geneva, located right on a lake and nestled between the mountains. It seemed like an ideal place for outdoor adventures, and this was quickly verified by some co-workers who are based in the Annecy office. Swimming in the lake during the summer, mountain biking, and skiing in the winter are all common past times. I’ve got to figure out how to talk my way into working from Annecy during the winter. To get to Annecy I took the TGV. After a while it didn’t feel like we were moving very quickly, until we past a TGV heading the other way. They looked to be only a foot or so apart and as soon as I heard the train start to pass, it was already out of site. The trip took us through the long rolling hills south of Paris. The country side just outside of Paris reminded me a lot of Northern California in the Spring, before everything turns golden brown. As we continued south, the landscape became rolling hills with horses running through the fields and cattle grazing. It was a very nice ride.