Becky from the Edison Engineering Development Program hosted the first EWNO gathering (European Weekly Night Out) and we
met at her apartment very centrally located in Paris in the first quarter (at least I think so). In the distance
is the Eiffel Tower with some rooftop obstructions in the way.
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A nice window looking out over the roof shows a nearby church (it's not Notre Dame, but I'm not sure what it IS)
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Becky on the far left, then me, in the red shirt is Nate, another IMLP from Aircraft Engines doing a Corporate Initiatives Group
rotation in Buc, and various other good folks from GEMS Buc transplanted from Milwaukee or other locations to Buc
eWNO3 (taken by Becky's camera)
Wow...can you even tell which is the original building and which is the scaffolding cover?
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So, to Saint Chapelle. This is one of the things I didn't visit my first time in Paris after graduation in May 2001, so
it was one of the few sites I HAD to see this time in Paris. Now, of course it is famous for it's beautiful stained glass window, and it
was a hopelessly overcast day...but I was determined...
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Like I said - overcast
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A glimmer of hope
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Ok, so I made Nate wait around for about 45 minutes until the clouds suddenly broke and the previously gloomy little church turned into
a glowing gem of vibrant colors -- quite worth the wait, at least for me!
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LIGHT!
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A panoramic view
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The detailing on the columns in paint was also very colorful and when combined with the exquisite stained glass, it made for a
wonderful atmosphere
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These of course are angels that decorated the doors connecting the church directly to the palace that surrounds the structure. The
king and other royalty would walk into the main area through these very doors! Saint Chapelle was a very exclusive
club a couple hundred years ago.
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The exterior of the church
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Walking out of the courtyard surrounding Saint Chapelle there's a very ornate gate and nice domed building across the way.
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On the island Cite a sculpture and domed building in the background
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Not an insane level of river traffic as we look over to the tower
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Now, on to Normandy! Andreas, an IMLP from Sweden who works for Med Systems, took Nate an I up to Normandy to see the beaches and such.
Here you can see the beaches obviously and the concrete blocks show where a landing boat sunk or stopped during the D-Day operation.
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Little french houses in a little french town
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Monuments at a cliff above the beaches near sunset
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A modern day lookout above one of the beaches
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Nate points to the general map of the beach area
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A tour group gathers at the lookout above the beaches. Now, at this point I would switch to photos of the massive cemetery, but
unfortunately they close quite early and by the time we got there it was already gated shut, so no photos for ya there, but sometimes
life can be a beach...
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Speaking of beaches, we wandered down to the beaches and looked around, enjoying the ocean and sunset in the brisk wind of the
early fall evening
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Lotsa water out there
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Ok, so I saw this photo opportunity when we first got to the beach, but the people moved before I could snap it, so I
had Nate and Andreas go up to recreate the image. Only one problem, they couldn't see me so I couldn't quite
position them symmetrically around the hill since it was fairly dark by that time. Also, the view I had was
pretty different from their view due to the angle and hills, but I think it still turned out pretty well.
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