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For the two or three of you that actually follow this on a weekly basis, sorry, but I am having writer's block this week. You will be seeing a lot of pictures. With the scenery around here, the pictures are better than words. I will try to be on time with next week's post.
At the job, we are coming down to the wire. The equipment ships in a couple of weeks and still there is a lot of work to do. Most of it is testing procedures and installing software. Back home it was a weekend of bad weather, in France the weather was perfect to spend some time outside. Saturday was spent in downtown Pau and Sunday it was off to coast. |
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On Saturday the downtown was jammed with people. It took almost 45 minutes to find a place to park. There is a hugh farmers market, sorry no pictures, too many people. There are all kinds of things there, like the cattle aution in North Wilkesboro. Non of the venders spoke English and their French accent was so strong we could not figure out what they were saying.
The main feature in downtown is a hugh castle. You can not go in the castle and wonder around, you must take a tour. On the tour they provide you with a paper that describes each room and it is in English. Each room has a paragraph written about it. It is a few sentances and in English. The interesting thing is the tour guide will talk for 15 to 20 minutes about each room, in French. Apparently, the French version includes jokes because there is a lot of laughter. The castle is on a hill overlooking the river and the city. You can see it from miles as you drive into the city. The front of the castle is being repaired, so you get the side view taken from the garden. You can see some of the construction equipment to the left of the photo |
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| There are about 30 people with me in France learning about the processes used by Turbomeca to make the parts for helicopter engines. Starting in June we will make several groups of parts at the facility in Monroe.
The larger group is working at the plant in Tarnos, about a two hour drive from Bordes. We took a drive to see them and the area. They are staying in a hotel near Biarritz which is on the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic coast of France. It is about 11 miles from Spain and is well known for it's beaches and surfers. One of the five twin town for Biarritz is Augusta, Maine. To give you an idea of the area here a few pictures. By the way, if you jump in the bay, you have a 4,000 mile swim to Maine. | |||
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