Since I've taken on this project, I've traveled to France for a one week preview with my colleague from Allergan. Flew home Thanksgiving eve (had a great time with my uncle's family at Maurice and Rohan's home). Worked on our rental house in Concord that was vacated Thanksgiving (they were there for 10 years of 3 pack a day smoking), put in my last week with Genentech Vacaville, rented the house, then packed for 6 month assignment on Dec. 2nd only to fly to Geneva that night. Needless to say, I slept practically the whole flight!Upon arriving Geneva, I grabbed my three bags and searched for the rental car agency. But first I had to go through duty and customs.......ok I crossed the line and that was that (the customs agent did look at my passport but didn't check anything). So the funny part about Geneva airport is that it's situated in two countries so I had to walk from the Swiss side over to the French side (you guessed it, I crossed another line). My car is a Renault Laguna Diesel 6 speed (pretty peppy car with a speedometer of 230 km/hr).I've now returned for exactly one week. Work is starting fairly slowly but construction is underway so I'm trying my hardest to get caught up and review the design before it gets installed. Had two business trips this past week so I was able to see some of the country already. The first trip was to Le Midi which is in the middle of France. Some people call it the bread basket. I went with Vanessa (the QC lady) from the engineering company and I said it was the middle of nowhere (I asked what the French would call it and she said in French...butt hole!). It wasn't that bad but not worth the trip.Last weekend I went on the Autoroute for a 1000 kM (600 mi) round trip drive from Annecy to Toulon. Driving 130 to 145 km/hr (78 - 86 mph) it took about 4.5 hours each way. Diesel being only 1.30 euros per liter ($7.30/gal) and the tolls (about $50 each way), it gets pretty expensive traveling by car. I picked-up my daughter Monique at Toulon Gare (train station) and we enjoyed the weekend with my Aunt Yvonne (who is 98 years young) and ate a wonderful Sunday dinner at our friend's B&B located in Forcalquieret. The group meets monthly and basically enjoys the food, wine, jokes, and sometimes an educational offering. I practiced my French which is slowly getting better.My return trip to Annecy from Toulon this morning included a stop at a local factory that makes Mipolam vinyl floor. After a couple of hours, I was back on my way but it was nearly noon so it was time to look for some lunch. A few minutes away I noticed a midevil village on the hillside so I decided to take a few minute deviation instead of jumping on a freeway to eat junk. The village was really cool, called La Garde Adhemar about an hour north of Aix. Found my restaurant named L'Absinthe and had a wonderful pork roast, with mashed potatoes and salad with herbs de Provence and .......a glass of the local red wine!!!! The final stretch was great with my ipod and the lingering tastes! The Alps are pretty stormy and the snow line is only about 300 meters about my elevation...spectacular.I'll start attaching pictures later as I've just established my apartment web site. I have CNN and BBC on the tele and now the web. I'll begin catching up on US news shortly. Lonnie and Aimee are flying to France in a few days and the whole family will rendezvous in Lyon this weekend for some fun Christmas shopping. On Sunday, Lonnie and I will return to my Annecy apartment and the girls will return to Antibes to goof off for a few days before we all get together for Christmas again. Well I had better start cleaning up my bachelor pad before my wife shows up!!!!
