47 - Week 7 3ieme: Fête accompli - Genève

Wednesday, April 9

A whirlwind day again but, boy, was it a good one.  Starting out at one site, I got a nice tour of a very complicated reaction chain followed by a tour of the process safety labs.  Then I had to rush off to the next site, where I managed to catch lunch with the colleague who'd been one of the first to welcome me to the area.  

I feel like he's become a very good mentor to me and I appreciate him and his wife having received me so warmly.  Maybe he's living vicariously through me but he was super helpful in organizing a few extra visits today; I was a little uncomfortable with him introducing me to everyone as "the guy who's going to take over engineering" but I appreciate the vote of confidence 😆 

I didn't have time between conversations to make notes so I'll have to carry the info in my head until I can write it all down.  Eventually, it came to an end and I left the office during rush hour; there's a big difference in rush hour trains when mounting at a middle stop rather than the end of the line.  The plan for the evening was to meet up and celebrate a friend's birthday!  

A quick stop by the lake before the party to appreciate the calmness.

I snapped this as a reminder of the gentle lapping sound the lake was making on these rocks: despite being 99% placid, the lake continued to make a tiny bit of percussive rhythm.
 

We fêted the anniversaire in a bar that the rest of the party seems to have developed a rapport with the owner/serveuse.  A little bit of wine, some small plates (the trout with saffron dumplings were good), and finishing out with cake from a chocolaterie/pâtisserie nearby!  It was a good time: I received a few recommendations on movies and french comedians (I've really gotta figure out how to watch les Bronzés), learned more about Basque populations in the US, and got some advice on things to do around the itinerary I've been planning for my week in Switzerland.  

Joyeux  Anniversaire (cha cha cha)!

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