jeudi, mai 18, 2006
Sel, glorieux sel
After a quick 12 hour stop in Paris it was off for stage two of my jaunt around the french countryside. This time to the lovely Ile de Noirmoutier off the Breton coast. Pretty, charming, little white washed houses with blue shutters and pots of flowers outside... and famous for its crops of snow white crystals of top-grade Atlantic SALT! Big fields of salt marshes where they evaporate thousands of litres of sea water to yield the good stuff.
And last week this little island was home to 149 french chemists and one étranger who was the only one to give her lecture in english! Work-wise, the conference was fairly interesting, and after-work-wise, it was even better! The only people I knew beforehand are not really the party party type, so I thought it might be a bit of a boring week, but not so at all. Firstly I was mistaken about some of the people in my lab that I knew and then I met loads of really nice and fun people there, and we definitely met our quota of late nights in the bar, midnight trips to the beach, and missed morning sessions of lectures.
I also had the opportunity to try all sorts of wierd and wonderful fruits of the ocean, including sea snails and the insides of the sorts of shells you find on the beach but never see eaten in Australia. Some cooked, some raw, most rather slimy and slightly icky looking, but yum!
And last week this little island was home to 149 french chemists and one étranger who was the only one to give her lecture in english! Work-wise, the conference was fairly interesting, and after-work-wise, it was even better! The only people I knew beforehand are not really the party party type, so I thought it might be a bit of a boring week, but not so at all. Firstly I was mistaken about some of the people in my lab that I knew and then I met loads of really nice and fun people there, and we definitely met our quota of late nights in the bar, midnight trips to the beach, and missed morning sessions of lectures.
I also had the opportunity to try all sorts of wierd and wonderful fruits of the ocean, including sea snails and the insides of the sorts of shells you find on the beach but never see eaten in Australia. Some cooked, some raw, most rather slimy and slightly icky looking, but yum!
# posted by Jenny @ 16:01 
