France Trip, 1978

I had been working at FPS for about six months when I was sent, with a team, to Paris, France to install an AP120B at Dassault Aviation. This was my first trip overseas, I was 27 years old. Unfortunately, being a lowly team member on my first trip overseas I did not write a trip report. Now 40 plus years later I am scanning old slides from the trip and trying to remember some of the stories from the trip.

I probably have forgotten names, spelling, sequence of events, etc.

This installation was a big deal for FPS, as I recall it was the first installation in France (possibly the first overseas). It was in a large IBM only computer facility. I remember that it was somewhat awkward as we were the only non-IBM equipment is this large computer room filled with IBM blue machines. The AP120B was a rack mounted machine with a white front with a green racing stripe down it. It was installed in front of the IBM field engineers office! He was not too happy to help us.

In the image above there is Darrel Kay on the left, Michel Rouillard, another FPS engineer I don’t remember, and the team leader Pat Lenahan (with the beard.) You can see the FPS manual on top of the monitor with the green racing stripe and contrast that with the IBM blue of the machines behind everyone. The door at the top is the on-site IBM Field Engineer’s office. Our equipment is pulled out of the rack and we are troubleshooting a board (on an extender card) using a logic analyzer.

The trip was supposed to last about two days. But we ran into some issues with getting the AP120B to work with the IBM equipment. IBM would not let us attach test equipment to their system bus, so it took us about two weeks to get everything installed and running. It turned out that the IBM documentation we used in designing the interface was incorrect. On the plus side, I got to visit Paris for two weeks. As I recall, I was the only engineer on the team that stayed for the whole time.

The best thing of the trip was meeting Michel Rouillard and his family. Michel was the FPS French field engineer. He was living in an apartment at the time and we got to visit his family there.

Left to right: Darrel Kay, Pat Lenahan, Corrine Rouillard, Michel Rouillard. The drink on the table is Patisse, a licorice flavored liquor that when diluted with water turned milky.

Wine tasting

At some point during the trip, we took a side trip to Nantes, where Michel and Vianyette were from. As I recall Vianyette’s relative owned a winery there. Anyway, we started off at Michel’s parents house where we had aperitifs. Then we headed off to the winery where we spent the afternoon sampling wine. Then off to Vianyette’s relatives for some more drinking. It is all a blur, and I don’t think that that is the result of the time that has past, more likely is the amount of alcohol consumed. I do remember having to share a bed with Darrel Kay and being woke at about two AM by the sound of Vianyette’s father and brother coming in drunk, loudly singing.

The Louvre

This was my first visit to a real museum and it spoiled me forever. It truly was an “Oh my God” experience. The building, the art, everything was spectacular.

Paris

I fell in love with Paris. Mainly with the street scenes and buildings.

I loved driving in Paris. It was insane but with some logic. Everyone obeyed the Right of Way, but paid little attention to lanes. All you had to do was keep you eyes on any car on your right that was even slightly ahead of you. They would suddenly change “lanes” and you would yield to them. Place like the Arc de Triomphe or the Place de la Concorde, where there could be five to eight cars driving side-by-side were crazy.

Tour Eiffel

Medical care

At some point during the two months I became ill. At first it wasn’t too bad. I remember the team leader Pat joking about it, telling me to get better because he didn’t know what to do if I died there. But as I got sicker he said the same thing, but not joking! Eventually he insisted that I go see the on-site doctor at the infirmary.

So I got directions and went off looking for it. I don’t remember much about the place, except for the doctor. He looked like a mad scientist from an old movie. He was wearing green cotton lab coat and had a shock of white hair. Of course neither the doctor or nurse spoke any English and I spoke no French. I was poked and prodded. I assume that they drew blood, but I don’t remember. Eventually he gave me a prescription for something, I don’t know what. My guess is that it was an antibiotic. I returned to the computer room and that evening went out and found a pharmacy. I took the med’s and survived.

Eating

The French know how to eat and drink. When we first got to Dassault Aviation we were working a normal day 8 to 5. We would take lunch in the cafeteria. The food was great, I remember ordering Steak EntrecĂ´te with pomme frites which was wonderful. Of course it didn’t hurt that they also served wine at lunch. This was an idea that I was unable to get FPS to adopt. After lunch we moved to another large room will a long U-shaped bar that people were standing at. There you got your cup of espresso.

Another time, when we were working a swing shift, it was late when we broke for dinner. Restaurants in the area were closed. We went walking through the neighborhood looking for a place to eat and found a small cafe still open but no longer serving food. The owners took pity on us non-french speaking Americans and with sign language asked us if we were hungry. We communicated back that we were. So far so good. But not speaking French made it difficult to say what we wanted. Someone on our team knew the word for eggs, so that is what we asked for. They responded by asking how we wanted them cooked. Over-easy we tried to say via hand gestures. Alas to no avail. Finally they invited us into the kitchen and we showed them how to cook an egg over-easy.

It was also during this trip that I first tried Steak Tartar, and also Escargot. Both of which I enjoyed a lot. But of course everything tastes better with wine.