Plateau

For day one of the conference at EDF Labs I had to navigate the public transport from Bures-Sur-Yvette up onto the plateau Saclay. Thanks to relying on Google maps I ended up far from my destination, but got this fine view of the Metro works at dawn.

The conference was typical: I learned little from over-specialised talks, but met a couple of interesting people. My talk went well and I've publicised our software to a new audience. The bonus was having a dear academic friend attend my talk, as I've not seen him for a few years.

In the evening there was a "cocktail" at École Polytechnique. There, after we'd paid homage to the great and the good by listening to them talk about how important the event was - and by implication themselves - it degenerated into a noisy scrum to get drinks and canapés. Recognising that I'd get neither by being polite, I waded in. Being France, once I got something to eat it was more than decent, but I didn't hang around.