The Final Day!!!! 14 April at Dijon

Today was the Final Day of the Program.
In the Morning we had the vocational visits, so each of the team member went to differently places.
I visited an Green Building,the first of its kind in France. It runs on almost 50% of Energy that is used by an traditional building.The name is Elithis Tower. It uses the sun for the lighting and heating. They just use the sunlight for the daylighting. The use of stairs is promoted (9 floor Building !!!!) by painting each floor in different colours.
In the post lunch session, the team visited the Mustard factory. Dijon Mustard are very famous for the taste.
Finally the Team cooked Indian food for the hosts.

Finally the last photo of the Team together in France. All the members have extended the stay for personal visit.

April 13, From Le Creusot to Dijon

Today we reached the final destination of the Program, to Dijon.
We had a walk in the town and saw the various monuments. The Cathedral, Duke's Palace and the streets.
Finally we had the Rotary Meeting in the evening, and had the Team Presentation.

April 12, Le Creusot

Visited the Cheteau , Museum (origin of town & crystal items made here in 19th Century)and a small theater (which was a crystal making factory)
Post Lunch, we visited Autun.

April 11, Le Creusot

Vocational Visit Day.
The Team Presentation in the Evening general Meeting. The Hosts were in the Indian traditional dress.

April 10, Paray Le Monial to Le Creusot

April 09, Paray Le Monial

For the first time it was a late morning start for the team as the day to the town visit began at 10.30am.The day began with the visit at the sacred heart Basilica built in the 11th century followed by the visit at the Hotel de Ville(Mayor's office) which was built in 16th century -a magnificent architectural construction and there was a bit of shopping as we passed by the market area.
It was a splendid experience of having lunch on the boat while sailing in the Canal for three hours. The boat crossed the river and there was a change in the water level with the help of water locks.
Also visited a bowling club and a farm which was more of an Old Mac Donald's farm that children learn in their school days. It had everything from pigs, sheep, goats, hens, birds, horses, dogs and cows...and the farmer is just 38 years old...operating in 25 hectares of land with a huge family!!!!

April 09, Paray Le Monial

April 08, Paray le Monial

Visited a wonderful place called SUIN on the mountain tops which gives 360 degree view of the entire town and statue of Mother Mary at the top which is a belief that she protects the entire town.
Also visited Chateau De Cormation, a private historic monument built between 1606 and 1625. A visit at Cluny Abbey a thousand year old foundation was a wonderful experience and also got to learn something about the horses at the National de Cluny- the then Royal studs for horses.
Evening was our club presentation and the host lady members looks gorgeous in Sari.

April 07, Beaune to Paray Le Monial

To the next Club, President Alain & Rtn Derek Forshaw (Beaune)came with us to Paray le Monial.
In the Afternoon, the team was taken to a Pottery Factory. We could designer pottery items in the showroom, later we were shown the whole process of making them.
All the host families had dinner together.

April 06, Beaune

Climbed through the hilly areas of Beaune ..by Car...to get the spectacular view of the town and the vineyards! Camera's could not stop clicking at the Panoramic point which gave a splendid view of the town from above the sky.
But wonderful surprise was still awaiting. Rotarians Jean Jacques who accompanied us during the day's visit surprised us by rolling down a barrel from his `White Van' that he had parked at the hill and wine glasses, wine, juice and starters.
Had wonderful Lunch at an Indian restaurants in Beaune which ended with Indian tea- a treat from the Wonderful Rajasthani hotel owner.
Afternoon was a visit at the Chatateau du Closde Vougeot-where wine making started in Beaune.
The club presentation in the presence of the District Governor Patrick Lahrouhe in the evening was a wonderful experience for both the team as well as the members. Host ladies were dressed in Sari. The team is thankful to the President of the Club Alain Mathieu for his kind words and praises for the team.

April 05, Beaune

A professional day for the team. Ruchir and Bhairav visited irrigation site, town council(lighting Project) and Demoisy (fabrication unit of wine producing machines of Rotarian Harvey Lions) . Ronak had a school visit, Darshan had a hospital visit and Masooma did field reporting at the wine yards and visited one of the oldest regional newspaper of France Le Bien Public which dates back to 1851.

It was an honour for the team to have lunch with the District Governor Patrick de Labrouhe and the EGE district incharge Rtn Jean Queron. Interaction of ideas and feedback was the healthy menu at the lunch table.

After lunch we were back in the professional visits.

Special Indian Food was cooked by the lovely charming couple Sandra and Derek Forshaw for the Indian team which Included the yummy dal, papad, naan and vegetable curry along with rice and not to mention a long list of yummmmmmmyyyyyyyy deserts... The host families including the DG and the First lady Marie-France and Jean-Aalain of Vintousky were the guest at the dinner party.

Apr 4, Chalon to Beaune

To the next Club and to meet new people and new experience.
Reached Beaune by Noon. Post lunch we visited the Town. First and the main attraction of the town, a hospital build in 15th century. This hospital had best services and was for poor people. During the walk in the streets, we met with a 102 years old man!!

April 3, Chalon

The Team visited the town, the streets, the market place, Cathedral, and other places.
Post lunch we drived down 90 kms to Arc de Salines. There was a salt manufacturing plant in the 18th Century, which was later closed down. The importance of the place is not only the salt making plant, but the architecture of the building. The visionary Architect Claude Nicolas Museum is very interesting, as he had made such wonderful designs that even today we see in modern mansions.
The Jung Family were my hosts and we had a good time at the bungalow.

April 02, Chalon

Chalon is the birthplace of Photography. It was at this place the first ever photograph was taken. We visited the museum and u can see the different types of the cameras. You can also see the b & w and colour photos, panaromice photos and the 3 Dimensional Photos. There was a very large Kodak factory (2500 employees), but its closed since last 3 years, due to labour problems.
Then in the afternoon, The GSE team took the first every Golf Lessons. Very good experience for all the members.

April 01, Macon to Chalon

In the morning, I visited the camping site of Dominque. Very pleasant place and we can see Mt Blanc.
Then we started for Chalon, The President & other hosts welcomed us at the restaurant.
One of the most important visit of the program. The GSE Team visited one of the world's largest glass bottle manufacturing plant. Saint Gobain (Verselia), a very large plant making 3 Million bottles per day with Total 314 employees. the actual employees involved in manufacturing are only ONLY 31 persons per shift. A wonderful experience, the automation of the plant was just awesome. One can imagine an automation action and it was present in the plant. Everything was automated, from raw materials (1200 tons per day), boiling of glass, quality test(so many type of tests), arranging the bottles on pallates, automatic forklifts, arrangement of bottles in godown, etc etc.
The evening meeting was good and about 23 members attended.

Mar 31, Macon

In the morning, we visited the Port at Macon. And lateron we went to the Cheese Manufacturing Unit. Here we saw the largest Goat Breeding center in Europe (3000 Goats). The process of Cheese making was shown with the tasting of different types of cheese. Not to add, Wine was once again offered, but there were no takers!!!!
In the afternoon, we visited the association to help the unemployed people. It was unit to make pallets and other such items.
Everyone was tired today and captured in the pictures.
Pictures of my hosts and their beautiful home are attached. Also today Dominique, my host, gave a party to friends on occasion of his wife, Carinne's birthday. Both a very warm hosts and took real care and were very friendly.

Mar 30, Macon

Today was a Vocational Day, so all the team members visited related to their vocational. I and Bhairav visited two companies first Metsu Minerals and second was Jousseau Group owned by my host Dominique. Metsu is a Multinational company with varied business lines like Mining & construction Equipments, Pulp & Papaer and Oil & gas sectors. It has very good presence in India and are developing the largest plant in India in their field.
Jousseau Group is big sub contractor for specialised fabrication work of Caterpillar, Astom, Wartsila, etc.
In the evening we had a nice dinner at Federick Chapeau's residence.