SMS guest-posting continues…
Day 1 of the JEC composites conference started out with a Criossant and an hour train ride jam packed to Tokyo standards. The JEC takes up 2 large exhibition halls in the Parc des Expositions near CDG airport. It is full of composite materials manufacturers, tooling manufacturers, and composite part manufacturers. There are some lectures. We attended ones on electric cars, structural simulation, and fireproof resin. There were a lot of booths and we covered most of them the first day. One thing that stick out to me are the thermoplastic composite parts. They are made with re-meltable plastic as opposed to traditional composites that set and cannot be re-melted.
Also noteworthy were the companies with bars in their booths. You won’t see that in America.
On the way home, I stopped in to restaurant Augustin near the hotel. It ended up being upscale. I had a 3 course meal that was more than filling. The Filet Mignon I had was the whole fillet, not just a medallion American-style. They somewhat forgot to cook it and, because it was so thick, came out very rare for my taste. I should have got the duck because it is typically not done well (or at all) back home but I think America has steak nailed pretty well.