Genève
A bunch of us were in Geneva this week for a meeting of Ecma’s Executive Committee—my first Ecma meeting since becoming President. Most of the ExeCom were there in person: Andrew, Ayla, Jochen, Mikhail, and myself, along with Samina, Aki, and the rest of the Secretariat. Chris, Patrick, Peter, and Ross heroically called in from wildly incompatible time zones, as did a number of TC chairs. We also had Jean-Paul of Xtreamwave in the room on the first day, as a special guest on behalf of Huawei.
The night before the meeting I met up with Andrew and Aki for a drink at Le Phare, my favorite queer bar in town. Mikhail joined us for dinner afterwards at Quirinale and for a nightcap at Black Sheep.
I stayed close to the office at the Hôtel Ruby Claire. Despite the cold weather, I walked to work each morning along the Promenade du lac in the Jardin Anglais & took in the view of the lake and its Jet d’eau.
The first day’s agenda was jam-packed but, as always, Jochen did a great job keeping us on track. We all went out for a delightful meal together at L’Aurora afterwards.
Wednesday’s session ended right around lunch, so I had a bit of time to myself in the afternoon. I bought some chocolate for Eryn and EJ at Philippe Pascoët—and took a very unplanned nap—before dinner at L’Envers du Décor. I’d hoped to see Tobie while in town, but that unplanned nap interfered. 😔
On my last night I stayed up to watch the launch of Artemis Ⅱ. It just so happens that my mother was in Switzerland when Apollo 11 launched 57 years ago. What a happy coincidence!
I transited through Frankfurt on the way and Newark coming back, just like last October. I’ll be back again in June to celebrate Ecma’s 65th birthday & a GA meeting. 🟠