Tuesday 21st ... Summerfest, Shopping and Work in Regensburg!

After a refreshing morning with our host families the ladies headed to down town Regensburg for some retail therapy. Paul rejoined us at lunch time where we spoke with one of the four Rotary Clubs in this ancient city. We then spent the afternoon on individual vocational outings.

Dianne headed to BMW and spent a couple of hours learning about their external communication strategy from the Public Relations and Communications Manager. Paul continued with the production line theme by visiting a Siemens factory before checking out some Harley Davidson showroom. Amanda spent the afternoon at a general practice learning about the local health care options. Ziska spent some time with a town planner and Rebecca got her nerd on talking geotechnical engineering for the German rail system.

In the evening we went to the university for a briefing by the Chancellor before hitting the Summer festival with our Rotary friends for some well earned local beverages, sausages and a chance meeting with a fellow Australian!! 

Beer and dinner! Sat 18 June

Saturday morning we headed to the Erlanger Bergkirchweih,  a beer festival celebrated annually for 250 years. The festival runs for 12 days around Pentecost. We all enjoyed the atmosphere, festival brew and tasty food delights. Amanda and Bek then tested their stomaches on a hair raising ride. Fortunately for the spectators 'alles war gut'.

In the afternoon we had a city tour of Erlanger followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

On the path of the nightwatchman

Our first free morning was invested in a sleep in, a leisurely walk through the old town of Nuremberg and a coffee at one of the many places.

At midday we took the train to attend the meeting at the Rotary Club of Nuremberg, where we were very warmly welcomed by the President and the members. After the meeting we were lead to the Deutsche Bahn museum, where we first off saw the huge railway-model. After that we were taken through the history of the German Railway, where we saw more than 25 vintage railway vehicles, ranging from a replica of “Adler” steam engine to the legendary E03 electric locomotive. From there on we were shown the train of Bavaria’s fairy-tale King Ludwig II and also the more humble saloon coach of Chancellor Bismarck; after that came the rail related exhibition of WWII. With coffee and cake we finished the first part of the afternoon on a high note. Thanks to Frd Franzke for sharing this wonderful exhibit with us.

Later we were driven to the local radio station, where we got an insight of how the hit charts are being played and how the computer system is doing most of the work. We were than invited to a recording studio – and in full anticipation of being able to make a cool announcement that would be aired later – Paul was asked to say “I’m not ugly” and we were shown how they could manipulate that statement in the modern digital way and also how it was done in the earlier days on tape. Robert Vogel drove us soon after back to the hotel, where we had some time to freshen up for a night out in town with the local Rotaractors and the Night-watch-woman.

We had a great dinner and a very entertaining tour through the old part of town. And not even the light rain could dampen our moods. After a nightcap we finally said goodbye to our fabulous hosts, Jonas, Clem, Sabine & Christoph and others…

There's a bear in there

Today started with breakfast at the pension and a quick team meeting before we were met by Clause and Phillip for the start of our new adventure through Altes Schloss and the outskirts of Bayreuth.
The Altes Schloss ("Old Castle") near Bad Berneck in south Germany is a ruined castle built in the Gothic style as an Amtsburg towards the end of the High Middle Ages. The castle lies on the Schlossberg ("castle hill") of Bad Berneck in the Upper Franconian district  in Bayreuth. Today the lofty keep is the emblem of this small spa town.
After we had checked out the Schloss we attended a rotary meeting for the club of Bayreuth-Erimitage presented in front of the group.The meeting went well and then it was time for another trip out in the Bavaria country side to visit the Teufelshohle or the devils cave. Cave as it is today was discovered in 1922 but has been known to locals for many years.The cave is named for the disappearance of livestock in the vicinity of the cave being attributed to the Devil. Centuries later, after cave had been fully explored, the missing livestock as well as numerous other animals including deer and cave bears were discovered to have fallen into the cave and died. One of these cave bear skeletons has been reconstructed which we saw in the cave. The cave seemed to be quite interesting to the girls as they gazed in amazement in the size and shape of the stalacmites that rose like great Franconian swords from the cave floor. One particular GSE member couldn't stop staring at these mighty marvels of nature and banged her head on the cave roof, this I'm afraid to say made me laugh.Anyway back on the road tomorrow, thanks to all our friends from  Bayreuth especially Clause, Philip and Nicola we have all had a great time

Paul.

Bayreuth Bonanza 14.6.11

After lovely breakfasts with our Kulmbach host families, we packed up again and were driven down the road to Bayreuth. Again we were amazed by the age of the town, which was first mentioned in documents from 1194! We visited the porcelain factory Walkure where we were able to have a walk through the factory and learn some more about production lines and were impressed by the mechanisation (especially the robots). 

Bayreuth is on the cultural map thanks in many ways to Wilhemine, the sister of King Frederick the Great of Prussia, who invited many artists, composers and architects there in the mid 18^th century. Our RC Bayreuth hosts Philip, Nicola and Klaus took us on a tour of the city including Richard Wagner’s  festival hall, the New Palace and Court Garden. After a yummy meal at an Italian restaurant we walked to the Margravial Opera House, designed and built in the 18^th century by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena who was probably the most famous theatre architect of the time. We were impressed by the contrast between the minimal decoration in the foyer and then a spectacular ceremonious baroque interior. The opera house is one of a few 18^th century theatre buildings remaining and attempts to preserve the theatre are extremely challenging (e.g. climate control all year around, constant restorations and limited concerts).

Our pension for the next two nights is around the corner from Wagner’s Haus which he built with cash from Ludwig II (who has a monument out the front of the house). There would undoubtedly be a tale or two to be told inside the walls, however unfortunately the Wagner museum inside was closed for renovations. Oh well, plenty more museums await us we are certain!

In the evening after having to christen our umbrellas (!) we had a lovely traditional Bavarian meal at a cellar in town, followed by a drink at “the French Embassy”. Many thanks to RC Bayreuth for a fabulous cultural day.  

  

Beer, bread and tin - Mon 13 June

Today we said goodbye to our first host families and headed to Kulmbach, famous for it's 22 different brews of beer.

So it would only be appropriate that our first stop was the Bavarian Brewery and Bakery Museum, much to Paul's excitement. Beer has been brewed in Kulmbach's Mönchshof ("monastery") for over 600 years. The museum is on the site of the former Mönchshof Brewery. Various information boards and historical machinery, bottles and other equipment give an insight into Bavarian brewing. The museum tour included a glass of museum beer, which makes it a strong contender for museum of the trip!

After enjoying lunch in the Mönchshof Restaurant we headed off to the Plassenburg Castle. It is one of the most impressive castles in Germany and a symbol of the city. It was first mentioned in 1135. We enjoyed a guided tour and mini organ recital before checking out the largest tin soldier museum in the world! Amanda and Bek's inner nerd ran wild when we found a room dedicated to Lord of the Rings.

I enjoyed a wonderful evening with my host family. Next stop Bayreuth.

12.6.11 Border Patrol

After a good sleep in and a great breakfast that we all enjoyed with our families, we met in the town Moedlareuth. There we visited the Deutsch-Deutsch Museum which is no ordinary museum as we soon realised.

Moedlareuth is divided by a small creek, this creek was also the boundary between Franken and Thueringen. After WWII in 1952 a wall was erected along the border of the “Laender” eg through the middle of this small town. The wall was first a wooden fence and was later replaced with a concrete wall. The town was therefore also called little Berlin. It was in December 1989, one month after the fall of the Berlin wall that the border crossing in Moedlareuth was opened. In a reconstruction, the open-air space shows how the border area to East Germany was divided up into an exclusion zone and a protective strip and demonstrates the interaction of the various border installations and the “open border” on the West German side as it was before 1989. It is just so hard to visualise how life must have been, but this exhibition brought it most definitely much closer to us.

We went on to a very beautiful Fattigsmuehle after that for lunch. Sitting outside enjoying a good meal and sunshine made the setting just perfect.

Reluctantly we moved on to be amazed with another exciting exhibition at the Porzellanikon. Were we learnt how Porcelain has been and is currently produced. Here in Selb they used to produce the famous Rosenthal porcelain. They showed us the different techniques for creating plates, cups and hollow objects like a sugar bowl or similar. We also had a chance to look at an art exposition of students working with porcelain. Some very interesting ideas were on display.

Dinner was at the local Italian Restaurant. We had a chance to catch up with all our hosts for a last time, and say our goodbyes as we had to move on the next day.

Thanks to both Hof Rotary Clubs for such a great time! Written by FF