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

11.6.11 The Hof, David Bowie, Donald Duck and AC/DC!

In the morning we were seen off by Peter in Zwickau and made the hour long trek to Hof (unfortunately not named after the Baywatch legend himself).

The group split up in the morning on vocational visits with local rotary members and our host families.

-        Rebecca went to a famous German jewellery maker to see the processes involved in setting precious stones into final pieces for sales

-        Dianne went to the local newspaper where she learnt about the news processes of a regional paper

-        Amanda got a close up look at the potential after effects of all the heavy German food when touring through Sana Klinikum hospital with Professor Schumann and seeing bowel surgery

-        Ziska went with local architect Hermann Bayer who showed some public projects he was working on

-        Paul checked out chicks … I mean chicken rotisserie fabrication business at a house that used to be an old pub!

After a little ret ail therapy we went to the Lake Untreu (lake unfaithful) … for a beer and lunch with our host families and some local Rotaract members, with our first experience of currywurst!!

The afternoon really got started with a competition through a massive labyrinth (minus David Bowie and the weird puppets) where you had to navigate through and find and collect stamps from various hidden parts of the maze. This children’s activity proved more difficult than the group initially anticipated however Rebecca and Dianne employed superb tactical skills and successfully completed the activities in record breaking 43 minutes before collecting the amazing prize of Fortune Telling Fish!! And then they waited …

And waited …

And waited …

And eventually the rest of the team came out with their heads hung in shame, grumpy and frustrated, bested by the labyrinth.

The group split up in the late afternoon with Amanda having a Nanna nap and the rest of the team hanging out with a bunch of nannas … and grandads who were eating cake and drinking beer at a local festival celebrating 25 years of a local women’s association. It was our first taste of Franconia hospitality and we were very impressed by the leather wearing, socks pulled up folk band. We then went to the Mayor’s office where we learnt that the lady who had translated Donald Duck into German many years ago and was being honoured with a museum. We were also able to view the competition winners for the design of the new Erika Fuchs museum. 

In the evening we met up again at a local restaurant where we tried lovely food and a questionable beverage called The Doctor! The night was capped off at a local bar with some extra lubrication and some AC/DC!   

Written by Bek

10.06.11 VW = wunderbar

Today both Di and I awoke to a sunny day, birds chiming, Zwickau's St Marienberg Kirche bells ringing...it was the day we got to visit the Zwickau Volkswagen factory! Paul must have caught e Coli from one of his 10 beers last night as he wasn't as excited as der zwei schwarz golf owners.

After a hearty brekky at the Brauhaus we were picked up by our guide for the day Peter Maier from RC Marienberg. We were taken to the August Horch Museum to learn about the advent of automobile manufacturing in Zwickau. The museum had a plethora of cars from up to 100 years ago, all but two still in working order. It included a series of Trabants... From the time of the GDR which was an interesting piece of history.

From there we had a traditional German mittenessen at the company Sasit (veal schnitzel and potato salad) and then headed to the VW factory, an impressive collection of warehouses employing 6300 people and producing 1200-1400 golfs and passats per day! It was fascinating to observe the processes most especially the mechanization of each step, as well as some interesting oh&s principles (our guide Horst informed us that there had been no serious injuries at the plant during his 20 years there). We were allowed to walk through many areas including presswork and bodywork, dodging the occasional renegade forklift to sounds of 'achtung!'. It takes approximately 65 hours to create one car from start to finish which was quite impressive (albeit no VW merchandise was available to purchase at the end of the tour much to Di & I's dismay!).

After a power nap we were taken to the winery Mockel for dinner with RC Marienberg. Although this was the third winery we have visited in our time in Germany, it was the first where we were actually could try some wine, so we were super excited! Over another delicious meal we enjoyed talking with members. The night was particularly productive for Paul and I as it was a meal where plans to drive along the autobahn to Berchtesgarten at the end of our Rotary duties was formed! So we are now on the look out for a BMW convertible going cheap for a return trip south, plus two pairs of black leather gloves and some driving goggles.

All in all, a car-tastic day!'
The cakie monster - Amanda

9.6.11 On the road again

Well today started off with a visit to the old Marienberg Magazine (museum)  which was very interesting and highlighted the history of the Ore Mountains.
After that we were back in the car and of for a quick trip in the country side to visit the Erzgebirge region. It is renowned for the production of small hand crafted figurines so girls got all excited and there were lots of oooosssss and aaaaahhhhhhs when we entered the different rooms where production was taking place. All of the figurines had to be crafted in very old techniques and we were informed that with some of the crafting only 7 or so people  were still able to do this. It's was amazing to see the detail and time that went these figurines and also the music boxes that were being crafted.
After a tour of the wooden toy shop we set off for Zwickau.  We came across a  traffic jam so we decided to take a detour. Along the way a strange smell engulfed the car as we passed a farm. The strange thing about this was that Amanda had been eating prunes. At first I thought it was the farm, then I realized that cows don't eat prunes. This unfortunately affected Di the most as she looked a little pale but did the polite thing and informed us it was motion sickness. It also made me put off the blog until my eyes stopped watering. It kind of felt like a cross between hay fever and being hit with pepper spray at the same time . Anyway we avoided the traffic jam and arrived in Zwickau.
On arrival we were able to take a tour of the dom of St. Marien. At the top we enjoyed a birds eye view Zwickau and then checked out the rest of the cathedral. It was then time to freshen up and enjoy a nice meal and the company of our new hosts.
Tomorrow we head to the Horch museum and the VW factory.

Paul

Lost in translation - 8 June

Today we were greeted by Gunter for yet again a lovely breakfast. Thank you :)

After a short delay ( the German trains are not so efficient when there is a breakdown on the line) we eventually arrived in Chemnitz (aka Karl marx stadt) and headed straight to the Museum of Industry. 

The museum highlights the importance of industry in the history of Chemnitz. Exhibits included a 19th century belt driven workshop and a ring spinning frame used in the textile industry.  We also saw and leant about early German vehicles and motorbikes.

After a quick lunch stop we were greeted by the tower keeper/ crier for a tour of the old city hall and history lesson. The town keeper used to keep watch over the city from his tower. Everyday at 3pm and every hour durning the evening he used to read religious verses to the residents. When the residents didn't hear him at night they worried that something was wrong. 

We ventured up the tower for a birds eye view of the city before heading into the basement to enjoy an afternoon pick me up. We tried a special drink the town keeper has twice a day to keep his voice in good condition ( it smelt like listerine and tasted like schnapps with herbs). 

Tonight we presented at the Rotary club of Chemnitz and enjoyed discussing different aspects of Australia.

Gorlitz and other bits

yesterday's start, rock climbing to have breakfast on top of a mountain.. this was an amazing view and definatly will be a highlight for me when i get home and think about germany, so with a few glasses of bubbly to chase it down then listening to Amanda try and sing the phantom of the opera on the way home I wondered what else Germany to in stall for us next. 
So it's pack your bags look after your bits and we headed of to Gorlitz. 
Görlitz is the largest city of the former Province of Lower Silesia that lies west of the Oder-Neisse line and is hence the largest city of that province that is still part of Germany today, when strolled around town and learnt of  its history and the road of the viaregia or the kings highway which was the old trade route first mentioned in 1252 from our new friend Reiner after that it was home  to freshen up before heading to the obermuhle brauerei Hausa 
What a beautiful spot just across the river you are in Poland. Riener looked after us very well and I tried to explain to him over a few of the local home-brewed beers the techniques of traveling with four ladies but this is something not learnt but had to be experienced I think and will make me a stronger man at the end of the exchange. - I hope :-) 

Three things to consider when traveling with ladies
1. Always remember that 20kgs really means it's in the vicinity of 30kgs you learn this when trying to carry suit case up 3 flights of stairs.- Di
2. The phantom of the opera should only be sung by professionals - Amanda 
3. Cover your spuds when dining out with ladies there must be something in potatoes that attracts the female gender to a mans plate, this may force me to Order a double serve of spuds, to counter the attack on my dinner plate when ordering this vegetable. 

Paul 'porter' Channon

Walking in Goethe’s Footsteps

The night seemed too short. I unfortunately still have not overcome this lingering cold and kept Beck and myself up for some time. But Gunther Kaessner made up for the bad night with bringing us a scrumptious breakfast.

We then made our way to the old Town Hall. The Old Town Hall is the centre and city landmark of Leipzig, it is the City History Museum. The museum took us on a journey in one of the most beautiful buildings of the German Renaissance period. It showed us the life of various different famous people that are linked to the city of Leipzig, people like Hieronymus Lotter, Martin Luther, Johann Sebastian Bach, Goethe and Schiller. I guess one of the exhibits that impressed most was a city model built around 1825.

While our ladies had time for a quick power shop, Gunther, Paul and I went for a coffee, where we were visited by the ‘devil’ that was in Goethe’s play ‘Faust’. We all met up again for lunch at the Auerbach’s Keller. Besides a wonderful meal we could also follow the play Faust on the wall paintings that decorated the basement’s walls. Soon we were joined by more people that took us out on our 1^st Vocational Afternoon. I was in luck to be taken around the city by the local architect Mark Aretz, who gave me a very comprehensive tour through Leipzig and surroundings. I learnt a lot about the architectural history of the city and was most impressed.

In the evening we attended our 1^st regular Rotary meeting. Our original plan of splitting up the presentation was turned down, when President Kaessner asked to see the full 30 minute presentation. It went very well and many compliments were given to the team. Once again a big thank you to the Rotary Club of Leipzig – Bruehl for this most interesting and entertainng day.

Franziska