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