Today was our last program day. We had arranged tours at the Technical University of Munich which is in an outlying suburb of Munich. The train line to Garching was under repair, so we had to leave early so that we could catch a train to a train to a bus to a train. That worked very well, so we arrive half an hour early. Since we had time, we ran over to the TUM Math building where they have slides from the fourth floor down in their atrium. We had a fun time!
At 10:00 we started our tour of the Max Planc Institute for Plasma Physics. This facility performs fusion research. After a presentation, we were able to tour the reactor. We were allowed to stand just a few feet from a fusion reactor! Last year they were operating, so we had to stay outside the main chamber. We also saw their control room and energy storage flywheel system that can supply hundreds of megawatts during their 10 second shots. Our host allowed us to eat at their IPP cafeteria which is supposedly better than the traditional student cafeteria.
After lunch we went to visit the TUM chemistry department. We had a nice lecture on batteries and fuel cells from our host and then we toured a few labs. After finishing the TUM tour, we headed back to Munich. A few of us stopped at the Allianz soccer stadium to check out the home of FC Bayern, a team competing this Saturday in the Champions League finals.
After a little shopping, we headed over to the Hoffbrauhaus for our dinner. Sadly, the reservations were fouled up and the other USC group was not able to join us. We had a good time singing along with the oom-pah band!
Saturday is a free day. A few of us are headed out to Neuschwanstein and some are headed to Dachau. We finish this up and fly out Sunday morning.
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