Today was a physically demanding day. We started out late (be on time!) in the rain, headed to a quick tour of the little town of Freiburg. We learned about the history and background of this little town, how they decided in 1973 to make the downtown area a pedestrian only shopping district. We explored the old church and learned about the history of Freiburg. We then spent some time in a lecture hall with a tour guide learning about the two of the local energy efficient neighborhoods.
We left there and went back toward the hotel to get our rental bikes. We managed to make it to lunch at the Indian restaurant and then headed out to tour the two new energy efficient neighborhoods. One is more like US apartments and the other is very highly integrated. We ended up riding our bikes about 15 miles and walking about 7 miles on this day. Everyone survived, although a few of our folks are not very good at riding a bicycle.
Tomorrow is the Fraunhofer Solar institute...
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Day 2 - Freiburg
On Tuesday, we let the group sleep in a bit to recover from traveling. However, we encouraged them to eat the expansive buffet at the hotel and wander over to the main church square to see the big German market with flowers, fruits, vegetables, meats, and other vendors.
Around noon, we took our bus out to a castle. The rain started as we headed up the hill, but the clouds parted just in time to take photos at the castle. Our main guide showed up after the castle and took us off for the afternoon. We stopped at a farm producing heat and electricity from biogas (created from agricultural waste and corn energy). Then we went to a farm where they use heat from dairy milk to preheat water, along with wood chips. This farm also has an excess of photovoltaic cells and rents land to the local windmill co-op. Again, it rained a bit.
We went to visit two large windmills. We could go inside the towers, but we could not go up for safety and time reasons. Once more, thunder threatened so we had to run for the bus. We did stop briefly at a new windmill. They put the final 20 ton blade on today as we watched!
Our final stop was a 200 year old mill where we had local foods for dinner. Black Forest Ham, blutwurst, leberwurst, fleischwurst, applejuice, bread, butter, cheese, jam, and apple wine. After dinner we toured the old mill and watched it in operation.
Overall, a great day considering the weather. We were able to do all the activities when it was not raining, so I call it a success.
Total miles this day: 7.5 miles.
Around noon, we took our bus out to a castle. The rain started as we headed up the hill, but the clouds parted just in time to take photos at the castle. Our main guide showed up after the castle and took us off for the afternoon. We stopped at a farm producing heat and electricity from biogas (created from agricultural waste and corn energy). Then we went to a farm where they use heat from dairy milk to preheat water, along with wood chips. This farm also has an excess of photovoltaic cells and rents land to the local windmill co-op. Again, it rained a bit.
We went to visit two large windmills. We could go inside the towers, but we could not go up for safety and time reasons. Once more, thunder threatened so we had to run for the bus. We did stop briefly at a new windmill. They put the final 20 ton blade on today as we watched!
Our final stop was a 200 year old mill where we had local foods for dinner. Black Forest Ham, blutwurst, leberwurst, fleischwurst, applejuice, bread, butter, cheese, jam, and apple wine. After dinner we toured the old mill and watched it in operation.
Overall, a great day considering the weather. We were able to do all the activities when it was not raining, so I call it a success.
Total miles this day: 7.5 miles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)