Today we tried a new activity for our Maymester class. We took them all out to visit a geothermal energy plant in Erding. Erding is a small town to the north east of Munich on the end of a rail line. They are more famous for Erdinger beer. The geothermal well was drilled in the 80's by Texaco looking for oil. They found hot water so they started using it for regional heating. In 1999, a small spa was built on the site. The spa expanded and expanded. They now are one of the biggest spas in the world and they claim to be the biggest water park in Europe. They get water at 67 C all year long, about the equivalent of a continuous 5 WM generator.
We got there a bit after 10 but the water slides did not open until 2:00. The students were given a four hour pass, so we entered at 11 so that we could go down the slides before returning to Munich. Everyone had a good time sampling the mineral baths, steam rooms, hot tubs, and pools.
After the trip to Erding, some of us went on a tour of the Allianz Stadium, home of FC Bayern and Munich 1860. Tomorrow is the highlight of the trip, the Deutsches Museum.
