Two museums with cool cars and we logged:
7.2 miles
~ 25 flights of stairs
>16,000 steps
Friday, May 11, 2012
Day 6 - Stuttgart Mercedes and Porsche Museums
Everyone seemed to enjoy the Frühlingsfest last night. Today we headed out to the Mercedes Benz museum. When we arrived, we met a nice old man with an expensive gull-wing Mercedes that was a member of the Bugatti owners club. His Bugatti was in the shop, but a little later about a dozen Bugattis showed up and parked in front of the museum. Brigitte toured us around the Museum where we saw a lot of history of the evolution of the automobile, including a bit on their electric, fuel-cell, and clean diesel programs.
After a break downtown we headed to the Porsche museum. Surprisingly, our guide opened doors and hoods for us and let Kieth sit in one of the race cars. They had another on display that we all sat in. Some of the more interesting exhibits were the cutaways where you could see inside the car / engine / transmission. Both museums were very beautiful with a lot of great technology. Tomorrow we head to Munich with a stop in Ulm to see the tallest church in the world.
Our last night in Stuttgart, Andi and I caught up with a friend from when we lived in Stuttgart. We went with her and her daughter to play putt-putt (hardest course ever) and then eat dinner in the Tee House, a park that was used by the rulers as a cool summer spot for tee. We ended the night at the Chinese Gardens overlooking Stuttgart.
After a break downtown we headed to the Porsche museum. Surprisingly, our guide opened doors and hoods for us and let Kieth sit in one of the race cars. They had another on display that we all sat in. Some of the more interesting exhibits were the cutaways where you could see inside the car / engine / transmission. Both museums were very beautiful with a lot of great technology. Tomorrow we head to Munich with a stop in Ulm to see the tallest church in the world.
Our last night in Stuttgart, Andi and I caught up with a friend from when we lived in Stuttgart. We went with her and her daughter to play putt-putt (hardest course ever) and then eat dinner in the Tee House, a park that was used by the rulers as a cool summer spot for tee. We ended the night at the Chinese Gardens overlooking Stuttgart.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Day 5 - Freiburg to Stuttgart and Frühlingsfest
Today was an exciting day! We woke up fairly early and caught a train to Karlsruhe then a TGV to Stuttgart. The TGV is a French train that goes super-fast. Today the ticket taker man said we were going 250 km/hr which is about 150 mph! I was really looking forward to this train but it felt a lot like a normal ICE train ride.
Once we got to Stuttgart we had to drag our bags up a hill a bit to our hotel, maybe half a mile. Once we got there, they did not have our rooms ready so we had to leave our bags and come back later to check in. A lot of us went off to the train station to eat lunch. Some folks headed to the zoo, the Wilhelma. Some of us went downtown and saw the main square and the old castle museum. After that, Andi and I left the students and went off to an art museum while they explored downtown Stuttgart.
Tonight and tomorrow are the last two nights of Frühlingsfest / Canstatter Wasen in Stuttgart. This is the biggest spring festival in Europe and it rivals the Oktoberfest in Munich. I think it is very similar to the SC state fair but with tents of beer rather than tents of quilts / 4H exhibits. There were many rides and the biggest Ferris wheel in Germany. I finally got a Schweinshaxen (pork knuckle) and Andi had the standard half chicken. I also had some beer. Later we went off for a walk and rode the ferris wheel (biggest in Germany they claim) before heading back. Tomorrow is a fairly early start, with a trip to the Mercedes Benz museum then the Porsche museum. These are finest car museums we saw while living here, much better than Audi and BMW in our opinion.
Once we got to Stuttgart we had to drag our bags up a hill a bit to our hotel, maybe half a mile. Once we got there, they did not have our rooms ready so we had to leave our bags and come back later to check in. A lot of us went off to the train station to eat lunch. Some folks headed to the zoo, the Wilhelma. Some of us went downtown and saw the main square and the old castle museum. After that, Andi and I left the students and went off to an art museum while they explored downtown Stuttgart.
Tonight and tomorrow are the last two nights of Frühlingsfest / Canstatter Wasen in Stuttgart. This is the biggest spring festival in Europe and it rivals the Oktoberfest in Munich. I think it is very similar to the SC state fair but with tents of beer rather than tents of quilts / 4H exhibits. There were many rides and the biggest Ferris wheel in Germany. I finally got a Schweinshaxen (pork knuckle) and Andi had the standard half chicken. I also had some beer. Later we went off for a walk and rode the ferris wheel (biggest in Germany they claim) before heading back. Tomorrow is a fairly early start, with a trip to the Mercedes Benz museum then the Porsche museum. These are finest car museums we saw while living here, much better than Audi and BMW in our opinion.
May 10, 2012 - Activity Data Report
Yesterday was a low-key exercise day as a group... However, some managed to still log 7 miles and many flights of stairs as more exploring of Freiburg - including climbing the tower - was done.
Today was a travel day. Once we got to Stuttgart, we had some exploring to do. So, the following was achieved:
10.75 miles
34 flights of stairs
> 24,000 steps
Today was a travel day. Once we got to Stuttgart, we had some exploring to do. So, the following was achieved:
10.75 miles
34 flights of stairs
> 24,000 steps
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Day 4 - Freiburg: Fraunhoffer
We spent the day at the Fraunhoffer Institute for Solar Energy. We saw presentations and demonstrations covering topics in photovoltaic electricity production, biomass conversion to generate syn gas and bio coal, and a hydrogen fueling station. The hydrogen fueling station generates electricity from PV cells and uses it to make hydrogen from water. We saw a new Mercedes B class powered by a fuel cell power plan and fueled by high pressure hydrogen.
Andi and I got up early and walked around a bit in the old city as they were setting up the market. We also rode the tram with this group for the first time today. After Fraunhoffer, a few of us went to climb the stairs of the church tower. We found a nice restaurant down by the river and met up with some of our students to have some dinner. We ran into some other students as we were headed in and they had the chance to try some Hanuta German cookies.
Fraunhoffer would not allow pictures in some areas due to their industrial research collaborations so there are fewer pictures today. We are looking into a way to put all of our photos online from the group together...
Andi and I got up early and walked around a bit in the old city as they were setting up the market. We also rode the tram with this group for the first time today. After Fraunhoffer, a few of us went to climb the stairs of the church tower. We found a nice restaurant down by the river and met up with some of our students to have some dinner. We ran into some other students as we were headed in and they had the chance to try some Hanuta German cookies.
Fraunhoffer would not allow pictures in some areas due to their industrial research collaborations so there are fewer pictures today. We are looking into a way to put all of our photos online from the group together...
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Day 3 - Freiburg Tour
Today was very busy! We met our tour guide Steffan early near the university. First we went through some of the old town and learned about the history. We toured the church a bit, construction started on it around 1200. Amazingly, the church was not destroyed in WWII but the rest of Freiburg was. They were able to rebuild most of Freiburg in a traditional way.
Later we went to a solar tech school and saw a presentation with information about developments in Freiburg. Steffan led us over past our hotel and we all rented bikes for the afternoon. Everyone did very well on the bikes and we all seemed to have a good time biking across the German countryside.
After lunch at a nice Indian place, we toured a planned high-density community. From there, we headed out through a forest to our next location. The new location was a more-established community. Steffan described a variety of methods for designing and creating the environmentally conscious living environment, from grocery location to window blinds to community involvement. Later we walked up to the Heliotrope, a rotating house that generates electricity. On our way back we had to travel down a busy road and we had a few issues, but no wrecks. Later that night we went our separate ways for dinner. Andi and I ended up alone at Martins Brewery, the oldest Brewery in Freiburg. We had a great dinner, along with a terrific wheat beer and a good dark beer. The wheat was almost as good as my favorite, Konig Ludwig.
May 8, 2012 - Approximate Fitness Data
Walking and biking - tired!
Today we logged almost 10 miles of walking (>21000 steps,26 flights of stairs) and 25 km (15 miles) of biking...
Ed will give the details of today's adventure.
Today we logged almost 10 miles of walking (>21000 steps,26 flights of stairs) and 25 km (15 miles) of biking...
Ed will give the details of today's adventure.
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