Day 7 - 5/17/2015, Stuttgart free day

Today we had a free day in Stuttgart.  Andi and I met up with some friends we knew from our time living in Stuttgart.  We headed off to the zoo where she took a picture of every flower.  Later we met up with some of our students at the zoo.  Hopefully some of them hit a museum this afternoon as today was international free museum day.  Andi and I had a nice dinner with our friend at her house.

Monday is a rough day so we hope all the students are resting and saving their energy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day7StuttgartFreeDay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJ_0vqnzrNnHbg&feat=directlink

MILES WALKED TODAY: ca. 4.0+ mi

Day 6 - 5/16/2015, Stuttgart Mercedes and Porsche Museums

Today we had a late start to get over to the Mercedes museum.  The tour was nice and we saw some of the new energy concept cars.  They claim that they will release a fuel cell powered car in two years.  We will see.  It was nice to go through the museum with a good bit of history from the last couple of centuries.  When we left, soccer fans were streaming in for a Stuttgart VfB game.

We headed over to the Porsche museum, but we thought we did not have much time to eat lunch so we grabbed sandwiches in the train station.  We ended up having plenty of time.  Oops.  Porsche is a beautiful museum, but they focus more on power and performance, not history.  Also, they have added a lot of art near the cars.  They had a cleaner look in years past, now it is a jumbled mess.  Andi likes it though. 

We generally had good weather again.  Sunny but a bit chilly when not in the sun.  Later, Andi and I walked through the shopping district then went to a brand new American style mall near our hotel for burgers.  We did 6.8 miles today and 7.4 yesterday. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day6StuttgartMercedesAndPorscheMuseums02?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJCam67a_raO-gE&feat=directlink

MILES WALKED TODAY:  7.4 mi

Day 5: 5/15/2015, To Stuttgart

We had very limited wifi in Freiburg.  Today we have much better connectivity in Stuttgart.

We started this morning at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy.  Because Thursday was a bank holiday, we could not visit then.  Even Friday, most of the staff were still on holiday.  We had a short tour and saw some of the facilities then headed out to Stuttgart.  On the way, one train was a TGV, the fastest train in Europe.  We hit 249 km/hr which is over 150 miles per hour. 

Once in Stuttgart, we quickly got to our rooms then did a quick walking tour to familiarize the students with the area.  We stopped in the Schlossgarden for a while after walking through the main square and shopping district.

This had been a fun few days.  The students have been well-behaved and nicely engaged.  They seem to be bonding fairly well.  Andi and I are very tired from all the activity.

I have been taking a lot of photos.  I will make all of the photos available, but the good ones I try to put online.

Day 1
https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day1Freiburg03?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNWNjdWQwMixwQE&feat=directlink

Flew to Frankfurt and trained down to Freiburg. Walked to the top of the church and up the mountain to an observation tower. Everyone was tired but we had to beat back jet lag.

Day 2
https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day2FreiburgArea?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKXf9Zvhg9PXfA&feat=directlink

Tour near Freiburg to Hochburg castle, a biogas plant, a sustainable farm, and windmills. Finished with dinner in an old mill eating local products.

Day 3

https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day3FreiburgTourAndBikeRide?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLrOhKPUmcWPkgE&feat=directlink

Tour around Freiburg and bike ride out to Rieselfeld and Vauban.

Day 4
https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day4Basel?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLbI-tvkmuCLdQ&feat=directlink

Free day and all the students went with us to Basel.  We went to the bridge where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet.  We also saw the cathedral and stopped by the Tageuley museum.

Day 5
https://picasaweb.google.com/105622415255178546785/Day5Stuttgart?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKjd0fTn4IL_JA&feat=directlink

Quick trip to Fraunhofer ISE then off to Stuttgart

MILES WALKED TODAY:  7.4 mi

Day 4: 5/14/15, Freiburg

We had a free day today due to a national holiday.  Only restaurants and shops in the train station were open.

The entire group decided to travel to Basel, Switzerland and go to the point where three countries meet.  So, the group was able to go between France, Germany, and Switzerland in a matter of minutes.  Then we went to the Tinguely Museum in Basel.  Some students went into the museum, while others enjoyed the grounds around the museum.

We returned safe and sound at 5:45pm.  

MILES WALKED TODAY:  9.0 mi

Day 3: 5/13/15, Freiburg

10:13pm:

We had a long day of hiking and biking while learning about Next Energy principles in action in Freiburg.

This evening we had a hail storm, but we are ok.

MILES WALKED TODAY:  6 mi

MILES BIKED TODAY:  9 mi 

Day 2: 5/12/15, Freiburg

8:50pm:  Today was farm day!  We traveled to see how farmers have adapted their way of farming to include producing energy from biomass, warm cow milk, wind turbines, and solar panels.

First, we traveled by bus to castle Burg Hochburg in Emmendingen.  We went in and walked among the ruins.  Then we traveled into the mountains to a farm that grows grass, harvests it, mixes it with local farm animal dung, at creates energy from the fermentation.  Then, we traveled to another farm where the energy is harnessed from warm dairy cows' milk, and many solar panels lined the large farmhouse roof top.  On this farm are large wind turbines, which we were able to directly approach and even go inside two different ones.  Finally, we went to a farm where a new wind turbine may be built to help the farmer financially...and at this farm, we ate dinner.

We ate quark, butter, Black Forest Bacon, liver wurst, blood wurst, and plain wurst (like bologna).  We also had freshly baked bread, strawberry marmalade, apple juice, spring water.  All of this food was made at this farm by Herr Schillenger's family.  We ate it on a wooden board with only a knife-much like the old days.  And we ate inside the old home of the Schillenger Family.  It was a grain mill / home and the mill was powered by a water wheel.

We are current with the time here, but are still tired at day's end.

WALKING MILES LOGGED:  6.5 mi

Day 1: 5/11/15, Freiburg

1:00pm:  We have all arrived in Freiburg at our hotel safely!  Off to hike to fight the jet lag...

8:30pm:  After eating Döner Kebap (like a gyro), we hiked into the city, and up the 329 steps of the steeple of the Freiburg Münster.  What a joy it is to see the same man we first saw in 2008 sitting at the top accepting admission.  An older gentleman whom I wonder what his back story is...

Once we got back down we the hiked up the Schlossburg Lookout Tower on Schlossberg mountain...these students are super excited, have a great attitude, and are a pleasure to be around considering they all have had a long day of travels on very little sleep.

The goal was to keep them busy so they got to bed at a normal time tonight and quickly combat jet lag.

We have a late start tomorrow with out activities beginning at noon.  This will give all of us time to sleep in a bit, grab a great breakfast here at the hotel, and explore the open-air market around the Freiburg Münster.

Links to pictures will be coming soon!

WALKING MILES LOGGED:  7.2 mi