Prost aus Deutschland!!! (Cheers from Germany!)

A much overdue first post. Since arriving on Tuesday, the trip has been something of a whirlwind. Wednesday I went to visit RTT Munich and then onto the Alte Kongresshalle where the 10th Annual RTT Conference was held. Located right next to the large opened area called the "Theresienweise" where the notorious Oktoberfest is held Annually. I got to see the conference in both working and final form...the scramble to get all of the boths set up to the actual presentation was quite the transformation. Later that night Rob, Marcel and I went to a restaurant near Rob's flat and had some Italien food infused with German influences...for instance Rob got a Chive-Spaetzle dish...very unusual by traditional terms of Spaetzle, but really pretty tasty!



Thursday was the conference itself, we had presenters from: Toyota International, Icon Aircraft, Ferrari, Nvidia...and even the famous artist Syd Mead! It was a great success and I learned a lot that I didn't know about my own company. After the conference we took a bus to the "Kunsthaus" (Art House) where the famously exclusive Munich club "P1" hosted a party for us.


It was a great night of great food and even better music. The band, "LaBrassBanda,"(http://www.labrassbanda.com/) is a Munich based band but you would not have guessed it from their really incredible mix of Spanish style rhythms and guys playing the Trumpet and Trumbone...I don't think I've danced so hard in my life!

They just kept building it up the whole night like some kind of Bavarian/Jazz/Alpine/Techno! Ha. It was a great way to celebrate RTT's 10th birthday.

Above: Marcel and his friend from College, Anja

Friday the true vacation began. I had a cab drop me off at the Viktrauelienmarkt. It was this huge outdoor market with a wide selection of the best cheeses, fruits, veggies, wines, breads, cakes...you name it! The weather started to clear up and I welcomed the warm sunshine. I bought some little Hunter's sausages (think Slim Jims minus the spice) and some Brie from France...wow! Only 3 euros! This would normally cost me 9 dollars for such a fine brick of cheese! :) From there, I wandered over to the Mariensplatz...the true center of Munich with the large Glockenspiel. Then I found myself at the "Frauenkirche" I took a look at the beautiful cathedral inside then rode up the elevator to the top of the South Tower and got a view of the entire downtown Munich.
Later I walked to Maximillian Platz, had myself a much welcomed Franziskaner beer and sat in the sunshine surrounded by a beautiful park, fountain and an ivy filled terrace walkway. What an amazing city! Then, onto the English Garden. This is one of the biggest parks in all of Europe according to the tour book...much like Munich's version of Central Park. There was a very unusual sight. Surfers. On the Elbe river that runs through, is a spot under a bridge that has a constant, surfable wave. So the eager surfers awaited their turns lining up on either side of the river and one by one, surfed the river.



Further inside the park were several beer gardens. Marcel and I stopped at one next to a lake. It was incredible. Just beautiful! Swans and ducklings mooched food and we had ourselves some typical German food. I had Schweinebraten with Sauerkraut and Marcel had Lieberkase with Fries ("Pommes"). Good eats! We then rented an Audi Q5 from the Munich airport and headed East to his hometown of Ponitz. On a very sad note, Marcel's grandfather passed on Thursday night. It has made the trip here to Ponitz a very bittersweet one. While it is a pleasure to be around such nice and generous folks such as the Sittners...it is deeply saddening that this happened. I admire their strength and everyone although sad, seems to be handling it ok. Life works in mysterious ways. I was just glad Marcel was here and not in Detroit when this happened. At least that part worked out. I had to learn how to say "my condolences" in German...and let me tell you, that's not something I'd ever want to learn in another language. He is certainly in my thoughts in prayers, it saddens me too, that I never got to meet him. From the stories, he sounds like quite the Husband, Father and Grandfather...so, if you have not already today, call up your parents, grandparents...sisters, brothers and tell them you love them. It's important. Life is too short!



Ok...more to come later, after this melancholy wears off...I still have to tell you about happier parts of the adventure so far. His Grandma's farm, (the image above is one of the original doors from 1865!) yummy traditional German treats she made us and an action packed day in Dresden. But for now, I must go...I leave tonight for Berlin with Marcel and there's much to research & plan. Sooo...Guten Tag...Macht's Gut...Bis Später...