24 Hours in Bavaria

I just returned from my whirlwind trip to Bavaria (Germany). I flew into Frankfurt airport, then traveled south to visit one of our project pilot sites in Kleinheubach. I would have liked to stay a little longer and gotten up to visit some relatives, but I needed to be back in Dublin on Thursday. I was in Germany for one night and one day. In that short period of time, here's what I learned:

1. I don't like the Autobahn. A flock of coworkers and I (eight of us in total) were driven in a van from the Frankfurt airport down to Miltenberg (where we stayed the night). To be honest, I'm not quite sure if it we officially took the Autobahn, but there were vast sections of motorway that had no posted speed limits. Our top speed was 180 kph (roughly 110 mph). It wasn't the speed that frightened me so much as the rate at which we'd overtake trucks. I love roller coasters and driving fast, but I did not feel secure, nor did I feel in control of the situation. I usually say a prayer when taking off an landing in airplanes, but this experience had me appealing to the almighty at constant intervals throughout the trip.

2. I like German bier. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Miltenberg that served a local bier called Faust. It was gut, ja.

3. Mmmm . . . red cabbage. Although it isn't quite as good as my grandmother makes it, it was quite delicious at the restaurant we where ate.

4. We make tons of bread crumbs. Literally. Our plant in Kleinheubach makes 150 varieties of bread crumb. It's sister plant closer to Berlin makes another 150 varieties. The most impressive site, though was the 1 ton bag of bread crumbs sitting in the storeroom - one of our packaging options. If you don't like 1 ton bags, you can always pull your truck up under our bread crumb silo and we can dump a few tons into it.

5. The bread crumbs we make are colored by Tumeric and Paprika. If you want a yellow bread crumb, it's colored with Tumeric. If you want a red bread crumb, it's colored with paprika. If you want a white bread crumb, no additives are needed (or kneaded - yuk, yuk).

I'm hoping to get a few more days in Germany in the future, perhaps a weekend or more. But for now, I'll just have to reflect fondly on my 24 hours in Bavaria.