Day 7-Saturday... Munich, Germany

After a rather late night celebrating at the castle, we were all up and ready to make the 6+ hour drive to Munich. So we all loaded up in the van and made our way out of Braunschweig to Munich. However, we made one quick pit-stop on the way at a Memorial site for the Division of Germany, more importantly this was once a checkpoint for going to and from East or West Germany. Here many of the original buildings from the checkpoint are still standing and one was made into a museum. One of the barracks building was also on display along with a few of the massive towers of lights. Back when the Berlin wall was still standing, there were no shadows at this checkpoint because the large number of spotlights on towers and buildings.

View from entrance

Look-out tower

Overview of the memorial

Duff Beer! Found at a stop along the Autobahn

View from the van on the Autobahn

Fun windmill spotted along the way!

The journey from Braunschweig to Munich, actually to Freising, a suburb of Munich, was broken up by stops at various rest areas along the Autobahn to refuel on caffeine, chocolate and ice cream. We even discovered that you can use multiple potty coupons per purchase! We even found some Legendary Duff Beer! After we finally made it to our hotel and everyone got checked in, we ventured out to find the City Square of Freising for supper. We ended up at the Hofbrauhaus, which is one of the oldest and most famous brew pubs of Germany and has a very iconic location in Munich. Of course the Pils was excellent and the spargel soup was even more amazing!!! After dinner we began our leisurely stroll back to the hotel, but with a stop for ice cream first! Tomorrow we tackle Munich!

Things that keep a trip with 18 people interesting...

P. Kitty quotes- "You really screwed the pooch on that one", "So 52 weeks? That's a legitimate question!", "I know for a fact Jesus liked ice", "It kind of reminds me of my Sim City", "Rapeseed? Kind of reminds me of rape", "Have you noticed all the fat kids?!" and I'm sure there will be more.

Mark quotes-
German Mark- "Mark"
IGP Mark- "Yes?"

Josh, from Iowa State University- "At ISU we find problems!"
IGP Mark- "Really, at K-State we teach students to find solutions!"

Day 6-Friday... German Milling School, Braunschweig, Germany

Today, after a very restful night in the Burg Warberg Castle, we headed into Braunschweig to attended class with some German milling students. The majority of the students we met with spoke a small amount of English, so after a tour around of the facilities, we sat down with the students and chatted. First, the students showed us some software they were using to simulate a working mill and how changing specific parameters would effect flour yield. It was very interesting to see. After we got all the technical stuff out of the way we focused on what college life is for them. The students at the German Milling School have worked as apprentices in mills for 3-4 years before coming to the milling school, so they have a very good understanding of the milling process. They also seemed to be just like the typical college student you'd find in the states. In fact, the student I was chatting with told us of a 'party' they had the previous night. His housemates had their flag stolen by another house down the street and had drink quite a bit of beer to get it back. Needless to say they were pretty successful! Very interesting!

And these pictures are just for Jonathan, the best boyfriend in the world!

German keyboard, with some extra letters

Another shot of the German keyboard

After our visit with the German Milling Students we headed over to IFF, which is an international research association for feed technology. Here we saw some state-of-the-art equipment in a very old mill. IFF had a variety of pellet mills, expanders and mixers. They also provided us a quick lunch of asparagus and meatball soup with bread. After the tour of the IFF facilities we headed over to another Open Air Museum. At this museum there was a display of miniature mills throughout the years, which was very neat to see. There were also a variety of life-size mills on display as well. 

Kyle making friends with the Museum group

After a walk through the museum and a stop for coffee and strusel, we headed back to the castle. Tonight we would be dining at the castle, but first Peter took us on a private tour of the castle. We started the tour in the main courtyard but soon made multiple twists and turns through servant hallways and the like. The castle has multiple banquet rooms and even their own bake quality lab!! The tour included a trip to the top of the tower to enjoy a drink with the castle 'ghost' (or bitters, as we learned). The view from the tower was amazing! Peter also presented each of the students with 100 euro cash scholarship! All the students were shocked and so thankful! We then ventured back to the main courtyard for a grill-out! Again, the food was amazing and included sausages, potatoes, salad and fresh bread. And of course all the beer and wine we could drink! As dinner concluded, the faculty presented Peter with some K-State gear and we headed to the back side of the castle to watch the sun go down. The party didn't stop then... Peter left us in the capable hands of his wait staff, which did a very good job of ensuring our glasses were never empty! They did an amazing job taking care of us and even brought us a couple of bowls full of ice, after they over heard P. Kitty complaining of never having ice. It was great! Peter was entertaining another group as well, but stopped to check back in on us throughout the rest of the evening and into the early morning hours. He also introduced us to an amazing new snack... Peanut butter flips! These things are amazing! They are basically cheetos but with a peanut butter flavor. They taste similar to Peanut Butter Captain Crunch but not as sweet and then go amazingly well with beer. As the cool night air settled in, we moved into a private room to continue the party! After we were finally able to call it a night, we all headed off to bed, except Kyle, who managed to somehow lock himself outside the castle so he ended up watching the sun come up and catching a few Zzzz's out on the patio before an employee found him and let him back in. What an adventure it was to stay at Burg Warberg!! I definitely can't wait to go back!!

The Castle tower, from the courtyard

Castle courtyard

Looking down on the courtyard

View from the tower, notice the nuclear power plant in the background

Kyle and Britni waiting for dinner to start

Peter with his new KSU gear

ICE!!!

Dusk at the castle

Day 5-Thursday... Hamburg, Germany

After the wonder hospitality of Kampffmeyer we continued our journey in Hamburg. First up, Kahl! Kahl is a leading manufacturer of pelleting and expander equipment used by most animal feed manufactures. The equipment that Kahl makes is truely unique. The pellet mills they produce operate vertically instead of the usual horizontal configuration, as seen in the Grain Science Feed Mill. What these mills are capable of pelleting is also truly amazing! They are able to pellet wood, tires, feed, soap, and just about anything you can imagine, they have pelleted and with great success. We first received a brief introduction to the Kahl company and then went on a tour of the production facilities. Unfortunately, we were unable to take any pictures, but trust me this tour alone was totally worth the 10 hour flight! I saw a drill press over 12ft tall and required a drill bit bigger than my leg! AMAZING! We also watched them put a pellet die through the hardening process which includes soaking it in liquid salt (imagine how hot that is) and then flame heating. After the tour we headed over to the Kahl Cafeteria for lunch, also very delicious! A couple more presentations and we were on our way!

Next, we headed over to the Hamburg harbor for a tour by Vollmer. Vollmer is a major importer/exporter around the world. First, we were shown where coffee beans come into the harbor and are stored. The dried coffee beans are brought in in 50-100 pound bags on pallets or in large transport containers. After they are received, they are sorted and stored until needed by the customer. I've never seen so much coffee in my life! The coffee storage warehouse was endless!! After the coffee, we moved onto my favorite commodity... Chocolate!! Here the raw, dried cocoa beans are stored in a massive bunker. All the beans come in via container or on a barge, and piled all together. When a customer needs beans, they are loaded and shipped.

Coffee!!!

More Coffee!

And just a little more coffee!

The crew with the coffee

Some containers, empty I think, but waiting to be filled with coffee or chocolate!

Cocoa beans!!

More cocoa beans

And this is how you move cocoa beans!

After the tour of massive amounts of coffee and cocoa bean storage, we ventured on to where grain is loaded and unloaded from barges on the river. We were able to tour the elevator and see the control room, which had a spectacular view! Next up.. A private tour of the entire harbor area! We saw parts of Hamburg, including the area where we had dinner the evening before and we saw all the ins and outs of the harbor area, including some massive ships! We also saw docks that were used to build new ships or make repairs on those that come into the harbor. We also saw a massive cargo ship being loaded up with container ships! It was so amazing to see and it's unbelievable how large those ships are!!

View from the control room of the elevator. This barge is
waiting for the tide to come in so it can head out to sea

Massive military ship in the harbor

Of course they had a Mississippi Queen paddle boat!

View down a canal going into Hamburg

Old submarine torpedos

Awesome spiral staircase

Finnish cruise ship getting ready to leave port

Me with our boat Captain

Massive Costco ship being loaded up with containers

Front of the Costco ship

Ship being repaired

Another ship being repaired

Our lovely tour vessel

Again, the boat we took for the tour of the Hamburg harbor

After the wonderful boat tour, we were on the road again, headed toward Burg Warberg in the Braunschweig area. Again, we stopped on the Autobahn for supper, but after the large lunch in the Kahl cafeteria, I stuck with just some ice cream, chocolate and sparkle/gas free water!lol

After a few hours on the road we arrived at Burg Warberg, a cozy little castle. This place was amazing, but we didn't learn just how amazing until the following. Since we arrived so late, the proprietor, Peter, offered us a beverage or two (or three) before we rested our wary heads. I was lucky enough to have a room to myself for the stay at this castle!

Nice spacious bathroom

2 beds all to myself!

Burg Warberg

Day 4-Wednesday... Hamburg, Germany

Bright and early this morning we loaded up the vans and headed to Hamburg, Germany! After just shy of a 3 hour drive we arrived at Energy Hill, which was very interesting. So back in the day, the residents of Hamburg started a large garbage dump close to the water. Over time this area turned into a massive garbage and chemical waste dump for residents and unwanted items that came into the port. Well over the years it got pretty disgusting and after a local lost his life after falling into the sludge with his massive loader (which came out looking brand new due to all the corrosive chemicals eating away the rust), the city decided they needed to clean it up. So they covered it with a whole bunch of dirt and planted grass, the grass never grew, nothing grew on it due to the noxious chemicals leaching through the soil and the lack of oxygen in the soil. So after some German engineering, they installed a massive 'umbrella' over the Hill and then covered that with dirt and planted grass, which grew. The 'umbrella' prevented the noxious gases from leaking into the soil, preventing plant growth, and also prevented any rain water from leaching the chemicals into the soil below. To date, gas is still 'siphoned' off from under the 'umbrella' and used at the local Aurbis plant for energy. Aurbis is also the world's second leading producer of copper, among other products. Pretty amazing! They've also installed a wind turbine on top of the Hill and quite a few solar panels on the side of the Hill. Future plans include building a visitor's center to teach visitors on how the Hill became and the clean energy initiative taking place in Hamburg. It was a pretty interesting site plus the view of the harbor and city was amazing!!

Windmill on Energy Hill

Close-up of the windmill on Energy Hill

Hamburg with the harbor in the distance

After a tour of Energy Hill we headed to the harbor area for lunch. We drove around and happened upon a little Portuguese restaurant, super yummy plus a free bathroom! Did I mention almost everywhere you go you have to pay to use the toilet, even at restaurants you are a patron of?! Kind of crazy, but the bathrooms are usually really clean, so that's a bonus. At the rest stops they charge 0.70 euro to use the toilet but give you a 0.50 euro coupon to use on your purchase... Word to the rise, take care of business first, then shop!lol
Anyways, after lunch we headed over to the Kampffmeyer Innovation Center to tour their latest flour mill and R&D center. We started off with a lecture about Kampffmeyer and an introduction into what they do. We then had a tour of the their new state-of-the-art flour mill and it was impressive! They are switching over to a total lights out facility, which means it will take only one person to run the whole mill 24/7/365. It was pretty interesting. We then received tours of the baking and R&D labs of Kampffmeyer, which were also very impressive. After coffee and cake (super yummy blueberry cheesecake I might add) we listened to a few lectures on some key products of Kampffmeyer. This included their modified starch line produced with no added chemicals (all mechanical modifications by using different extruding or cooking processes) which allows for a variety of different starches to be made for different applications, including cold-gel and non-skin forming soups, to name a few. We also learned about a new 'snow' wheat variety they have developed for their Health Grains Initiative. This wheat is different in that it is totally white, milled in the same manor as normal wheat but has a higher nutritional value. Kampffmeyer has noticed a trend among Germans that is completely opposite of Americans. In Germany, many prefer white bread over traditional artisan types made from rye or whole wheat. While in America many prefer whole wheat breads due to their nutritional properties.

Yummy lunch at the Portuguese-German restaurant

Kampffmeyer Innovation Center

After a day bursting with knowledge, we headed over to our hotel, The Generator Hotel to drop off our bags and then off to dinner hosted by Kampffmeyer. Our hotel room was interesting to say the least! I would say it was roughly the size of a shoe box with a bathroom smaller than those found on an RV! The variety of bathrooms I have seen on this trip boggles my mind... They're all different! They don't have a generic toilet configuration, so I would hate to be a plumber! And the placement of the shower head and dial is quite extraordinary and not well thought out at all. Be careful when showering, a bump of the handle and you can go from a lovely refreshing shower to 2nd degree burns or frostbite! Dinner was phenomenal! Kampffmeyer spared no expense and allowed us to order whatever we wanted. Kyle, Adrian, Sarah and I started off the sushi appetizer, which was so delishious I didn't even get a chance to take a before picture. I had the steak medallions, also very yummy, and we shared a dessert of chocolate cake, cheesecake and ice cream. After a very filling meal and an abundance of beer and wine, I visited the little ladies room before the walk home and it was interesting to say the least, but definitely a good laugh! We made the walk back to the hotel but ventured over to the attached bar for an evening nightcap and socializing with other hotel guests. All in all it was a great day and night! Thank you Kampffmeyer!!

Starting off... The local Pils!

That sushi was very yummy!

Is that George Clooney as a merman in the bathroom? Not creepy at all!

The Generator!

Yes that's 2 beds next to each other!

Don't bump that handle with your bum!

Saves time... Wash your hands while peeing!