Germany Day 4, Munich

We flew into Munich (which Bavarians call Munchen [moonch-in]) airport which reminded me of an Apple store. Everything was white and brightly lit and there were advertisements everywhere. My favorite was a two story BMW grille and headlights that stared at us while we claimed out luggage. BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Maybachs are all produced in or just outside Munich so you can only imagine the kind of cars we see around town. All the taxis are Mercedes and we overheard one driver saying he had 700,000 miles on his and plans to drive it until it hits a million miles. Think we could find an American made car that could do that?

[from the plane]

[Munich is in Bavaria, and the Bavarian countryside is stunning. More of that on Day 5...]

[Munich airport potty. i just love the shape of the women's dresses over here!]

[BMW headquarters are here]

[this was just a cool advertisement in the airport]

Driving to our hotel we got a mini tour that took us by the rodeo drive of Germany which was full of the designer shops we know in America. We came to our hotel which was next to the major train station in Munich, the end of all the train lines. I was surprised at how completely different this city felt compared to Berlin. I guess the best way to describe it is San Francisco compared to Oakland, Munich being more like Oakland. Our hotel, while absolutely beautiful, is not in the best area of town. There is a large Italian influence here and we are kind of in the Italian “ghetto.” I did not feel safe leaving the hotel at night.

[took this one from the bus!]

[the restaurant affiliated with the biergarten we went to that evening. this was in Marian Platz]

[more from walking around in Marian Platz, everything was closed on Sunday]

We are staying at the Sofitel Munich which doesn’t lack design ingenuity, but lacks a huge amount or practicality. The bathroom is all made of frosted glass doors that slide all over the place and don’t provide any privacy. The beds have only a duvet on them for covers and they have a limit to how cold the rooms can get, which isn’t as cold as we are used to back home. One colleague told us she called the front desk to ask if she could turn the temp down and she was told it was “colder than you think.” Sheesh! It is a LOT hotter here than anticipated and we have been sweating through our clothes, literally! Shorts and a tank top would be the proper attire and I didn’t bring either, so it has been a lot of heat toleration! The hotel is so secure that I found myself unable to get to my room on multiple occasions. We have a key that is plain white-no branding on it whatsoever. The key has a microchip in it which is programmed with all of our information. When we get into the elevator, we have to hold our card in front of the sensor and it automatically selects the floor we need. The problem here was that you couldn’t use the elevator without a card. If you took the stairs to get some exercise, the card wouldn’t work in the room because according to the elevator, you are not in the hotel. Once we got into the room, the ticket to electricity was entering the room key in a slot next to the door. Very energy efficient, since you have to have your key to leave the room and all the lights go out about 30 seconds after the key is removed from the card slot. Unfortunate if you lose a key and your roommate needs to go downstairs for something.

The first night we went to the famous Augustiner Keller Beirgarten. It was the same kind of feel as the county fair food court, lots of food and beer stations around the perimeter of hundreds of picnic tables. There were many smells which were less than pleasant circulating. They sold fish, whole fish, which the customer tears open, removes the bones, then sticks a fork in it like eating out of a pita pocket. It was so gross!! Our group was in the main indoor beer hall, which was not air conditioned. We were all hot hot hot! The service staff was dressed in the typical Bavarian garb, which can best be described as “Heidi” braids and corseted peasant dresses. Men wore typical lederhosen. We were entertained with yodeling, men slapdancing (kind of riverdance style) and the playing of the large horns that reached from the mouth to the ground of the person playing. The food was of typical German fare. Those of you who know me know I struggle with the eating of meat and this night didn’t help at all. There was a little pig, head, tail and all, on the cutting board which was extremely disturbing. I was strict vegetarian that night, most of the trip actually. Overall the experience was hot and stinky and I couldn’t stomach the beer so I was clearly too sober to enjoy the evening as much I should!

[sweatin our pants off at the biergarten. that beer was just for show, it was TERRIBLE!]

[staff were dressed like the three models on the left]

[gorgeous hydrangeas again! Kim pointed out that I achieved bokeh on this shot! yah, I didn't know what that meant either, but I can do it!]

[trust me, this picture makes the place look waaaay prettier than it was.]

[famous Augustiner Keller Brew-made famous by Oktoberfest]

[yah that was the only sip of that beer I took. it was nasty!]


The hotel, however…endless photographic opportunities. Some of my favorites of the whole trip:

Germany Adventure, Day 3: Berlin & Fancy Dinner

June 21, 2008

I am writing this a day late, as I fly on Lufthansa from Berlin to Munich. We were out late last night and enjoying every last second in Berlin so I am catching up during some downtime. Our flight is one hour long, so just a quick hop.

Yesterday we had an unscheduled day in the city of Berlin. Other than a dinner hosted by an important executive in the evening, we were on our own to explore. The night before we decided to sleep with the blinds open a bit in hopes that when the sun came up, we would wake up naturally instead of to a beeping alarm…well…the plan worked great for me except that I forgot that the sun came up at 330am which left me WIDE awake by six in the morning, after sleeping only about five hours. I am of the belief that I can tolerate lack of sleep for six days; I would much rather get up and see as much as I can even if I am a tired!

So our day began with breakfast at the hotel, the same amazing spread that we found out costs about 28 Euros, or over $45 US dollars per person. The spread was again, amazing. I think I could live on the cream cheese (brie looking) and the fresh bread.

I typically start my day with eggs at home and here I have noticed the eggs have yolks that are very orange in color vs. the yellow we see at home. They are much tastier which makes me wonder what our chickens have been bred to produce. Each of these had a different hot cuisine, mostly egg dishes & sausage (gross!!).I just have to comment on the espresso availability here. Every corner has a little café where customers can sit outside, enjoy their espresso and pastry and watch the world pass them by. The chairs all face the road and the coffee drinks are the most amazing looking little pieces of heaven. Non-fat milk is very hard to find here so you can assume that all lattes are make with whole milk. The waiters that I have requested skim milk to, do not understand what I mean so I decided to just suck it up and drink whole milk and boy, will I be disappointed when I get home and continue to make my lattes with skim milk! I now have a different view of my Starbucks. Once thought to be my gold standard, having true European espresso taught me that starbucks coffee is CRAP! I mean it! This girl, who drinks starbucks everyday (though I make it myself), is declaring they probably have the worst coffee in the world! Pumped full of sugar because the coffee can’t flavor the milk enough, we Americans don’t know what we are missing. Forget dessert, forget sugary syrups, give me a straight German made latte and I am a happy girl.

[pretty much what I spent the day doing! Thank you for your patience Tori!!!]

After breakfast we just started wandering around town. We went to Checkpoint Charlie which was rather disappointing. Merely a series of posters and pictures I was expecting something more tangible. We walked and walked and saw large pieces of the Berlin wall, graffitied and colorful.

[the line where the wall used to be was marked with a two brick line throughout the entire city]

We saw a holocaust memorial where I may have shot my prize picture of the trip:

My favorite favorite favorite place we passed was a wrought iron gated building what was white and grey, with mirrored windows that reflected the blue sky. Growing in front of the building was the most gorgeous display of hydrangeas I have ever seen. I took the opportunity to take a ton of pictures even though I had to shoot through the gates. If there was ever a picture that was a collection of all the styles that epitomize “me” it would be this place. I loved it!!! If I ever had enough time & money I would have a garden like this!

We did a little bit of shopping along the way, mostly window shopping. It is very expensive over here and the dollar:euro exchange rate is not good. I did splurge in the Berlin Couture shop which sold “couture” Berlin logo clothing. I got Tommy a red track jacket and was amused when I asked the sales guy who was about the same size to try it on. I thought the jacket fit just right and he claimed it was way too big. He grabbed the smaller size, shoved himself into it and zipped on his second skin. “Now it fits,” he said. Picturing my husband in a jacket that was skin tight made me giggle and I ended up buying the larger size. I ended up with a bling black sweatshirt, encrusted in Swarovski crystals in the shape of the Berlin bear. It cost way too much, but I didn’t buy much else. I collect Swarovski crystal figures whenever I go anywhere, and had to get one for this trip. I found a Swarovski “maus” that I just had to have since this place reminds me of my grandmother (and her love of mice) and I figured I had to have the maus to remember Berlin. That was the extent of my shopping. Oh, one more—Tommy said not to get him anything while I was here, unless, of course, I found Heidi Klum and she wanted to come home with me. So, I just had to grab a German magazine with Heidi on the cover, so I hope he’s happy!

Some other random shots from the day:

[cutest smart car ever!!]

[beautiful office building]

[lunch at potsdamer platz]

[and what can I say, two girls, one hotel room ...]

For dinner, we went to Luttner-Wegner, one of the top 10 restaurants in Berlin, and offering an authentic German cuisine. The ambiance was amazing, the company was fantastic and the wine was plentiful. The potato soup was excellent (I have ordered it every day!) and the main entrée was great too. I had vegetarian ravioli and Tori had the famous, award winning Sauerbraten, beef soaked in vinegar and slow roasted. I swear, this tasted just like my mother & grandmothers cooking. I feel like I am at home! The wine was a German wine and I am kicking myself that I didn’t take the name of it. It was a champagne grape that provided just a hint of carbonation when it hit the tongue. It was by a long shot, the best wine I have ever tasted.

[on the platz near the restaurant]

[our lovely host's wife, a photographer from NYC, grabbed my camera and shot on the fly, declaring that photographers never have good pictures of themselves!]

[umm, that wine was the best I've ever had in my life. And I drank all I could!]

[beautiful dessert!]

The night was over. Off to Munich. I love this place.

Germany Adventure: DAY 2, Berlin by River

June 20, 2008, Germany Day 2

The second day in Germany began about 8am local time. We woke up in the most comfortable hotel bed I have ever slept in, got ready and headed to breakfast where we were greeted with a healthy, fresh spread. My favorite part of the whole thing was the ridiculously large bread selection separated into a bunch of little baskets behind a cutting board. You selected your bread, cut it fresh and topped it with one of the adjacent cheese selections. My favorite: “cream cheese” which was very similar to what we know as brie. That on top of a whole grain roll was heavenly! My colleague Ivy (from North Dakota) and I continued our Starbucks love affair and walked to get our familiar coffee from the Americanized Starbucks that was attached to our hotel. Somehow, it didn’t feel right to be drinking American coffee in Europe, and after my second coffee of the trip which was a true German “kaffee” I won’t make the same mistake again! We noticed last night that it was light for so long and inquired about the hours of daylight. What I learned was that Germany is situated further north than the US, comparable to northern Canada. Daylight during the summer is from 330am to 1030pm. In the winter, it is just the opposite, offering only 5 hours of daylight from 1030am to 330pm. Makes for a great summer, long winter. The climate is quite similar to the bay area, upper 70s during the day dropping into the 50s at night. It is such a lovely break from the 100 degree heat of Texas!

We boarded the bus and drove to our “Berlin by River” tour which was a two hour boat ride up and down the main waterway through Berlin.

I quickly became known as the boat photographer and was asked the rest of the day (by others on the boat) if I knew what I was doing or had a special passion for it since I was “taking some of the most interesting shots” according to one colleague. I just smiled and said I had a different eye since I have taken up photography. I so thoroughly enjoyed the trip, the scenery and the endless photographic opportunities. I took well over 300 pictures and was most intrigued by two things. First fascination: the bullet holes that lined the old walls of the river. The river runs through the city and is lined by buildings and had a polka dotted pattern than went on for miles, preserved so visitors would try to imagine what the hostile times were like during the “World War Second” as the locals call it. It made me close my eyes for a second and think of how hostile things must have been. The volume of bullet holes in the concrete is enough to make any one shiver.

The second fascination is the combination and strong contrast of old, intricate architecture and brand new, extremely modern buildings. One minute you are studying the carved stone, gilded turrets and historical masterpiece of a cathedral and the next building is a square box that is orange and covered in deliberately minimalist windows and lines, sometimes they were even attached together!

Since the city was leveled, there is still major building going on and while there is a lot of preservation of anything that still remained standing, there is also a lot of recreation of the old style of buildings. Sometimes only the facades remained and the building was added from the back so the front stayed about the same. Some building were left with just the original front door and built up with modern architecture around the original door; it is quite strange. We were on a boat that was over a hundred years old and had a large steam pipe sticking out the top. Since the bridges in Berlin are so low, every time we came to one (and there were about 15 on our short tour) we had to go into a “lock” where they blocked us into a holding cell, lowered the water a couple feet and then the boat staff lowered the pipe so we had enough clearance to go under the bridge, often just a couple inches! It was crazy! It changed my perspective for a couple of pictures that I wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise! Also worth noting, is the large city telecommunications tower than has a huge silver ball with many panels of reflective glass, not unlike a disco ball, but large enough in size to be compared to the Seattle Space needle. There is and was a lot of controversy regarding the ball, since as a complete coincidence, there is a reflection of the sun that is the exact shape of a cross from every angle the tower is viewed. After the war, the government here wanted to create an Atheist nation and was so upset about the strong presence of the inadvertent religious symbol that they tried everything to get rid of the reflection. Obviously nothing worked and I actually think it is kind of neat. Makes for a good story!

Few more shots from the boat( I would have done a slideshow, but picasa hates me today):

By this time I have completely fallen in love with this city. Tommy and I have always entertained the idea of a European tour with the Military since the largest Military hospital in Europe is in Germany and it may be a reality someday. The current medical flight path for the most critically injured is from Iraq to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and then to Lackland AFB, transferred to Tommy’s hospital, Brooke Army Medical Center. I would live here in a heartbeat. There is such social conscience that is long forgotten in the US. Only certain vehicles with certified emissions efficiencies are allowed into city center. What is seen is streets lined with smart cars and miniature Mercedes that are not offered in the US. Even the Honda civics is different, smaller. One tour guide remarked that people who bought the very expensive vehicles are out of luck as they sit with their hundred thousand Mercedes and can no longer drive them to work because they are not clean or small enough for the color sticker needed to head downtown. Bikes are ridden everywhere here, even by people in full business suits. Most remarkably, I have yet to see an obese person that is not American. There is no rushing on the street, there are warm smiles everywhere and what can only be described as a genuine love of life. I love it here. I could live here and not miss much of anything in the US.

The afternoon took those of us employed by Bayer to Bayer-Schering headquarters, where we toured the production facility and the only building that was left after the War, which now houses the Schering Museum. The production facility is where all of the drugs we sell are made and is lines and lines of sterile, sophisticated supply chains. The US YAZ was not in production today, but the European version of the product (same ingredients, different name), “Yasminelle” was. The packaging was completely different.

We saw where the US YAZ was produced and learned that just after the launch, there were additional personnel hired and production occurred 24 hours a day, 7 days a week just to meet the new demand. We almost faced backordering since the uptake of the product was so quick and successful. We also saw how Magnevist was packaged (a contrast medium for digital imaging-MRIs) and one of the Oncology drugs. Unfortunately, Mirena is made in Finland, so we were unable to see any of that in production. Much of Mirena production is still by hand, which would have been neat to see! We found out the night before that we had to have our legs covered in order to enter the plant and since many of us brought skirt suits, the trip director bought a massive amount of pantyhose and we all had to wear them. (gross!!!) Mine were tap/jazz costume style and were thick and shimmery and very tan. Lovely. Once we had those on, the white foot booties, the lab coat and hair cap, we were all sweating in our monkey suits. I was expecting the tour to be fascinating. I was a bit disappointed. The museum was interesting and preserved a lot of the history of our company. Who knew that Schering used to have a photography company?!? We were not in there long due to the lack of air conditioning, but it was nice to see where the home base of my company resides. Best fun fact: Berlex (what my company was called before Bayer bought out Schering AG and the US subsidiary, Berlex) stands for “BERlin EXport” since all the medication was and still is made in Berlin. Yep, those little YAZ & Yasmin pills still come from Germany, check your box!!

Once we got back, we decided to go have dinner at a rather disappointing restaurant, but dessert in a very hip, bustling place. There is a large Sony Center around the corner and a huge dome that is lit in changing colors that casts the most interesting ambiance over a huge courtyard full of restaurants and colored fountains. This area is called the Potsdamer Platz. I saw a picture of it on my yahoo homepage this morning as one of the most emailed photos regarding Berlin's upcoming fashion week!

[from outside the center]

[one of the main anchor buildings, I thought it was cool that all of the lights were on at night]

[in front of the fountains that constantly change colors]

[how cool is the roof? Also changed colors...]

We parked it at Josty’s for a latte (best I have ever had) for me and a sundae for Tori and enjoyed the light show. I ordered a carmel latte and it came with a side packet of carmel, which I definitely never used because the espresso was soooo good! Check out that froth! That's what you DON'T get with skim milk! I think tomorrow we are going to try another restaurant we saw for dessert, which had all white couches and white roses and candles. They even provided blankets if you were cold! It was a great way to end the day.

[inside the platz looking out towards the street]

Tomorrow is the last day in Berlin before we fly to the other side of the country, to Munich which we hear is the polar opposite of the cosmopolitan place!