Modern Intelligence

As we toured through Italy and Greece, we marveled at how intelligent and talented people were hundreds and even thousands of years ago. They designed and built massive structures of incredible strength and beautiful, detailed design.

Today, we appreciated the expertise of people who design and create modern technology as we toured the Volkswagen Glass Factory where they specialize in assembling the luxury car, Phaeton. The vehicle is carefully hand assembled, with every kind of extra you can imagine. The factory is 4 stories high, with glass walls and Canadian maple floors. There is hardly any noise and everything is spotlessly clean. There are three different assembly lines where everything is digital and robotic. Any heavy lifting is done mechanically. Working conditions are wonderful. Employees are even allowed to leave early on days when there are International soccer finals.

Here are some facts we remember:

-each car they make is pre-ordered and custom made
-each car takes about 30 hours to assemble
-they make about 48 cars per day
-at each station in the assembly line the worker has 19 minutes to complete the task, as opposed to 1or 2 in a regular plant
-the only things done to the vehicle by robotics are engraving the serial number and mounting the body onto the chassis
-the parts are brought in from different cities in Germany
-the assembly line moves around an oval slowly, like a conveyor belt
-parts are delivered to the employee on a robotical cart programmed to go to the specific station
-robots do any heavy lifting
-when the vehicles are complete, they are put into the cylindrical building until they are picked up or shipped
-70% of the vehicles are sold to customers from China
-they are well-known for the customer service experience
-when a customer picks up the vehicle, they go into a special room where the vehicle comes up from the floor on an elevator and a screen opens to reveal it
-customers coming from outside of Dresden can have their whole vacation planned by the company
-some options include, a built in refrigerator in the trunk that can be accessed from the back seat, a "boss" button for the back seat passenger side to push up the front seat if more leg room is desired, any color of paint, they will even match a pink scarf you bring them
-prices range from 70-140 thousand Euros

If you want to see it in action, go to VW Dresden on you tube.

Dresden

We had a lazy start this morning. Cornie is still struggling with a chest cold and since we had bought groceries, we slept in and then made toast and coffee. After breakfast we could faintly hear the sound of musicians playing hymns through the open window of our fifth floor suite. Curiosity got the better of me so I walked down to the square to find three men busking- two trumpets and a trombone. After watching them for a while, I wandered through the streets and up through the promenade by the river.  The old town was already bustling with activity.

Then I went back to our suite to get Cornie and we walked around a little before purchasing a bratwurst and gluehwein (warm wine and orange juice with spices). As we sat by the river eating our lunch, I realized why I like The Forks so much. It's the closest thing to the pedestrian zones of Germany. But it's just not the same, so I am trying to soak up every minute. For dessert, we went to a cafe we had seen yesterday that had specialty ice cream. We each had a kind of spagetti ice cream, my memory of when I was in Germany 15 years ago!

In the late afternoon we took a hop on hop off bus tour of the city.  Dresden was badly bombed just at the end of WWII, so the many magnificent buildings had to be rebuilt. The Frauenkirche (lutheran church of our lady), rebuilt in 2005 is stunning. There are a lot of memorials and monuments for people who helped rebuild the city. The castles on the hillside along the river, surrounded by fall colors, were a beautiful sight!

Driving to Dresden

The drive from Munich to Dresden was about 5 hours. This time our Autobahn experience was much smoother. Our hotel is right on the pedestrian zone. Emily, our GPS lady, kept wanting us to turn onto pedestrian streets, which were crawling with people! Every day seems to have some type of adventure in it, as we figure out how each city, hotel, transportation system, restaurant etc. works. And just when we start to feel comfortable, it is time to move on.

We are very thankful that the adventures have not been too stressful and that everything always works out. Every day we feel so blessed with how God is taking care of us as we marvel at His works in this part of the world!

Our hotel is an apartment with a living room and kitchen. We found a grocery store within walking distance and bought a few things for our breakfasts and lunches. So now we can have as much coffee as we want! :) There is even a washing machine in our suite. Booking hotels online, you never  know what you will get and we have been so impressed with all of them so far.

After settling in, we walked around a bit and then had dinner at a restaurant. It had been 21 degrees during the day, but the evenings cool down quickly. We sat outside, but thankfully they had heaters. We love sitting in outdoor cafes, so we want to take advantage of as many opportunities as we can. The weather has been unusually warm, but unfortunately it looks like its not going to last too much longer.

We have a tour of the VW factory booked for Monday morning and found out it is just a 15 minute walk from here. Today I said we should have worn a pedometer for the whole trip to see how far we've walked.

Sorry we have no pictures today, since most of the day was driving. We still wanted to do an entry though, since we know so many of you are checking in on us daily. Thanks for all of your prayers! And thanks for the emails. We enjoy keeping in touch with life back home!

Have a great weekend!

Munich

Munich
cafes, shops, buskers 

flower shops, chestnut stands, fruit stands

people watching on a warm, sunny day in October

At 12:00 the glockenspiel starts

we listen and watch as we sip our coffee at a nearby cafe

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial

Our mood becomes very somber

It is horrific and incomprehensible

An eye opening experience

How is it possible that people could treat other human beings that way

Never Again.

Back in Marienplatz I settle Cornie into a cozy cafe for a "Bier und Breze"

It's time to explore Hugendubel-the World of Books

I admire the Advent calendars and children's books

Theology, novels, and so many recipe books...

Five floors and so little time

How slowly will he drink?

A small purchase and we're off to dinner

We say good bye to Munich

The familiar subway route leads us back to Hotel Orly

An enjoyable city

Exploring Munich

We had a good day wandering through the pedestrian zone. One of the towers of the Frauen Kirche (Church of the Lady) was under scaffolding. It seems there is a lot of that now that peak season is over. The flower boxes on the window sills of the city hall were overflowing! Unfortunately the glockenspiel didn't play, not sure why. Even though buskers dressed as statues are a common thing, they still seem to get people to jump as they walk by. It's fun to stand and watch for a while. Naturally Hofbrauhaus was one of our stops! And tonight we will be testing the quality of one of the bakeries. :)