May 5, 2012 - Regensburg

@@@@@@@ BACKGROUND Regensburg was constructed by the Romans and later became the first capital of Bavaria. For over 600 years it was lorded over by dukes, bishops and kings. The past 2,000 years have left their mark on the city’s architecture and it was declared a World Heritage-listed site in 2006. The city sits astride the Danube at a point where the river flows gently. It was here that an ancient stone bridge was constructed, and for centuries it was the only solid crossing along the entire length of the Danube. A canal was constructed...

May 3, 2012 - Departed Nuermberg, Germany

Departed Nuermberg on a Reunion/Business Trip.Will do this trip without the comforts of traveling in my house on wheels. Uschi and Chica are taking a break from traveling for awhile. I will be flying from point A to point G and then Home. My first stop will be in New York to visit our friends the Scheffer's then go to Florida to see my old driver/friend from Vietnam. From there we will drive to Nashville. Tennessee for the 3/4 Cav Reunion. From there I will go to San Antonio to visit the Trejo's and to take care of some VA business. I will...

Apr 28, 2012 - April At Its Best

@@@@@@@ We were so very fortunate to not only be able to ‘sit’ the apartment of our good friend Renate, but she introduced us to some of her long time friends and they were kind enough to take us to places in Munich and to include us in some of their activities. We met most of them for the first time when we visited Renate last October, but this time, we got to know them better and have them all to ourselves. Shortly after Renate left for her holiday to the Black Sea, we were invited to dinner with her friends Lotha, Karsten and Holgar. We...

Apr 21, 2012 - WOW what a study tour

This is day 7 of the study tour. We can all see the director of the program grading our exams on the bus as we drive but so far no news has been released. We have been to the largest brewery equipment supplier, the largest hop packaging and brokerage house, 8 breweries and 6 different cities. So far the best beer we've tasted has been the Karmelletin Unfiltered Helles. Last night in Dusseldorf our leader took us on a tour of the 6 local small breweries in the city center and one of them had maybe the second best beer we've tasted. In...

Apr 18, 2012 - Munich, Germany

We took a $100 taxi from the Munich Airport to our hotel in downtown Munich. The taxi cost about $45 more than the train, but at least we didn’t have to walk a mile and fight the bags, which have been gaining weight lately while at the same time, falling apart. We figure that they’ll make it back to Texas and then will probably be “retired”. We arrived at our “quaint” little, family run hotel located in a residential area and were greeted by the following sign in the lobby: BUSINESS HOURS Open most days about 9 or 10. Occasionally as...

Apr 16, 2012 - Cruising Down the Danube River

The ship transported us overnight from Budapest, Hungary to the city of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, which ranks among the youngest capital cities of Europe, yet retains a rich history dating back more than 2000 years. We walked through the historic town center, characterized by its Gothic-Baroque architecture, and viewed such sites as St. Martin's Cathedral, the Town Hall and the Franciscan church, which dates to the 13th century. The ship departed for Vienna just before lunch. We continued to cruise the Danube River and arrived at...

Apr 14, 2012 - European "Study Tour"

Tomorrow morning the 2012 Siebel/Doemens class will leave on the so called "Study Tour". I put that in quotes because the final essay exam for all those not coming back to Munich for the Master Brewer part of the course are now done and I doubt there will be any real studying of anything other than sausage, mustard, beer and sleeping. The 16 Master Brewer students still have plenty to learn but the next exam wont be until mid June. I have included a map of the locations we will...

Apr 11, 2012 - Essay Exam on Friday

So all I have to say about my life in Munich over the last week is that all I do is study. Except for one day, Sunday, I have been reading and reviewing and studying virtually all the time that I'm not at school. Sunday was of course Easter and three of us decided to go to a small town outside of Munich called Andechs. This is a town on top of a hill that is near a beautiful lake and you just would not believe it but there is German craft brewery up on that hill. We did have one beer each there and we visited the church on the very peak of...

Mar 31, 2012 - Munich !!! I mean MUNCHEN !!

Its been two weeks since I updated this because I was travelling all last weekend and I have been really busy all week trying to adjust to the time change and getting all my work done as well. We all gave our presentations on our last day of class in Chicago and were all relieved to finally be completely done with the book study portion of the course. We still have a lot to learn but here in Munich we get to actually be in a lab and a real production brewery as we learn so it seems less focused on rote memorization. After flying across the...

Mar 28, 2012 - Food in Europe!

In the last week of being in europe, we have eaten and tasted many different types of food. In Paris we enjoyed having French famous crepes out on our door step, as well as the fresh bread and croissants. On the way down from the neuchwastein castle in Germany, we tried Bavarian snow balls- a bit like a donut but cooked in a deep fryer and coated in icing sugar, which was amazing and cheap! Last night we went to a Italian restaurant in Austria and ordered a family margarita pizza not realising that it was going to be a meter long! We are...

Mar 27, 2012 - Munich

Having left Paris, we arrived in Munich late in the evening. Our hotel was in walking distance, so in single file with backpacks and wheely bags we headed through a rather unsavoury area. Michael led and I brought up the rear with the kids asking questions about table top dancing! Our hotel was great. Not easy to find a room for five in Europe, but we had struck it lucky. The room was exceptionally spacious and the buffet breakfast was very satisfying. If the kids are happy with the food - then we are happy! Munich itself is not a...

Mar 17, 2012 - Wurzburg

Wurzburg Today we arrived in Wursburg, which is in the top half of Bavaria. Graham spent 3 months living here over a decade ago and wanted to revisit the place again and also to grace his presence with his local bier garten - which we did do after a big walk around the castle on the hill. The place had a typical Bavarian charm to it, with a nice river flowing through the middle of the town, I love those kinds of towns :) Took a few pics and bought yet another Brestel - a yeasty product that is nice eaten hot, even though they pile rock...