Almost forgot

I was getting all tucked into bed, texting Lola that I was going to bed when I remembered that I needed to blog.  That was close.

Today was another good day.  I loaded my luggage into the car and checked out of my hotel before going to work.  I have a flight at 8:30 Friday morning to Madrid, Spain to meet with a company that we are looking to partner with on a project that we won.  Instead of dealing with traffic first thing in the morning, I decided to re-position to a hotel closer to the airport - I am 5 kms away.

We wrapped up testing mid-afternoon and otherwise I was able to get more work done.

After work I made my way to a small village 20 mins away called Andechs which I was recommended to visit.  There is an old brewery in a monastery on the top of a hill in the center of town.  Not sure you could get more Bavarian than this.

The drive was nice, hills and smaller roads.  There was some traffic but not much.

Literally driving through a corn field.  And I'm not in Kansas or Nebraska

When I arrived, there was a huge parking lot with not many cars.  By the time I left, the lots was starting to fill up...

The monastery is in very good condition (likely restored) and so are the surrounding buildings.  The walk up gave me a work out and I was almost starting to drip with sweat.  I was going to meet the guy from Bombardier here when he was done work for the day so I stayed in my work clothes and shoes.  Not sure if people thought I was a local who just got off work or just a tourist who was here for work.

As you walk up towards the monastery, you get some pretty good views:

I wandered around the monastery - I couldn't go in since the doors were closed and I didn't try them, for fear that there would be a service going on and I would rudely interrupt and be considered "not Canadian".  Interpret that as you wish.

I took a picture of two older ladies who were from Australia.  They were relieved I could speak English.

My Australian friends by the tree

The walls of the monastery

The view was pretty amazing.  You could see the Alps much better than in Munich at Olympiapark.

After wandering around for a bit, I made my way back towards the parking lot.  My guest should be arriving soon I was thinking.  I sat in the shade and checked some work emails.  There were a couple guys finishing their chainsaw wood carving for the day.  This carving must have been from last year, or 5 years ago:

Turns out, I'm not the only one who tends to work too much.  The guy from Bombardier had to do more work tonight and wasn't going to be able to make it.  That was too bad, Andechs is pretty cool.

So, I made my way back up to the bier gartens.  The "bier gartens" concept is very interesting.  Other than selling beer, the brewery/restaurant also sells food.  But, you don't have to order food - you can bring your own food (picnic, other "takeout" food, etc).  There was a couple making their way with their basket in hand:

Yogi Bear

No, that is not a small plate - it is a BIG pretzel

I ordered roast pork, potato salad and a pretzel.  And a beer.  I was going to get the dark beer but the guy selling said "Dark beer is very strong".  I was also cautioned by some of the guys from work, so I decided for the "light beer".  I did need to drive back down the roads and make a few sharp turns in the two villages along the way.

Dinner was good, so was the beer.

I then made my way back to the Tiguan and made my way back to Munich Airport, with a third of my pretzel still.  The drive back was good.  I tested the Tiguan more on the Autobahn, this time pushing it to 160km/h.  And I still was not the fastest.  Not even close.

There were some pretty cool houses by this lake

The green dial and green lines mean autopilot is engaged.  Adaptive cruise control slows the car down automatically and the lane assist keeps the car in its lane, even around corners.  It was almost like I was just there to press in the clutch and shift.

Along the way, I got gas so I don't have to do that at 6am tomorrow morning when I plan to leave the hotel.  I'm not sure how busy it will be in the morning but I do have a bag to check so I want to give myself lots of time to do that and get through security.  Plus there are lots of shops and I need to find a magnet to add to my work travel magnet collection.

Well I should try to go to bed.  But first I should see if the guys in Winnipeg finalized their documents for an approval today...

Good night!