Day 13-Friday... Buhler Visit in Uzwil, Switzerland

Today we loaded up the vans and headed toward Uzwil, Switzerland to visit the headquarters of Buhler. Buhler is the leading manufacturer of flour milling, chocolate production and pelleting equipment. We started the day with a presentation on all the areas that Buhler has a hand it. This includes commodity food handling, processed food handling, advanced materials, die casting, feed and renewable energy. The equipment they produce is amazing! And the research conducted in their pilot facilities is even more amazing! After a tour of the equipment manufacturing facilities, we headed over to Buhler's pilot scale flour mill, which is also used for teaching the Swiss Milling School students. Here, we got to have a hands-on approach and touch the wheat and flour as it was being milled into different fractions. We even got our very own Buhler hats and flour slicks! Again, we couldn't take any pictures, but the tours were amazing and I am really considering looking at Buhler more seriously when graduation time comes rolling around.

US flag (center) along with the Swiss flag and Buhler flags, welcoming us!

Buhler!!!

After a very informative tour of Buhler we headed a few kilometers over to the Minor chocolate factory, for some of the best chocolate in Switzerland and a self-guided tour of the chocolate making process! It was yummy!! After stopping for chocolate we were on the road again and headed back to Germany, where we would be spending the rest of our trip in Dr. Maier's hometown of Villingen. On our way, we stopped at the Rhein Falls to do a little sightseeing. The Falls and scenery were beautiful!

Rhein Falls

View from the top of the falls

Beautiful purple flowers!

Kyle making it rain petals!!

View from the bottom of the falls

After the quick stop at Rhein Falls we continued on to Villingen. After we quickly dropped off our bags at the hotel in Villingen we headed to a local Italian restaurant for supper and it was delicious!
-Anne

Day 12-Thursday... Sightseeing around Switzerland!

Today a couple of employees of Buhler, Tobias and Johannes, have so graciously decided to show us around the St. Gallen, Switzerland area! They were the best tour guides you could ask for! First we took a quick, educational stop at Switzerland's latest, state-of-the-art flour mill. This place was amazing and filled with all Buhler equipment! We couldn't take any pictures but it was pretty amazing! After that quick tour we made our way up the winding roads of the Alps toward Mount Saentis. Mt Saentis is the tallest mountain in Northeastern Switzerland and sits right at 2,502meters (or 8,209ft). Tobias treated us to a private cable car ride up to the top of Mount Saentis! The view at the top was breath-taking! We started our visit at the mountain top with a traditional Swiss dish for lunch, which included salad, schnitzel, but different than German schnitzel, it was pork loin wrapped in a dried meat and smothered with mushroom gravy all served with a side of veggies and spatzel followed with Swiss creme brulee, which was probably the best creme brulee I've ever had! Of course, we also enjoyed the local beer with lunch. After a very filling lunch, we headed outdoors to do some exploring. A large transmission tower and weather station are located on the top of the mountain as well. The clouds began to roll in so the spectacular view was limited, but still worth the trip!

Inside the cable car

View before we left in the cable car

View while going up

We made it to the top!

Transmitter and weather station

Transmission tower

The clouds moving in

Pretty purple flowers at the top

I could almost touch the clouds!

Snowball fight anyone?

The ride back down

View on the ride down

We made it down safely

Santis!

Our lovely cable car

Nice wheels, Lotus anyone?

After our fill of the top of Mt. Saentis we headed back down on the cable car and headed over to the local cheese shop for some authentic Swiss cheese! Next, we were loaded up in the vans and headed to the scenic little Swiss town of Appenzell for some shopping!!! Finally, someplace with open shops for us to spend those euros! We stopped at the city center and made our way around all the shops. I found an amazing new purse that I just couldn't live without!! After a little bit of shopping and P. Kitty and Brian finding some ice cream, we headed back to St. Gallen via Tobias's 'short-cut'. This short-cut should have gotten us back to the hostel in 20-30 minutes but since we ended up getting lost it took over an hour to get back! Oh well... A quick pit-stop at the hotel, the purchase of a train ticket into the St. Gallen city center and we were ready for another dinner hosted by Buhler! Again, the food was phenomenal!
-Anne

Day 11- Wednesday... St. Gallen, Switzerland

Well our time in the Munich area has come to a close, today we make our way to Switzerland! We began our journey to St. Gallen, Switzerland to stop at the Swiss Milling School. The Swiss Milling School is located in the heart of St. Gallen, which is located between Lake Constance (which was beautiful) and the mountains of the Appenzell Alps, where Mount Santis, the tallest is located. At this point the group had lunch together, homemade pizza made by the baker of the test lab for the school and Buhler. The pizza was delicious along with a traditional Austrian pastry for dessert. A few members of the group, Kyle, Adrian, Sarah G, Dr. Madl and I headed west to the Zurich area to visit the Paul Scherrer Institute. PSI is a federal funded research facility that focuses on Matter and Materials, Human Health and Energy and the Environment. When the institute opened research was focused on nuclear science and physics research but has since broadened their research focus. We were given a short presentation of the highlights of the institute and then headed out to visit a few research labs. PSI houses the Swiss Light Source Synchrotron used as an electron accelerator used to produce x-rays to determine the structure and shape of materials, down to the nanometer size range. They also have a Spallation Neutron Source and a proton accelerator used for proton therapy, that has been found to be very effective for treating deep seeded tumors in human patients. We weren't able to see the synchrotron or various particle accelerators but we were able to see a full-scale solar concentrator that is used to conduct very high temperature chemical reactions. The solar concentrator is similar to a large conical mirror that works by focusing the sunlight into a small focal point. Enough solar energy can be concentrated to generate temperatures in excess of 3,000 degrees Celsius! At these temperatures, researchers were able to make lime and melt concrete blocks! It was indeed a very interesting facility to visit!

K-State in the house!!

Learning about fuel cells

Research bay

A fuel cell up close

How a fuel cell powers your car

Now that's a capacitor

Pellets made from grass and wood

Solar concentrator

PSI

After the visit to PSI we headed back to St. Gallen to meet up with the rest of the group for a dinner hosted by Buhler. Again, the hospitality was amazing and the restaurant picked by Buhler was amazing! I had some very delicious spatzel with chorizo, pork and a mushroom sauce followed by fresh strawberries in ice cream! After dinner, Gorges, an employee of Buhler took us out to a local bar/club. There we enjoyed a beer or two and met some locals. Well locals to the area, we meet a couple of guys from England, Germany, Switzerland and Austria that were all attending school in St. Gallen. One actually dated a girl from Kansas! And would be heading back to the states, to California, this summer to study finance at Berkeley. Small world! It was quite an adventurous night and got just a little bit better when we made our journey home! The hotel we were staying at was on the edge of St. Gallen and at the top of a never-ending hill! The hotel was also considered to be a youth hostel, so by the time we made it back the halls were filled with students, most younger than us! The sleeping arrangements were also dorm-style, a room with 2 sets of bunkbeds and a sink with the showers and toilets down the hall. Good thing I brought flip-flops! The shower/bathroom was even more fun with the automatic, motion detector lighting that couldn't detect when you were in the shower. Nothing like waving your arm out the shower door every 2 minutes to get the lights to turn back on! It was an adventure to say the least!lol

Church of St. Gallen

The sights on the way to dinner in St. Gallen

-Anne

Day 10-Tuesday... Munich Area!

After the relaxing visit to the Eagle's Nest and Salzburg, we were ready for some more learning! The first stop today was to the Technical University of Munich, which was right up the road from the hotel. We started off with a few lectures on the starch research and analytical testing done at the University. We also got to tour a variety of labs at the University including those use for analytical baking analysis, mycotoxin detection and even equipment used to detect the different aromas found in bread! The amount of analytical testing going on was crazy and since they tend to work with such small sample sizes they had a miniature baking line! After the trip to the University we headed over to the Rosenmuhle owned by Kampffmeyer. This processed both wheat and rye into flour. Again, this was a state-of-the-art mill and one of the finest mills in all of Germany! One of the most interesting parts of the mill tour was seeing the automated system for truck unloading (of wheat or rye) and loading (flour). The system was completely automated and cleaning and filling was ran with the highest precision.

After our tours of the University and Rosenmuhl, we headed back to the hotel. After a quick pit-stop at the hotel, we ventured up the road to the Weihenstephan Brewery, also known as the oldest brewery in the world! Unfortunately, our tour of the mill took too long and we were unable to tour the brewery but we were able to have supper. And as always the beer was great and the food was even better! I had the traditional pub sausages with German potato salad!
-Anne

Day 9-Monday... Munich Area!

Today's adventure began with a 2+ hour car ride to the Eagle's Nest near Berchtesgaden, Germany. The Eagle's Nest was a private retreat given to Hitler on his 50th birthday. Getting to the Eagle's Nest proved to be a little more difficult then anyone intended. 2 vans were required to transport everyone to the Eagle's Nest, while the 3rd van headed in the opposite direction to check out Ludwig's Castle. The fastest route to the Eagle's Nest required a short, but expensive, jaunt through Austria. Apparently, the Austrian Autobahn is a toll road and if you do not stop to pay the toll, prior to entering Austria, a 120 euro fine is handed out by a 'friendly, English-speaking' Austrian once you cross that border. That was interesting, but nevertheless we persevered! We finally found our way up the winding roads of the Austrian Alps to the bus stop that takes you the rest of the way up to the Eagle's Nest. It is required to take a bus since it is a one-way road past the bus station. Once you make the journey up on the bus, to a small landing area, a short 2 minute elevator ride takes you up the final distance. The elevator ride was very short, the line to get on the elevator was very long! But at least we were out of the rain. The view once we got off the elevator was spectacular!! A short hike up a little higher and the view was even more breath-taking!

View of the Alps along the trip to Berchtesgaden

Sweet car we saw at the train station

View from the top of the Eagle's Nest

Me with the gorgeous view behind

The Eagle's Nest, from the bus drop off

Bus drop off, through the tunnel was the elevator to the top

The clouds starting to roll in

Motorcycle parking at the Eagle's Nest. Notice the trike with the 2 wheels in the front? Interesting!

Dave and Adrian at the top of the Eagle's Nest

Snow at the top!

KSU!!

Kyle posing

After we finished up at the Eagle's Nest we began the journey back to Freising, with a pit-stop in Salzburg, Austria for some shopping!! Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and also the setting for 'The Sound of Music'. Today is a religious holiday in Germany so pretty much all the shops (except a few souvenir shops) are closed. We were hoping they didn't celebrate this holiday in Austria, but no such luck! We did find a flee-market type event going on along the Salzach River, so we checked that out! After a little shopping we found a cozy little Greek restaurant and had a wonderful supper before heading back to Freising.

Map of Salzburg, in case we got lost

Amazing amethyst ring I want!

Just chilling along the Salzach River

Some authentic Greek beer with dinner

Orzu shots, compliments of our waiter

-Anne