We took the "tour" of the tower which consisted of putting us in a glass box (about the size of a car) and having the arm pick us up and take us to a parking spot on the top story. There we could exit the glass box and step onto a glass viewing platform to look out over the country side. It was really beautiful and it was great to see the automatic arm moving the cars around! Here's some videos I took!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
VW Factory in Wolfsburg, Germany
Two of the amazing structures at the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, are the parking structures which park cars that will be delivered to customers. They are two 20-story glass towers which park 20 cars on each level. An automatic arm moves cars from the factory floor into the parking spaces and then from the parking spaces to the delivery building for passengers to pick up.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
At the "Gate"
Since Air Canada leaves from the "air stairs" here in Frankfurt, I get to
wait or my flight in a hot and spartan tin shed. It reminds of the remote
terminal in San Francisco where Skywest flights to Modesto used to leave
from.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Frankfurt U-Bahn
Our U-Bahn train in Frankfurt, from train station to hotel. A Siemens U2,
just like the San Diego Trolley!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Dom
The late afternoon sunlight really cooperated, completely bathing the
cathedral's facade in warm, soft light, so I couldn't resist one last photo
of the Dom in Cologne.
Cathedral
A cathedral seen in Bonn, Germany. Not sure what the name is, but beautiful
to see looking up the street.
Beethoven Statue and Old Post Office
A statue of Beethoven in front of an old post office in Bonn, the old
capital of West Germany.
Cologne Half Marathon
Devin at mile 7 in the Cologne Half Marathon. Beautiful course through the
forest and parks east of the city!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Cologne Tram
These little tourist "trains" are running all over Cologne. An alternative
to the open top bus tour.
Mercedes Taxis
There is a smattering of Opels and Volkswagens, but the taxi of choice in
Germany is clearly the Mercedes Benz.
Haribo Tent!
A sidewalk tent featuring every imaginable Haribo product. These are the
gummy bear people....gummy bearts, gummy worms, gummy anything. The only
brand Devin will eat.
Toys from Afrika
These small toys were made by children in Africa from basically junk. They
are on display at the chocolate museum in Cologne.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Bike Rental
Denis rents a bike through the Deutsche Bahn's Call-a-Bike program. Only 9
euro for the whole day! Big photo taking excursion around Cologne ensued.
Airplane Spotting
Devin at Frankfurt Airport!! Possibly the best airport in the world for
spotting due to the diversity of airlines and aircraft, and the constant
amount of activity.
Koeln Hauptbahnhof
Main train station in Cologne. Our departure point for today's adventure to
Frankfurt.
Walking to the Train
Walking through Cologne's pedestrian shopping zone in the early morning, on
our way to the train station.
Station Signage
No bureaucratic prose here, just a direct message for train passengers to
remind them to step onto the station platform, not drop off down into the
track bed.
Pizza for Dinner
After a long day at the airport, pizza was in order. We found this great
place (on the right of the photo) near Rudolfplatz, just two S-bahn stops
from the hotel.
View from the Train
This is what the German countryside looks like, passing through at 300
km/hr. Most of my photos here were just a blur; this was one of the few
salveagable.
Rainy Cologne Evening
Got back from Frankfurt Airport to find rain in Cologne. Not too bad, it was
off-and-on and still manageable to walk around with an umbrella.
We're Not Crazy
We're not crazy...all these people paid to come watch airplanes too.
(Unless we're all crazy).
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Stadtwald
Duck pond in the Stadtwald, one of Cologne's many large public parks that
ring the central city.
Schwebebahn Tracks
The schwebebahn in Wuppertal is a hanging train that runs along a track
suspended above the river. Far from a novelty, this system is heavily used
by thousands of riders a day, travelling up and down the valley. It's
unfortunately closed for maintenance during the holiday summer season, so we
were unable to ride on it. They have a replacement bus service during the
closure, which runs articulated buses every 5 minutes, and was still packed!
Bus Stop
Suburban bus stop outside Cologne. Like in the U.S., most of these routes
out in the suburbs run hourly or so, and only sporadically in the evenings
and on weekends.
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