Schwäbisch Hall pt. 2

Thursday in Schwäbisch Hall started out cool and grey, with light rain. Sasha picked us up in the bus and took us to a nearby town for our first company visit of the day, at Kärcher. I really enjoyed the visit - we had a presentation by a good tour guide, who didn't mind sharing her own experience and opinions, followed by a tour of the factory floor. It was all very interesting, and I will write more about it later.

Sasha then drove us back to the industrial area of Schwäbisch Hall, the location of our next two visits. The plan was to have lunch on our own in the area, but we didn't see many options. We went as a group to the "American" restaurant, the Southwestern Grill. It was pretty kitschy - a few American flags and Mexican blankets on the walls, along with other paraphernalia and I think wagon wheels. They were good to serve us all in a short time, but everyone was a little amused because nothing came out quite as expected. Most people tried to order burgers without mayo. Most of those orders came out then with no mayo on the plate with the fries, but with mayo still on the burgers. Also, people got the wrong sized burgers and were charged different amounts, but we all were fed.

Jeanette's friends had all begged us not to go there, claiming it was only a place people would eat after a long night of drinking, but since it was the only place we could find we took a chance on it.

After lunch, we walked to Klafs, the world leader in the construction of luxury saunas. We had a tour of the factory led by the head of sales, followed by a visit to the show room and then a Q&A in the fully functional sauna where they demonstrate their products to their commercial clients and wealthiest customers. Most everything was turned off, and of course we were clothed, but we learned all about how the Germans experience a proper sauna and our mostly American students thought it was odd that the salesman would use the sauna with the clients. True, he's one of the few people I've ever met in a respectable occupation who is usually naked with his clients. He says he always makes a sale, though! More about Klafs later.

Next we walked around the corner to Mobil Gunst, the furniture store owned by Tom Gunst. Tom and Tanja met us there to tell us about the business and lead tours. Helga also showed up to say hello. This is a true Mittelstand company, and Tom is the fourth generation owner. He is a salesman and loves talking about furniture. Things ran long, but we finally  concluded our business visits for the day. More about their business later.

By this time it had stopped raining, fortumately, and the plan was to walk back to our hotel in the center of town. We decided to stop at the train station along the way to buy train tickets for the the upcoming Saturday. It turned out to be a very long and somewhat stressful walk. Jeanette was walking very quickly and the group got spread out. I had a map of the most direct route pulled up on my phone and I wanted to discuss it with Jeanette but I could never catch her. We came to a major intersection which I thought would be my chance, but she didn't actually stop and headed off in the direction I didn't want to go. As we were standing there shouting at each other about which way to go (due to distance), Tanja showed up to give us some Gunst pens they forgot to distribute, and she confirmed I could walk the route on my phone. Meanwhile, motorists were angry that we were standing next the the crosswalk and not crossing, so I finally decided to just go my own way. The students with me followed, and poor Clark went with Jeanette feeling like his parents had just gotten a divorce.

Suddnly, Tanja appeared again to talk more in-depth about the route we should take, and she pulled a map out of her car and gave it to me to be sure we didn't get lost. Helpful, but we lost valuable time in our race down the big hill against the other group. As we walked down the path, we stopped to admire some huge snails. Super cool...  then we started walking again, and Jeanette was texting me to say she was going to the train station, not the hotel. I was texting back to tell her that's where we were going, when I heard the most horrible crunch under my feet and gasps from the students. Let's just say: people should not text and walk. Finally we made it to the bottom of the hill and saw Jeanette's group about a block away. Rather than wait for us, they turned and headed across the road to the train station, where we were finally reunited.

As we tried to figure out the train tickets, Tanya showed up again, followed by Helga and Till. It was funny that they kept appearing at every turn, but it's a good thing they did because Helga spoke to the conductor and figured out which was the least expensive ticket we should buy.

Finally this chaos was over, and I was worn out from five days of work. Everyone made dinner plans and disbursed into Schwäbisch Hall while I decided to have time by myself and walked back to the hotel. I headed to the sauna to relax and experience the health benefits of the German Sauna. The sauna area was pretty large, including a seating area, showers, steam room, cold tank, foot baths, four saunas of varying temperatures, a quiet relaxation room, and an outdoor seating room with a smoking area (of course). I tried it all out, excluding the steam room and smoking, alternating between hot and cold as is the custom. It was nice, but we learned that in order to have a proper experience one needs at least a few hours in the sauna. I only had an hour and fifteen minutes before closing. Thursday was supposed to be men's day in the sauna, so I thought it was a little strange that there were two women using the sauna and a woman attendant. It wasn't until I had been there an hour that I discovered the Panorama Sauna upstairs, which was that day's men's only section. Here there were two whirlpool baths, two or three more saunas, another quiet room and a second outdoor seating area, much of which had views over the river to the city center and hills beyond.

Once the sauna closed, I spent a little time exploring the hotel, the floor plan of which I found pretty confusing. The Solbad (sauna and pool area) was actually separate from the hotel but attached. As I was trying to figure out the pool area, I stepped out onto the rooftop sunbathing area where I soon found myself locked out, on the roof. Just before panicking, the attendant entered the hall and I got her attention through the open window so she could let me in. She also let me back into the hotel, where I eventually found the fitness room and did a brief workout before wrapping up the night checking email in the hotel bar.