Thursday, April 4

The reason we are in Munich is because we hit a sales goal with Hunter Douglas window coverings. We started our business when we moved to Grand Junction, Colorado (2004). We eventually became a Centurion dealer which means we sell only Hunter Douglas. We decided to do that for the same reason we did not want to use the word "Budget" in our business name. We wanted to sell the best (not the cheapest.) We believe in quality and Hunter Douglas delivers on quality.

We started this day with a business meeting. We were informed of the new products coming as Hunter Douglas continues to adapt to the needs of the consumer and to the "type" of consumer. We also learned a lot about marketing trends especially as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are all ways of marketing as well as SEO.

After the meeting we had about 90 minutes before we went on a "city tour." We decided to venture out to town and find a place to eat. We found a true Bavarian restaurant (with not a hamburger in site on the menu.)

We gathered on a bus for the city tour. Honestly, it was a bit difficult to understand everything being said because of the accent of our tour guide. But I picked up that Germany has "states." We are in the state of Bavaria and Munich is it's capital. That made so much sense to me now. I realized why the flight attendant kept telling Ben "You will enjoy a Bavarian beer." or "Here is Bavaria...."

We drove by the BMW plant and we drove by the Olympic village (I had really hoped we would stop there. We stopped at the Nymphenburg Castle. Oh . my. word!

The main building

Wedding photos were being taken there

This is a stock photo to show the massiveness of this castle!

A beautiful place for a photo.

Apparently the castle (main building) was a gift from Ferdinand Maria to his wife Henriette Adelaide upon the birth of their son Maximillian II Emanuel (in 1664). Here honey, here's a castle for producing an heir. (This was the prince-electoral couple of Bavaria.)

Starting in 1701, Maximillian undertook a systematic extension of the palace. (Look at the aerial photo.) Holy cow.

This was just a quick stop for us so there was no going inside. The city tour headed back to the hotel for a "walking tour." But a friend or ours had told us there was "river surfing." So a couple on the bus told us yes in fact there was river surfing basically in our backyard of the hotel at the English Gardens. So we ventured out to see if we could watch the surfers.

This was sooooo cool to watch!

River surfing! It’s a thing, really. I’m glad we were told about this and even happier it was basically in our hotel's backyard.

Curiously, the Eisbachwelle was created entirely by accident. Concrete blocks lie underneath the water just beyond the bridge. They were placed there by engineers to slow the flow of the water down, adding to the feeling of serenity in the public park but in doing so, a rapid further down was created. Since then, local surfers have attached ropes to the bridge, forcing the water to break more cleanly and with more consistent height.

We watched this for a while and we meandered through the English Gardens and then headed back to the hotel. I got to listen to a man playing the clarinet in a big open square and I loved that as I used to be a pretty good clarinet player. My clarinet was stolen in high school when someone broke into the music room and I never replaced it and I just kind of stopped playing.

To me "the sweet sounds of the clarinet."

I know this is getting long, but this is a historical reference for us. I do not mind if you stop reading. That evening (again courtesy of Hunter Douglas) we were taken by bus to Lowenbraukeller. From the minute you walked in a mug of beer was put in your hand. The food was outstanding as was the entertainment. Hunter Douglas really does these events up well. We had a very fun evening.