Germany Day 3: Max Morlock Stadium

Of course, the motivation behind this visit to Germany is a software conference for work. Last night, a variety of the METTLER-TOLEDO technical writers had a reunion at the dasPaul bar. I got to see Deborah and Mark from Tampa, and Victor from Switzerland.  New faces included Joanna (Poland. She had reached out to me about 6 months ago), Janine (Switzerland) and Konrad, Uda and Ellen (Germany). We had a wonderful time! Victor gave the best toast ever: "Thank you all for coming It's so good to see you! Here's to... here's  to.... well... everything!" Dinner was fun with a lot of clowning around, drinking just the right amounts, and staying up way too late, especially Joanna and I, especially since today was the first day of our conference.

Here's the entire Schema staff who hosted the conference. 

To be fair, the silliness that ensued was precedented by the catering staff! 

I wonder what they're up to...

The conference was really good. Each vendor offered a prize to be raffled off - really cool things, too, like a racing drone, a Kindle, a record player, passes for a bungee-jumping adventure, a little AI robot that learns, and a headphone set with translation software from my favorite vendor, Faust Translations. Along with all the pens and branded sticky notes, one vendor's giveaway was beer! God bless Europe! Why does America have to be so uptight about everything?? 

Our group won a spot in a tour of the Max Morlick Stadium! We made a lot of good connections. Once we finished the serious business of trying not to fall asleep mid-lecture, we had a lovely long walk across the grounds to the stadium, complete with a dude ranch adjacent to what had been Nazi parade grounds.  Zoom in to see the verbiage.

And there the fun began! We got lost several times because it's at least a mile walk through the fuBball bath and park. When we finally found Deb, I called out to her, not realizing she was with the tour. That earned us a number of dark looks. To try not to be disruptive, we hung at the back of the group, giggling and carrying on. 

The public bath.

They had at least 3 signed shirts.

Prost, Joanna!

Fans always think their club is THE BEST.

It's a sign! :D

"Sign"

The stadium has a jail cell for the criminally-enthusiastic.

Joanna, Mark and the top of Victor's face. (Occupational hazard of being a short photographer.) Yes, that's the free beer.

Mutual photojournalism. 

If you zoom in closely, you'll see that's the doping control room! Ellen, Uda and Victor have been holding out on us...

Before and after a night in the jail cell. Addiction is a terrible disease. 

Somehow,  Mark got into.that poster!

Dead weeds always make a centerpiece more interesting. 

At dinner, Victor paid me the biggest compliment! He watched incredulously... After failing to find a replacement for my knife (absconded by the waitstaff), I asked Deb to.pass me a clean one. She ignored me, as she was busy clowning around with Janine, so I stole hers (we both had roast beef)! I gestured to Ellen to keep quiet, mouthing "Let's see how long it takes her to notice." As I resumed eating my roast beef with my ill-gotten gains, Victor said, "You just destroyed everything I ever believed about Americans."

I am really going to miss these guys.