Week Eight (i) - BMW Tour and Preparing for Dresden and Prague!

Mon 25.2.13:

After we got up, I tried working on Krupp materials, but my sleepiness overwhelmed me and I fell asleep from 8 until 11:30. Since I missed class (apparently so did two others, so class ended early anyway) I had time to finish my homework and go for a run. Midway through I decided to run all the way to school, arriving in time (yet with no materials) for Econ and E40. Then, after Shane and I picked up burritos from Dolores, several of us relocated to my place to finish the E40 pset, which took us until 3 once again :/

Tue 26.2.13:

After our Krupp meeting (Wolf: "You know what schnapps are? How do you know this? Ah, someone must have told you..."), Molly and I headed to the Deutsches Historisches Museum. We really liked the post-WWI area, particularly the various propaganda posters for the war and for the Nazi Party, replete with details about the Reichstag fire and subsequent consolidation of power. We also saw pictures of Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences as well as coverage of the Nuremberg Trials.

Käthe Kollwitz's famous 'Never Again War'
Kollwitz protested war and women's rights through her art

Propaganda: 'The enemy can see your light!'

Massive 8.8cm flak gun (one of the war's heaviest)

Globe from Hitler's office (?)
The picture in the corner is of Chaplin's The Dictator

We weren't as thrilled with the full German history (from 500 BCE on), but we did observe these: 

Mechanical clocks (1529) were seen as artistic 

products of the human spirit and image of the 

clockwork of creation set in motion by God

Martin Luther's luxury edition of the complete Holy Scripture, 

an "unsurpassed masterpiece of the art of printing."

The Behaim Globe is the oldest preserved depiction 

of the Earth in globe form. It does not include the 

Americas,  having been produced in 1492.

Otto von Bismarck

This section also includes paintings of Liberty Leading the People, Germania, and the inauguration of the Reichstag in 1888, as well as sculptures of Cupid and Psyche, stained glass images of Wilhelm II, and various WWI military devices.

American propaganda posters

Outside the Deutsches Historiches Museum

We'd planned to see the Guggenheim next, but it doesn't open until April (sad!) so we proceeded to the original Cafe Einstein, which is reputed to have the best apple strudel, and is featured in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds. The interior was indeed quite fancy, and the menu prices certainly reflected the environment. We each got an apple strudel, one with cream, one with vanilla - and I must agree: by far, these apple strudels were truly excellent. Cream and vanilla notwithstanding, these strudels featured very thin dough with nuts and thinly sliced apple slices, which allowed them to pick up more of the scrumptious cinnamon sauce. A genuine work of culinary accomplishment!

That wasn't quite enough of an actual dinner for us, so we picked up Mustafa's and Curry 36, respectively, hung out in the warm(er) subway, and finally headed home.

Wed 27.2.13: 

In preparation of our program-wide excursion to Dresden this Friday, we each had to select a building or topic from Dresden to present, and I chose the Zwinger, the grand palace built in the early 18th century that now houses the Old Masters Picture Gallery, Dresden Porcelain Collection, and Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments.

Zwinger in summertime

For Berlin vor Ort, we toured a heavily-Communist area in formerly East Berlin. We started at the security building, which kept files on all important persons - Dr. Jander was shocked to learn he had a 400+ page file, including old love letters! - and could use that information to utterly ruin certain 'dangerous' individuals. Next we visited a Protestant church that hosted several protest discussions and currently holds an exhibit on youth dissent and protest. Finally, we witnessed the memorial to the June 17, 1953 uprising against the Communist regime in East Germany.

Many subways showcase art installations - this stop
features ~20 pieces documenting German history  

Security building of East Germany

Each building in this intersection had lizards!

The 17 June memorial honors the chant, "We want to be free men."
Apparently, the plaque is stolen often by those who don't wish to remember

I returned to the center to attend Rob and Brigit's second open house, then filled out my Krupp materials until dinner. I got Mustafa's with Anna, Keziah, Molly, Sherri, and Shane (got to see them change the döner on the spit, but had to wait half an hour), booked it home to Skype with Ben about Relay logistics, and then ran - I was happy with ~6.9mi at 7:00 pace :)

Thu 28.2.13:

Today our Econ class took a tour of the BMW plant, which was incredibly cool! We started in the showroom, and naturally took pictures of ourselves on the display bikes. We then got a full tour of the mechanical component production and assembly areas (no photos allowed). I enjoyed seeing the component warehouse (certain pieces had holes drilled throughout, decreasing weight by 20%) and robots at work, but I was more interested in the management ideas regarding efficiency and productivity. 

 - small meeting tables on the warehouse floor save time and space compared to regular office meeting rooms

 - the manager constantly seeks worker feedback, keeping a 'Today for Tomorrow' outlook

 - individuals are awarded bonuses for creative ideas

 - streamlined production chains within the warehouse, including overhead conveyor belts

Max speed we saw (on another bike) was 280kph, or 175mph 

Me and Lilia on the red two-seater

A Berlinale (the film festival) motorbike!

In the assembly warehouse, we saw pictures of BMW models through history, and how they're produced today (our guide lamented a non-working component by saying, "Come on, guy" - we're all adopting Shane-isms). I was once more impressed by the assembly processes, especially the manual hands-on inspections at the end of production. Also, in keeping with listening to worker input and/or boosting worker morale, we heard Taylor Swift's "Trouble" playing overhead haha.

Once we'd finished, Susan, Shane, and I rushed back to the center to complete our E40 lab; luckily, this one was really quick, and we finished by 10 anyway. Afterwards, I headed home, checked Relay stuff and email, packed for Dresden and Prague, and then crashed.