Amy and Galv Squad goes to Europe - April 2024

This was a whirlwind of a trip. So busy, so many places that we went, so much time on a bus, so many galvanizing lines, and such an awesome time. Eric, Jack, and I were fortunate that our company agreed that we could go on this study tour. We saw 5 galv lines across Europe and 2 equipment manufacturers, had a lot of technical discussions, met a bunch of awesome and smart people, and experienced so much in a sort amount of time. I feel that I failed in my picture taking to really capture what this trip was like.

Vienna, Austria:

We started the tour in Vienna, Austria. Very cool city and so much to see. We walked around a bit, found ourselves a traditional coffee shop (Cafe Schwarzenberg), toured around the Belvedere Palace, found a local brewery, ate some local foods like Leberkas and sausages (Sausages or Die!) and schnitzel, went to some cool bars, scootered around the city, and generally saw some buildings and stuff that we don't see in Fort Wayne, IN. This was a pretty amazing city, and I would love to come back here with more time and N8 so he could enjoy the buildings. We also took a bus to Linz to tour Voestalpine's galvanizing line, and we got a view of the Alps from the bus. Our first tour was on a Friday, so we got all Saturday to spend in Vienna, then we hopped on the train to get to the airport and fly to Hanover, Germany.

Braunschweig, Germany:

We flew to Hanover, but took a bus to Braunschweig. We got Sunday afternoon to explore the town, including a walking tour. This was an interesting town, as there was a lot of old looking things that weren't actually old. I think this place was hit pretty hard in WW2, so much of it was rebuilt but trying to still keep some of the old-history. I wish I was more of a history buff, but for some reason, it just doesn't stick with me very well. We got to see some cool stuff, I got myself a bubble tea, there were some fun buildings and artwork around. It was a pretty sleeping seeming town, although it was Sundays, so that could have been a thing. The next day, we toured Saltzgitter, then took the bus to Dusseldorf.

Dortmund and Dusseldorf:

Toured one of Thyssen Krupp's galv lines, which had some really nice paint on the outside of their buildings. We didn't spend too much time in Dortmund, but did get some local beer and food from a beer hall. That seemed like a very German thing. In Dusseldorf, we got to tour Fontaine, which makes galv pot equipment. Very nice shop there, and amazing hospitality from the Fontaine family. They coordinated and provided probably some of the best food I have had. We also went to SMS in Dusseldorf, and saw an assortment of equipment that the make and/or maintain for the industry. Dusseldorf was pretty cool, and the hotel we stayed at was fun (one of the Luna hotels). I also tried a lot of food I wouldn't normally go for, like blood sausage, liverworst, and some other meat products that I cannot remember, and probably cannot pronounce. I probably would not order it again, but trying to live a little. Here, we also went to some fun bars and walked along the river and canal. My pictures here were not all that great, but we didn't have much time in the day for exploring. Most of my pictures were centered around food or really random stuff. Sorry....

North Sea and Wijk aan Zee:

OMG, so much time on the bus today. I think it was over 3 hours to go from Dusseldorf to Tata Steel Netherlands. Then it was another 3+ hours on the bus to get to our next overnight in Ghent, Belgium. This place might have been the most interesting, mainly because it was kind of sleepy and also a town that was made for the people at the steel mill. So from this cute little town, you can see the steel mill in the background (not the prettiest place to have in the background). And then on the other side, you have the North Sea, which was kind of cool and literally cold. We spent very little time here, so I don't have many pictures. But a lot of great memories from the bus, where I learned how to open a beer bottle with a key, and I also learned how to open a beer bottle with another beer bottle. I might have cut my finger a couple times, but luckily I had some bandaids with me so I could keep trying to open the beers! The only downside of the beers is that I had to pee like crazy when we got to the hotel. I literally pushed someone (nicely) out of my way to get off the bus and ran to the lobby. I am not sure I have ever had to pee that badly. These kind of memories are so strong, haha.

Ghent, Belgium:

This city was also very awesome, and we got more time to explore here, mainly because the tour ended on a Friday, after going to Arcelor Mittal Ghent, Belgium, but we decided to stay over on Saturday and fly home Sunday so we could have another day to explore. I am glad that we did this because there was so much to see. One of the coolest things was right outside of our hotel, like a quarter mile away, was a castle...just in the middle of the city. Found this when Jack and I went on a run in the morning, and we turned a corner, and bam - castle! You don't see that in Fort Wayne. There was also a lot of other cool buildings and old buildings. We did a river tour to see more of the city, and not have to walk so much. Went to a night club and danced, ate a shit-ton of Belgium Fries, since that seems to be the thing. More sausage kind of things too. And of course beer and chocolate. I am not sure things could have been better. Ooo, and I had a legit Belgium waffle, with ice cream on it. One thing that I noticed in a lot of the cities, but especially Ghent, is how bike friendly it is. So many people are riding bikes as their form of transportation, which made me kind of jealous that it is not such a regular part of life in the States.

Brussels, Belgium:

Last stop for the trip, we decided to spend our last night in Brussels to make it easy to get to the airport in the morning. We spent most of the day in Ghent, but in the evening, we walked around one of the popular squares in Brussels, and made sure to get to the pissing boy status....so weird. It was easy to get to the airport in the morning - the trains in Europe are so good. However, my morning airport experience was not very fun. One of my flights was already delayed, so it gave me the option of changing flights. Of course, that screwed up my reservation so when I went to check-in, it would not let me. I unchecked in and rechecked in, but then it routed me on single tickets so I was going to have to pick up my bag in Amsterdam, which I did not have layover time for. I was having a hard time getting a hold of anyone to help me, as I didn't have a phone plan, and my Delta ticket was on KLM for the first flight, and KLM was pretty unhelpful. Luckily someone at the Delta counter was able to help me, and after 3 attempts to check in (waiting in the full line 3 separate times), I made it. I was pretty nervous that I was going to miss my first flight, since they said the security screening in Brussels would take a long time, but it went smoothly and I made it through. I even had enough time to grab a pastry and a morning beer (I know it's kind of trashy but when in Europe...). I had to also exchange my ticket in Amsterdam, which was a bit of a hassle, and I got the very back seat in the plane. I wasn't too put out by this, especially since the seat next to me was empty - the only empty seat on the plan. Woo hoo. I let the guy on the other side of the empty seat take full advantage of it, as he seemed like he was having a rough couple of days - he lost his passport at some point during his flights to Europe and was not allowed to get out of the airport. His mom and brother continued on their trip, and he spend a day or two in the airport and then was put right back on a plane back to the US with a folder full of paperwork....Poor dude, that would be pretty miserable.

Highs of the trip:

• Trying new foods and drinks

• amazing buildings

• eye opening to see how European galv lines operate

• Meeting a bunch of people from across the world

Lows of the trip:

• So much bus time

• Too little time in places

• N8 wasn't there to experience it with me