Friday 17th

We got up early today so that we could get down to breakfast when it started at 6:30. This made the morning much more relaxed and we even had time to chat to the children in NZ before Brendon left at 8. It is such a blessing that Michelle's calling package allows her to phone Germany (at no extra cost) and so we could get a nice chat to each of the children.

Brendon took our camera with today so that he could get photos of the conference center.

The conference was held in a very big auditorium. This photo taken during one of the breaks.
The translators in the rooms around the top.

There were so many people attending this conference from all around the world. Brendon was especially impressed with all the organization involved.

The attendees were staying in three different hotels in Munich and so there was a lot to organize with busses to and from the airport, conference center and dinners.
The lady at our hotel even greeted Brendon by name this morning. He looked down at his name tag and saw that it had flipped around and was not even showing his name. That impressed him greatly as she must be looking after around 200 people staying in our hotel.

Bits of entertainment included in the day as well. :-)

Asher and I had a quiet day with our normal morning and afternoon outings. In the morning she spotted a set of escalators and asked to go up. This was a great detour as we found a cheaper shop up there to buy some sleeping shorts for Brendon (that was one item that was forgotten in the pack). We also bought her a ball which she had loads of fun with through the day.
I decided to purchase wifi for the room today so that I could get some "work" done myself when Asher had her afternoon nap. It was nice to get the blog posts done that I had worked on (off line) the previous night and I also managed to download a DVD player for the laptop as the one that we had used before just stopped working. We had tried to change the region when we were on the plane (and Asher was needing a bit of distraction) to have it just stop working all together. She was so pleased to have her music videos to sing and dance to today.

On our morning outing I had gone into the grocery store hoping to buy some coffee creamer or even just cream. (We have coffee in our room but no where near enough milk as the coffee is very strong.) It was just so overwhelming though as there were so many options, that I gave it a miss. I headed back into the grocery store on the afternoon trip while our Chinese take away dinner was being prepared and successfully managed to get some coffee creamer. I knew Kafee was letting me know it was for coffee and I could see that it was lactose free (laktosefrei), I didn't choose the laktosefrei one for any other reason than that it was the cheapest one. :-) When I got back to the room I also successfully managed to guess which part of the bottle held the words that directly translated said "after the open cool place". The bottles were stored on a shelf - but I guessed once opened it would need to stay in the fridge.
When we had our dinner I thought of Ruth and how much she would have enjoyed it with us. Asher is just like her and really enjoys the broccoli and cauliflower. I was glad she wasn't quite as tired tonight and managed to eat a bit more dinner than the night before.
Brendon had a bit of time "at home" this evening between the conference and their Gala Dinner. It gave everyone time to "dress up" for the fancy event. It was lovely seeing my man all dressed up. Looking so smart my love.
Asher enjoyed some time with Dad before he left.
The dinner venue.

So fancy.

And so many people.

Excellent entertainment. Brendon especially enjoyed when these ladies did classical music.
First course: Vegetable terrine with goat curd and pesto.

Brendon heard her singing "The circle of life" from "The lion king" before he saw her, and he was sure it had to be an African singing it. He said she sang it so incredibly well.
Second course: Swabian ravioli filled with seafood along with mushroom ragout.

Third course: Poached fillet of veal in a herb crust and braised veal cheek with beetroot, cauliflower and field bean.
Brendon said this was literally "melt in your mouth" and you didn't even have to chew the veal - it was so incredibly soft.
Forth course: Ice cream and mousse with gingerbread, candied ginger and molasses.
Brendon had an amazing evening and we are so very thankful that he got this incredible opportunity. It was a lovely end to the conference.