Plant Trek Day 3

Day 3 - Prague

We started the day with an ABB presentation. Once again we were a little bit late, but not that late. We have also decided to start a little earlier tomorrow to hopefully avoid traffic issues. The ABB breakfast reception and presentation was with the President of the Czech Republic area and I must say the presentation was excellent. Both she and the other gentleman that presented specifically took into consideration the audience they were presenting to. Often we get company presentations that are very dull, where the presenters list a hundred people in an org chart…like we are supposed to learn something from that. She had a one slide, high level org chart and actually talked about some of the good of this setup and the politics that occur. She was very candid with us and that is rare. It was refreshing. The reception was intended to be short and it was so we got a good jump on the day. I have to say that so far both Sikorsky (and thus UTC) and ABB have represented themselves very well on this plant trek and hopefully when we write our reports that message is made clear to them. Just an FYI for those who do not know, we write a 2-4 page report on our plant tours and highlight some positives that we saw as well as opportunities. We also use these reports to put a plug in for LFM internships when we identify opportunities within our interest.

After the breakfast reception we started our blitz tour of Prague. We did not go in many buildings but I was OK with that. There was enough to see just walking around.

The downtown area is smothered in old looking buildings like this one. Fun!

First we headed to the center of the city with the famous clock tower. Here you can see the crowds of people waiting for the noon ringing of the clock.

I must take this opportunity to talk about the crowds that were in Prague today. Compared to everywhere else we have been, it was crazy busy…which explains why the prices here were a bit higher than everywhere else we have been. I think Jo and Jeremy said they paid more for a Starbucks coffee than they do in Boston.

The clock tower was actually a bit anti-climactic but we ran into some other LFMs so we snapped a picture. The clock did have some moving figurines and such, but still…not as much as I was expecting.

Next we walked toward the river to find somewhere to eat…and stumbled upon a majestic place. We literally chose a random restaurant and it was a perfect find. I’m sure some of you out there have seen a pub like this, but we had not so we were amazed (and I don’t even drink). So the basic premise of the pub is that there are taps at your table. Please take a moment to let that sink in. Here is a picture to prove that I speak the truth.

Here is the menu with the filling instructions.

First you wash the glass.  Apparently it helps with the foam or something if the glass is wet.

Next you select your number on the touch screen. This tracks to the 0.01 L how much you drink, and charges you by the liter. This also comes into play later. Once you have selected, you pour.

My group did not master the 45 degree angle until the second round but I assure you, Jeremy demonstrated mad skillz on his second pour. He filled it to exactly 0.50 L without overflowing.

The next cool thing this setup allows is drinking competitions. Here is the projection screen which shows which table has consumed the most alcohol from their tap.

Now just take a second to think of the business opportunity for this in a college town. Ohh my god! It also keeps your bartenders for pouring cheap beers and allows them to focus on higher margin drinks. It sounds like we have next year’s MIT 100K competition wrapped up.

After the magical eating establishment we walked down to the river.

The castle we will see later

The Charles Bridge we are making our way to

Next we walked over to the Charles Bridge. Unfortunately it was being renovated but it was still impressive and we were able to walk up into the tower at the end of the bridge.

Jeremy's head and Mo's legs as we walk down a very narrow and winding stone staircase...I should be a photographer

Next we walked across the river to visit the castle. The bad thing about strategically placed castles is that they are often at the top of tall hills.

The road is long and arduous

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

I won the non-race race to the top singing the Rocky theme song and doing the celebratory dance.

We finally made it to the castle. We did not know what was going on really with the castle tickets but the place closed at 4 and it was already after 3 by the time we got there. We purchased a short tour ticket and boy was this a waste. The only two things worth going to the castle for (the Royal Palace was closed for renovations) was the view and the cathedral, and they were both free. We could not take pictures inside the cathedral but it was even more impressive than the one in Krakow, but it is not fair to compare them. This one was more impressive because of the building and Krakow was more impressive for the intricacies of the things inside (especially the alter). Here is the outside of the cathedral.

From the back

We made our way through the massive crowds and some unimpressive rooms (getting admission to these with our short tour tickets) and made our way over to the wall for scenic pictures.

Yes we look stupid but all the good pictures are on Mo's camera and I have not gotten them from her yet

After the castle we made our way back to the clock tower so we could go to the top (it was packed at lunch time).  The view here was cool and worth the money.

The church across from the tower

The crowd waiting for the next hour when the clock would chime

After that we went home to warm up and take care of a few quick things.  We went out to dinner to a fun restaurant/pub and then walked around outside for a while.

The castle at night

Some picture of a guy on the window of a shop. We're holding hands.

Tomorrow is Skoda (a subsidiary of VW) and then on to Nurnberg.

Note: I got some pictures that were on Mo’s camera and added 2 pictures to past posts.  If you are following along everyday (mainly my family) the only thing of significance that you missed is one of my cat poses from Warsaw.  Here it is: