Friday, June 12 - very last day

This morning is all about windmills. No, we are not travelling around the country side to see them.

Instead, we visit Siemens Windpower, the factory where the blades for these incredibly elegant windmills are made.

By the time we have seen the presentation and heard a lot about them some of us feel we should be able to take a windmill home.

Then we are taken through the factory where the blades are made. Apart from a radio, we can't hear any noise. It is the quietest factory we have ever been in. That's because it is all hand work.

These blades of up to 52m in length are carefully laid in moulds. Layer upon layer of material goes into them, i.e. fibre glass and balsa wood, both of which keep them nice and light.

At this point I would love to explain the process in more detail, but unfortunately I would need to use my hands as I can't just put it into words. The process of shaping the blade takes several hours. Then the blade is pushed into a large vacuum press where it stays at little pressure and fairly low temperature for several hours for the materials and the two long seams to melt together. After a cooling down period the blade is taken out and the seams are carefully tidied up by hand with knives and sandpaper. Then it gets painted and voilà, a perfect blade.

One wonders why there aren't more windmills in the world.

Lunchtime is time for our next company visit: Gabriel furniture fabrics. Not so many years ago Gabriel had the wool mill right here. A few years ago the fabrication part was moved far away. These days the large halls where the huge noisy looms used to be have been transformed into airy offices. This is were the designing and marketing teams work.

One of the Rotarians accompanying us today remembers visiting when the looms were still there and comments on how much quieter it is now.

Perhaps the looms at work would have been very interesting to see despite the noise.

We get back to the meeting point fairly early for the hosts to pick us up. We are to have some free time before getting ready for the farewell party.