Our group of internal consultants are located here in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Dubai, Kenya, and France. So, twice a year, we get together for a couple of days to share knowledge and for team building events. This summer’s meeting was held during the last week of June in the small village of Edenkoben, Germany located about 30 minutes to the southwest of Ludwigshafen/Mannheim.
The area of Germany where we live is in the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate, which is famous for its wineries, vineyards, and home to the Riesling white wine. This area of Germany is situated in a large valley between the Rhein River and various small mountain/foothills of the Alps. The valley helps keep the temperatures moderate year round and controls the moisture the area sees. As a result, this is a perfect region for wine production.
When people think of Germany, they automatically think of beer. While this is VERY true, this part of Germany favors wine instead. A very scenic road that winds through several vineyards overlooking the Rhein Valley is called the Winestrasse (wine road), and Edenkoben is located on the southern end of this route.
This time of summer, it does not get dark until about 10:45pm. So, our group had plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings after our team meetings during the day.
For a team building event, our group divided into three teams and we did geocaching through a local vineyard. We had to reach a GPS coordinate, perform a team activity like archery, soccer, or solve a puzzle before moving on to the next set of coordinates. Our final destination was to the neighboring village of St. Martin, where we ended up at a winery for a wine tasting before our dinner. Before the wine tasting, our group celebrated a successful activity with a champagne toast. After dinner, we walked the 2 miles back to our hotel. It was absolutely a beautiful day to be walking through the vineyards, enjoying the outdoors, and sampling plenty of different varieties of wines. My favorite words came from the owners of the winery, when they told us to help ourselves to any wine….we had an hour before dinner, so needless to say after 2 hours of walking, several glasses of wine made for a great start to a delightful evening with our Team.
The following pictures were taken during our geoacaching team building event through one of the vineyards and then champagne toast and wine tasting in St. Martin, Germany….
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