Today was the busiest day so far.  I heard one booth’s denizen remark that Monday was the worst Monday ever.  He blamed the weather; it was a beautiful sunny day.  Someone else said that Germans hate to travel on Mondays and Fridays.  (I’m hoping they’re right about the Friday part since I have to take the train to Frankfurt Friday).  Organizers of the PI booth weren’t quite so pessimistic.  Tuesday was definitely busy and this morning was wall-to-wall people.

The PI booth is all-new this year.  I especially like the 10-foot tall PROFINET wall made of translucent glass.  It has 91 devices from 22 manufacturers arranged from controllers on top, through drives in the middle, to IO on the bottom.  I like it, but looking up at the controllers gives me a crick in my neck.

Unfamiliar to North American show attendees is the concept of the “Automation Lounge.”  Upstairs above the presentation theater is a bar.  (Yes, you can have a beer there in the afternoon.)  And it’s an excellent place to sit down and discuss the latest news.

We had a couple interesting dinner conversations.  We learned the location of the avant-garde restaurant where the service includes a massage (in the train station).  We heard the latest takeover rumor.  (No, it was not that Schneider was increasing their participation in ODVA prior to buying Rockwell.  I didn’t hear that rumor until day 4.)  We talked about blogging.  Is it passé?  What’s next?  Podcasts?  Video?  Hmm, video.  This prompted me to try taking a few short videos – stay tuned for Day 4 blogging with videos.  Day 4 ended but I’m a day behind on the blogging.  What I need is more meetings and more business dinners and less sleep (not).