(This is a follow on topic from another sub-topic).
For those of you not familiar: Faber-Castell is a 200+ year old company that is famous for Colored pencils, writing pencils, art supplies and other fine writing instruments.
If you completely NOT interested in pencils, pens or colored writing tools (and there is no judgement if you are that person), this is not the sidetrip for you.
Faber-Castell is one of the last German companies that makes pencils I could find that offers tours/visits. (Staedtler seems to have stopped giving visits, Stabilo's is not clear if they give tours (for their highlighter factory), so I settled on Faber-Castell).
The "campus" is in Stein (pronounced [Sh-tyne], rhymes with Wine), Germany, which is right outside Nuremberg. (*This is significant for a detail I learned on a tour).
There is a Schloss (castle) that the family owns (and still owns) that they lived in, the factory (still makes some of the pencils), and a museum. And of course, there is a very nice Visitor Center (where the tours start) with an official Store.
They offer 3 kinds of tours at their websites: a visit to the museum, a tour of their castle, and a tour of their factory.
All 3 have to be booked separately, each tour costs 9 euros at the time of this post.
[https://www.faber-castell.com/corporate/faber-castell-experience][1]
Most of the tours are in German, but there are occasional tours in English. We booked our tour a month in advance for the English tour.
We went on the Castle (schloss) tour. A pencil factory tour can be messy (it's graphite, dusty). I noted at the visitor center that you Must check your bag into a locker if you go on the factory tour. (They don't want you bumping anything or stealing anything). You may not take photos inside the Schloss because it is a private home still, but you may take pictures outside.
If you book a tour, you get a 15% discount at the shop (of course) and you are eligible (if you get a morning tour time) to take lunch in the company cafeteria (a little greenhouse attached to the Schloss) which you would have to pay cash in person, but you need a reservation in advance (on the ticketing page) when you book the tour.
The campus is around the river (factories used to be always built near a river) and there is a visitor center parking lot with a gate (for business visitors).
The visitor center has clean bathrooms, tables and chairs, lockers (need a 2 euro coin but returned when you open the door), vending machine for coffee and snacks, and little exhibits about the Eco initiatives Faber-Castell is working (because pencils require chopping trees for wood), and the SHOP. This is all free to enter anytime for visitors.
to be continued in another post.