# My first ED trip report (tons of photos) September 2012



## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

This is my trip report for my first ever European Delivery. It was also the first time my friend and I have been to Europe. This forum is what had got me interested in having this experience. I have been researching this trip for almost a year. I want to thank everyone who contributed information to me on these forums that made my two week European trip an amazing experience. The input I received from this forum made the trip go extremely smooth. I am posting this report in hopes it may help someone else that is considering doing European delivery. Two words of advice for anyone considering doing European delivery - DO IT!

As far as camera equipment, we brought my Canon 60D DSLR with 18-135 mm Canon lens, a Samsung point and shoot, and our iPhone 4S's.

My car I took delivery of was a 2013 328xi Sports Line, Melbourne Red Metallic, Leather Dakota Black/Red highlight, Anthracite wood trim w/ highlight trim finishers in pearl gloss chrome, Cold Weather Package, Lighting Package, Premium Package, Technology Package, Sports automatic transmission w/ paddle shifters, Rear view camera, Park distance control, Auto high beams, and Harman Kardon surround sound system. I currently have a 2009 328xi in Montego Blue. This will be my 4th BMW.

*Sunday September 9*

Depart PIT 1345 USAir 1169 (Airbus A319)
Arrive CLT 1512









This was our carry on and checked luggage. We each also had a backpack. All bags were stuffed beyond capacity. We wondered how we could possibly bring anything back we bought. We ended up buying another suitcase in Vienna. Next time we wont be the typical crazy American tourist and pack a bit lighter.

I love flying through Charlotte. Its a nice airport, and we had time to grab a Jamba Juice and a burger at Bad Daddy's.

Depart CLT 1710 Lufthansa 429 (Airbus A340-600)

Lufthansa was an amazing airline. Service was excellent. Food was good and plentiful, free unlimited drinks (which we took advantage of), touch screen entertainment system at each seat in economy class. We took advantage of the Lufthansa-BMW discount which saved us a couple hundred dollars.

*Monday September 10*

Arrive MUC 0750

Cleared customs and met Peter after baggage claim. Peter drove us to BMW Niederlassung which is a corporate owned BMW dealership where he walked across the street to ADAC (German auto club) to purchase vignettes for the car. Peter then drove us to change our dollars to euros at the main train station. He then drove us to check in at:

Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich
Maximilianstr. 17 Munich, 80539, BY, Germany
49892125270
(hotel has free wi-fi and valet parking in a secure garage and they will let you keep your key)









Peter picking us up at MUC.









Allianz Arena









First time on a German Autobahn. Peter explained the traffic laws and signs to us.

























BMW Niederlassung


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We took a 2 hour nap since we were tired from the flight and went sightseeing. We walked to Mierenplatz and saw the Glockenspiel. We had our first beer at the small beer garden in Mierenplatz. We then walked to St. Peter's church and climbed the 387 steps to the top for an amazing view (must see). We then walked to Viktualienmarkt where we had another beer at Wirtsgarten then went back to the hotel.

























































































































































































































The first of thousands of steps we climbed on this trip. Be in shape and bring comfortable walking shoes!


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)




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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We ate dinner at Hofbrauhaus (mushroom pot, pretzel, original sausage platter) and of course had a beer. We then returned to the hotel and went to bed early.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Tuesday September 11*

Woke up and walked to Mierenplatz to take U3 underground to BMW Welt. We checked in, signed the book, and went to the Premium Lounge to eat breakfast. We then met Sven our delivery specialist and took delivery of the car. After the victory lap, I had the car valet at the Welt and went on the English speaking factory tour (must see). After the tour we ate lunch at the Premium Lounge. We then went to the gift shop and got our keychain. From there, we went through the BMW museum. After the museum we drove back to the hotel.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

Here is Prince Melbourne (delivery specialist Sven said it was a "he":


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

Leaving the Welt:


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We walked to Max-Joseph Platz and toured the treasury. We then walked to the Hofgarten where we had a beer at Luigi Tambosi and returned to the hotel.


















































































































































































Our power adaptor craziness:









We spent the night at the bars and apparently taking pictures on the way back to the hotel
































hotel lobby


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Wednesday September 12*

Ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant (2 club sandwiches, 2 orange juices and a bottle of water for 90 euro - yes 90 euro). We then checked out of the hotel and drove to a Munich gas station and filled up the tank for the first time.

















leaving Munich









We drove to Prague on the Autobahns

















We checked in to Hotel Louren 
Slezska 55, Prague, Czech Republic
420224250025
(free wifi and self parked the car in a secure guarded lot in a courtyard a block away)

This is why we paid for the secure parking in Parague









After we rested, we mistakenly took a trolley rather than the underground to go out to dinner and got lost at the end of the trolley line when the trolley stopped running. The trolley driver drove us to a spot where we found a taxi outside of a bar. The cabbie was inside drinking and gambling and took us back to the hotel for 180kc. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was too late to do anything.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Thursday September 13*

We ate the free breakfast at the hotel.

We took the underground to Malostranska. We walked the 208 steps to Prague Castle complex. We climbed the 297 steps to the top of the Cathedral of St. Vitus (must see). We toured the Cathedral, the Basilica of St. George, the Royal Palace and the rest of the complex.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We then walked to the funicular that took us to the Petrin Tower. We took the elevator up and climbed down the 299 steps from the observation deck.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We then walked to the Charles Bridge and went across. We walked to the Staromestska stop of the underground and took it back to the hotel.


















































































After resting, we took the underground to Staromestska and walked through the Old Town Square. We got on the underground again and got of at Malostranska where we walked to eat at Certovka on the bank of the Charles River (plate of various Czech cheeses and butters, beef straganoff, old Bohemian platter). We then took the underground back to the hotel.

























It was freezing and instead of turning the outdoor heaters on, they gave us blankets.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Friday September 14*

We ate breakfast at the hotel and checked out. We drove to Parizska Street to shop. We walked to Old Town Square and ate at the food vendors there (halushki and raspberry crepe).










































































We drove to Vienna getting off the autobahns and taking the back roads the last half of the journey. 

















































We checked into the Hilton Vienna Plaza (they charged for wi-fi, but we stayed on executive suite with free meals and booze in the executive lounge, we self parked in their secure parking garage)
Schottenring 11, Vienna, Austria 431313900


















We ate lunch in the executive lounge at the hotel and rested.

We walked to Theophil to eat dinner (filet, rocket salad, red beet soup, chicken). It was an excellent meal and then drank sweet after dinner wine and talked to the family who owned the café. I would highly recommend eating there.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Saturday September 15*

We ate breakfast at the hotel***8217;s executive lounge. We then took the trolley to the Hofburg Palace. We toured the Schatzkammer (treasury), Neue Hofburg (arms museum), Sisi Museum, Kaiserappartements (Imperial apartments) and Augustinerkirche. The Spanische Hofreitschule (horses) was closed for a special event. We then walked to St. Stephens Cathedral and back to the hotel.

































































































This is said to be a nail from the crucifixion of Jesus:


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We ate dinner at the executive lounge at the hotel then went out to the bars.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Sunday September16*

We ate breakfast at the hotel***8217;s executive lounge and checked out.

We drove to Berchtesgaden and ate lunch (goulash and salad) at a café across the street from the Eagles Nest Historical Tour. 
We took the Eagles Nest Historical Tour in English (must do). The tour took us on a bus past the former Nazi sites in Berchtesgaden including Hitler***8217;s house, bunker and teahouse, Bormann***8217;s house, Goring***8217;s house and to the Documentation Center and bunker complex. We then took another bus to the bottom of the Eagles Nest where we took and elevator into the house. We then walked up the mountain overlooking the Eagles Nest for an amazing view.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We drove to Salzburg and checked in at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch (free wifi, valet parking in a secure garage and let me keep the key) Getreidegasse, Salzburg, Austria. We then walked to Nagomi and ate dinner (good Japanese food) and explored the shopping area.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

*Monday September 17*

We ate breakfast at McDonald***8217;s Café next to the hotel. We found it funny that they charged .35 euro for a packet of ketchup and it wasn***8217;t even Heinz. We walked past Motzart***8217;s birthplace to the funicular that we took to the Hohen Salzburg Fortress. We took the fortress tour. We rode the funicular back down and walked around shopping.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We then drove to the Salzburg Airport and toured the Red Bull Hangar 7 and ate lunch at their outdoor cafe (burger, chicken sandwich, salad, fries).


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

We drove the back roads to Mittenwald and checked in at the Post Hotel (free wi-fi and self parking in gated lot) Obermarkt, 82481, Mittenwald, Germany.


















We ate at Alpenrose (bacon dumpling soup, French onion soup, apple pancake, mushroom puff pastry).

*Tuesday September 18*

We ate breakfast at hotel then walked to the Karwendel cable car, and took it to the top of the mountain and back (must do). We then walked through the shops in the town and checked out.


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## pjwal (May 7, 2012)

Nice pics, it seems you took a vey similar route that my wife and I took a couple of months ago. We did not go to Italy (we were in Rome about a year ago), but your pictures from there look great. I think it is a better option than heading over to Switzerland as we did. Better food for a better price in Italy no doubt. Prague was indeed amazing...I highly recommend the Segway tour when you are there (for anyone that may be going soon)!! 

We did bikes and segways, but did not manage to get on steeds, very cool.


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## wesleyan92 (Mar 11, 2008)

Incredible trip report; took me 3 days to go through it so I could savor all the pictures. Bravo!


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

pjwal said:


> Nice pics, it seems you took a vey similar route that my wife and I took a couple of months ago. We did not go to Italy (we were in Rome about a year ago), but your pictures from there look great. I think it is a better option than heading over to Switzerland as we did. Better food for a better price in Italy no doubt.


That was one of the reasons we didn't stay in Switzerland. It was expensive. Italy was much more reasonable and the food was amazing!


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## Dave 330i (Jan 4, 2002)

It looked the the weather god was with you all the time while you were there. Munich is certainly a beautiful city. I can't get enough of it. I know my way around the city by now. May I offer a suggestion. Post a few here to get us excited, but post the balance of your pictures to your favorite a photo host (flickr, photobucket, picasa... http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/image-hosting-websites. I use flickr because scrolling though the pictures is easy and painless. No fancy frills and no excess keying for seeing them sequentially.


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## acevo8 (Mar 31, 2012)

Wow, nice pics and write up! Look forward to another one of these threads in 3 years when you return :rofl:


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## SD ///M4 (Jan 24, 2011)

Great trip report! We visited many of the places that you visited in Germany and Austria and your pictures brought back great memories. And everything looks better in bright sunlight! We had rain much of the first week of our 15 day trip and it was nice to see the colorful towns along the Alpenstrasse like Mittenwald in bright sun.

You have a very good eye for getting different angles of the various locations that we have all seen dozens of times before and it made the pictures that much more interesting.

We visited Switzerland during our ED and loved the time we spent there, but next time we are planning to skip Switzerland and do Italy and Lake Como.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

acevo8 said:


> Wow, nice pics and write up! Look forward to another one of these threads in 3 years when you return :rofl:


I think that is a very good possibility!


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

SD Z4MR said:


> Great trip report! We visited many of the places that you visited in Germany and Austria and your pictures brought back great memories. And everything looks better in bright sunlight! We had rain much of the first week of our 15 day trip and it was nice to see the colorful towns along the Alpenstrasse like Mittenwald in bright sun...


Your input on here helped me plan to visit some of those cities. Thank you! We did have amazing weather the whole trip. Sorry to hear your weather wasn't as nice.


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## bfv (Sep 30, 2010)

Great compilation and write up!


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## Vanos4:12PM (Apr 20, 2007)

Very nice write up and pictures! You hit basically every spot I did on mine - so it was nice to relive the trip. Some of your pictures I litterally stood in the same spot and snapped a few.


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## WULFFZA (Mar 13, 2008)

Fantastic write up and pics. I need to go through it slower with a beer this afternoon... Adding this link to my future euro delivery planning spreadsheet!

To those who say many of the pics show up as Xs or ?s. I get the ?s error for majority of the pics when viewing on my iphone, but not on computer. I get this fail quite often.. I have noticed when viewing my own uploaded pics, that pics taken on the phone will display when uploaded from the phone or ipad, but if uploaded from the computer (typically bigger format), they do not all display on the iphone.

Any techno gurus explain?


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

I took redelivery of my car yesterday. The wait was 1 month 9 days. Not too bad.


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## acevo8 (Mar 31, 2012)

Congrats! That's fairly quick, and you seem to have gotten lucky with the tropical storm situation on the east coast :thumbup:


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## Dave 330i (Jan 4, 2002)

Just a suggestion: Has anyone ever thought about linking large quantity of photos from a photo host site, rather than posting them in the thread? It makes displaying and seeing them so much easier. I love to see them, but it took a long time before I was able to reach the start of the thread.


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## AggieKnight (Dec 26, 2008)

pawarrant said:


> I took redelivery of my car yesterday. The wait was 1 month 9 days. Not too bad.


You took redelivery during a hurricane? :eeps:

Congrats on your redelivery. 5-6 weeks is pretty good.


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## 640GC (Mar 22, 2012)

pawarrant said:


> I took redelivery of my car yesterday. The wait was 1 month 9 days. Not too bad.


Yow, that quick! :thumbup: We're now on week six and have no idea when we're going to get re-delivery of our vehicle.


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## pawarrant (Jun 15, 2006)

640GC said:


> Yow, that quick! :thumbup: We're now on week six and have no idea when we're going to get re-delivery of our vehicle.


Is it on a ship yet?


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## 640GC (Mar 22, 2012)

pawarrant said:


> Is it on a ship yet?


Yes, the ships landed and has been released from customs. So it should be at the VPC.


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## beware_phog (Mar 7, 2003)

Great pictures. Can't wait to do it again with my next purchase. Love the red.


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## Vanos4:12PM (Apr 20, 2007)

:thumbup::thumbup:


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