# March 30 – April 12, 2015 European Delivery (AKA My Griswold ED)



## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

jerezano66 said:


> Thanks! We're in Strasbourg now. Drove through a snow storm and hit quite a bit of traffic along the way. Are you still in Europe? If so, hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.


Yea we had some high winds and snow/sleet here in Vienna. We are here tonight and tomorrow night. Fly home from Vienna to Chicago on Saturday. I bet your son is having a blast. My son was in heaven today after visiting the toy store and got a Z gauge Marklin train set. He's a huge train fan. In fact when he came 6 years ago he brought his metal Thomas trains.

Has your son been to Europe before? How is he enjoying it. My son said today, after one week on the road that's he's homesick but he's a good sport. These kinder chocolate eggs with a little prize inside are also a good way to keep him happy.


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

soledoc said:


> These kinder chocolate eggs with a little prize inside are also a good way to keep him happy.


Those Kinder eggs do make a great hit with the kids and/or grandkids at home. Apparently they were being confiscated at customs at some point but seem to be OK to bring stateside now.

We were specifically requested to bring some back this trip.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

soledoc said:


> Yea we had some high winds and snow/sleet here in Vienna. We are here tonight and tomorrow night. Fly home from Vienna to Chicago on Saturday. I bet your son is having a blast. My son was in heaven today after visiting the toy store and got a Z gauge Marklin train set. He's a huge train fan. In fact when he came 6 years ago he brought his metal Thomas trains.
> 
> Has your son been to Europe before? How is he enjoying it. My son said today, after one week on the road that's he's homesick but he's a good sport. These kinder chocolate eggs with a little prize inside are also a good way to keep him happy.


It's a challenge keeping kids entertained on a trip like this. They want to run around and play outside or play games on the iPad while mom and dad want to look at old buildings and eat and drink. The great thing about taking delivery of your car at the Welt is that it's something everyone will enjoy and remember for the rest of your life.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Back when my kids were younger we also found the Kinder Eggs to be great fun for them, although one might get jealous if the other got a "better" prize inside. When they started getting antsy we found Playmobil toys to be educational as well as fun. And if they lose any of the smaller pieces you'll find them someday back behind the seats of your own car rather than losing them permanently in a rental like we did. At night in the hotel the whole family played along with whatever play set (farm, garbage truck, ambulance) the kids got.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Two days late, but here are two pics of my beauty parked by our cottage in Normandy.


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## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

Love it. I always have wagons. So useful. Wish we could get 5 series wagon in USA


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

soledoc said:


> Love it. I always have wagons. So useful. Wish we could get 5 series wagon in USA


Yes, I wish BMW sold them in the USA. The 5er wagon was my first choice, but very happy with the f31. It's a different car than my e92, but I love how it drives.


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## Dallas550 (Jan 16, 2011)

jerezano66 said:


> Two days late, but here are two pics of my beauty parked by our cottage in Normandy.


How is Normandy and the drive there? I'm already planning for a 2019 ED for the 75th anniversary.  I'm a huge WW2 history buff, so I can't wait for that trip.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Dallas550 said:


> How is Normandy and the drive there? I'm already planning for a 2019 ED for the 75th anniversary.  I'm a huge WW2 history buff, so I can't wait for that trip.


Normandy is a must if you've never been. I've been there a few times and happy to provide some more info before you go in 2019. The drive from Munich was a bit long with two kids....more frequent and longer stops en route. Our drive to Normandy included overnight stops in Strasbourg and Reims. I'm thinking about a next generation 5er in 2019 so maybe we'll see you there.  I'm still in Europe, but will post a lot of pictures after I return.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

My son and I returned from Europe on Sunday...what a great trip. My wife and daughter are still there which means I have time to post some pics.  More to follow.

https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157651962719571


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

jerezano66 said:


> Normandy is a must if you've never been. I've been there a few times and happy to provide some more info before you go in 2019. The drive from Munich was a bit long with two kids....more frequent and longer stops en route. Our drive to Normandy included overnight stops in Strasbourg and Reims. I'm thinking about a next generation 5er in 2019 so maybe we'll see you there.  I'm still in Europe, but will post a lot of pictures after I return.


Great pictures! Car is beautiful.

What was your opinion of Strasbourg? We are doing one overnight there and plan to spend our time in the Old City. Anything in particular that you enjoyed and would recommend seeing/doing? Thanks.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> Great pictures! Car is beautiful.
> 
> What was your opinion of Strasbourg? We are doing one overnight there and plan to spend our time in the Old City. Anything in particular that you enjoyed and would recommend seeing/doing? Thanks.


Thank you! We were there only 16 hours so it's hard to form an opinion. The cathedral there is incredible. We tried to take the boat tour, but the water level was too high so it was closed. I think it's worth visiting, but I found it a little disappointing.


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## the_fox (Jul 6, 2006)

Very nice car, enjoy it! Your daughter looks about 2? How did she take the trip overall? How often did you have to stop along the way? How many hours per day did you drive? Just curious how ED works with a toddler...


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

jerezano66 said:


> My son and I returned from Europe on Sunday...what a great trip. My wife and daughter are still there which means I have time to post some pics.  More to follow.
> 
> https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157651962719571


Great photos! Thanks for the link.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

the_fox said:


> Very nice car, enjoy it! Your daughter looks about 2? How did she take the trip overall? How often did you have to stop along the way? How many hours per day did you drive? Just curious how ED works with a toddler...


She's 20 months old. On our last ED my wife and I drove from kitzbuhel, Austria to St Remy, France in one day. This would not have been possible on this trip. We stopped twice between Munich and Strasbourg....both long stops to let the kids run around a little bit. One of the stops was at a McDonald's which was the nicest I've seen. For the rest of our road trips one long stop was enough. You can travel pretty far when you're cruising at 100 mph. . The car is very stable at that speed thanks to DHP.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

jerezano66 said:


> Thank you! We were there only 16 hours so it's hard to form an opinion. The cathedral there is incredible. We tried to take the boat tour, but the water level was too high so it was closed. I think it's worth visiting, but I found it a little disappointing.
> View attachment 503908


Thanks, I've heard the cathedral is spectacular. We'll be there about the same amount of time.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

I wanted to pass on a story my delivery specialist (Stefan) at the welt told me about the stairway to heaven. Apologies if this has already been posted. According to stefan, the architect who designed the Welt was a student of the architect who design the BMW headquarters building. He intentionally designed the stairway to face the headquarters building as a tribute to his teacher. I thought that was pretty cool.


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## cleaver (Mar 3, 2013)

Stefan must be getting used to delivering white wagons to Americans - he was my specialist too! Although he didn't tell me the history of the stairway to heaven. Either that, or I was too preoccupied with seeing my new baby to hear him 
Hope you enjoyed your trip!


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

jerezano66 said:


> I wanted to pass on a story my delivery specialist (Stefan) at the welt told me about the stairway to heaven. Apologies if this has already been posted. According to stefan, the architect who designed the Welt was a student of the architect who design the BMW headquarters building. He intentionally designed the stairway to face the headquarters building as a tribute to his teacher. I thought that was pretty cool.


Thanks for sharing. That is cool!


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## 1northcar (Mar 7, 2015)

I just noticed your BMW from 2007 ED had the same Coral Red interior as your current Touring appears to have. Looks like we both are 2X Coral Red converts.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

1northcar said:


> I just noticed your BMW from 2007 ED had the same Coral Red interior as your current Touring appears to have. Looks like we both are 2X Coral Red converts.


80,000 miles and it drives like it did when I left Freimann. I love these cars. I think the Coral Red looks even better now.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Attached are pics from Strasbourg and Reims.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Random pics from Easter Sunday in Juaye Mundaye, France.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Pictures taken in Commes, near the Normandy landing beaches.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer. You can see Arromanches in the distance on the last pic.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Some more random pics from Normandy. Our cottage in Normandy and pics of the cathedral in Bayeux, and Port-en-Bessin.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

A few pics from Saint-Lo. Pictures of the church, an unexploded shell embedded in the church, and a statue for the WWI soldiers from Saint-Lo. The interesting thing about the statue is that it's full of shrapnel and bullet holes from the WWII battle.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Mont-Saint-Michel


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## Trinitony (Feb 10, 2010)

Nice pics. 

Especially like the photos of Longues-sur-Mer. Makes you wonder how the Allies were able to overcome that kind of fire-power on D-Day.

Nice weather. 

Should we all be going to the beaches in France and skipping the rain in Bavaria? The rain in Germany seems to have been fairly continuous in most ED reports from early 2013 to this month.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Trinitony said:


> Nice pics.
> 
> Especially like the photos of Longues-sur-Mer. Makes you wonder how the Allies were able to overcome that kind of fire-power on D-Day.
> 
> ...


It's amazing how well preserved the battery is. I believe the bombers and naval guns mostly missed hitting the battery. Pointe-du-Hoc on the other hand looks like a moonscape because of the heavy bombardment it received.


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## 1northcar (Mar 7, 2015)

Thanks for a great selection of photos. So many places yet to visit in Europe. Especially like the evening/night shots with the lighting effects.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

Terrific pictures! Your posts have me wanting to visit that area on our next trip over. Looks like the little ones are enjoying things as much as the grown ups!


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

Apologies to my fellow festers for dragging this out as long as I have. These next couple post will be the last from my trip. It'll be nice for me to go back over the years and remember this trip.

Anyway, we spent our last several days in Brugge and Brussels. Brugge was one of the highlights of our trip. The Venice of the north is quaint, full of great architecture and fantastic restaurants...we will go back without the kids next time. Below are some highlights from Brugge.


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## jerezano66 (Jan 23, 2007)

While we were in Brugge, I drove our bimmer to the drop off location in Antwerp. I found very little information on bimmerfest about this location and plan on writing a review of my experience there. I took a train back to Brugge after drop off. The first pic is from the train station in Antwerp. The rest of the pics are from Brussels.


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