# München, here we come!



## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Kanuck said:


> I guess now we can bet on whose car gets redelivered first. I dropped on May 24, so I think you have a slight headstart.


About 24 hours. We dopped ours off on the 23rd in Frankfurt.

I haven't tried to figure out what boat it's on. I'm trying to ignore the redelivery process, and focus on finishing the story.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

This little after-the-fact blog is becomming quite an undertaking...

Day Six:

Sunny skies and significantly colder temperatures greeted us on the sixth day of our ED adventure. Jubilant that the rain was gone, we took a quick tour of the city, and picked up some souvenirs we had spotted the night before. It wasn’t long before we were itching to hit the road. 

The goal for the day is to end up in Rothenburg. We decided to take the scenic route, and venture to Füssen, and at least take a gander at Neuchwanstein. We wandered out of Lindau, and quickly picked up the Deutche Alpinstraße. 

The scenery of the Allgäu countryside first consisted of green rolling hills and pastures. As we progressed across the floor of Germany, we began to catch glimpses of jagged peaks between the hills to the south. Soon these were replaced by snowcapped peaks, always just beyond our reach. 

At this point in the drive, we discovered Inga’s great character flaw: there’s no obvious way to “instruct” her to stay on the Alpinstrasse. She keeps trying to be helpful and keep us on the shortest path from Lindau to Füssen. To sweeten the pot even more, it appears that the tourism board responsible for signage on the Deutche Alpinstraße had undergone some budget cuts; signs are intermittent at best. 

Of course, I wouldn’t think of traveling to Europe without a contingency plan: The Map. 

First, lets talk about this useful device I purchased. Early in the planning stages of this event, I took at trip to our local Border’s Book Store to acquire a map. I walked out with the only map of Germany they possessed. This thing is a gem. Folded out, it conveniently has Stockholm on the North, Milan in the south, Warsaw in the East, and Paris in the West. Now, this may seem like too large a scale for practical navigation, but that is not so. You could fashion a makeshift car cover out of this thing. To compliment the map, I have brought along a tiny map that shows the progression of cities across the Alpinstraße, to help further decipher our route.

With these navigational aids, we stumble down the road. Finally, after spending 15 minutes groping through the town of Sonthofen, we finally managed to pick up one of the most rewarding segments of road. On the navigation screen, we saw what looked like a scribbled line. When we reached it, steep mountain switchbacks greeted us, with breathtaking views across the valley below. In truth this wasn’t quite like the seriously alpine passes like the Loveland and Berthoud passes in Colorado, but if anything, the road was more entertaining. It was a blast negotiating hairpin after hairpin. After topping the pass, the down slope consisted of much larger, more gradual curves. These could be negotiated at speed, smoothly flowing from one curve to the next. The most rewarding part is that every other driver on the road enjoyed it as much as I; there were no idiots driving at half the speed limit with their hazards on. Freude am Farhen. 

Thankfully, my wife didn’t take a picture of the stupid grin on my face.

From here we rolled into Füssen, hungry from our extended detours and from wrestling the map back to from whence it came. Since we arrived almost over an hour later than anticipated, we decided to grab a quick sandwich at a Bäkerei. We stopped at what looked like a gas station/grocery store combination, and were greeted with one of the most unusual stores I have ever seen. This store was a cross between Home Depot and a grocery store. One aisle had lumber and plumbing, the next bread and soup. It was also quite large. This was not apparent from the street. Here we bought some pretzels and other snacks, and headed out of town to Neuchwanstein. By the way, there still is salt from these pretzels scattered across the interior of the car, somewhere in the North Atlantic.

When we arrived at Neuchwanstein, we spent a few minutes eating our lunch. From there, we wandered through Hohenschwangau, and got a good look at the Alpsee. At first, these sites were disappointing, when compared to our experience with the antiquity of Château de Chillon. However, you gain some appreciation for the site when you learn that Hohenschwangau is built on the ruins of a castle built by the Nights Templar, and that the road passing along the shore of the Alpsee is, in fact, part of the Via Claudia. (we didn’t try to walk to Rome). 

At this point, it was already 2:00 in the afternoon, so we left Neuchwanstein unexplored, save for the many pictures I got from a distance. We returned to the car, and began to wind our way to the Autobahn. This segment of the Autobahn was another adventure in Freude am Farhen. For the most part, the traffic was light. On this leg, I cruised between 100 and 125 mph for the majority of the trip. The only impediment was a brutal 30-40 mph crosswind. At those speeds in a SUV, one should pay attention to the “windsock” signs when they appear on large bridges. 

Back on task, Inga expertly guided us to the door of the Hotel Gerberhaus in Rothenburg. While the hotel was quaint, it has been recently remodeled. I’d like to offer thanks to those who recommended it on Bimmerfest. Ironically, when I went to check in, they asked “Which Iverson. We have two people named Iverson checking in tonight.” Having worn this name for many years, I’ve found that this never happens. The “I” section in the phone book competes with “X” for bottom billing. This is even more shocking when you check into a 12-room hotel. (BTW, it wasn’t Allen. I asked.)

Rothenburg is very much as it is described. It is a perfectly preserved example of a medieval town, and is also very touristy. For example, we didn’t spend a lot of time selecting a restaurant, and ended up in a fairly average place catering to busloads of tourists. The food was uninspiring at best, but we were hungry. That’s not to say there weren’t good places to eat. After wandering around for a while, we found several places we should have eaten at, further off the beaten path. 

Once you accept that it is touristy place (after all, we’re tourists) it is very worthwhile destination, schneeballen and all. We enjoyed the night watchman’s tour, especially the views of the town from outside the wall. 

The town reminds me very much of Mackinac Island, located between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. While Rothenburg is a perfectly preserved, touristy medieval town, Mackinac is perfectly preserved, touristy Victorian town.

We rounded out the night with some warm apple strudel and coffee at a small hotel near the Rathaus. Good stuff.

Pictures:

Lindau in good weather, the alps from a rest area on the side of the road, the car, more mountains, the start of the switchbacks.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

More pictures:
More switchbacks, Neuchwanstein, inside Hohenschwangau, the Alpsee, Rothenburg o.d.T.


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## icemanjs4 (Dec 1, 2004)

iversonm said:


> At first, these sites were disappointing, when compared to our experience with the antiquity of Château de Chillon.
> 
> At this point, it was already 2:00 in the afternoon, so we left Neuchwanstein unexplored, save for the many pictures I got from a distance.


Iversonm, It's a shame you left Neuschwanstein unexplored. After seeing Hohenschwangau, we both had the same impression. It's quite disappointing for a castle. I assure you that Neuschwanstein is much more what you'd expect from a castle. In fact for the most part, the entire thing was a tribue to Wagner inside - with various painting throughoug the rooms dedicated to his works. The ceilings are all raised high and carved from wood. There's even a throne room who's entire floor is a tile mosaic made of tiles about 1 cm squared. It was a completely different experience from Hohenschwangau.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

icemanjs4 said:


> Iversonm, It's a shame you left Neuschwanstein unexplored. After seeing Hohenschwangau, we both had the same impression. It's quite disappointing for a castle. I assure you that Neuschwanstein is much more what you'd expect from a castle. In fact for the most part, the entire thing was a tribue to Wagner inside - with various painting throughoug the rooms dedicated to his works. The ceilings are all raised high and carved from wood. There's even a throne room who's entire floor is a tile mosaic made of tiles about 1 cm squared. It was a completely different experience from Hohenschwangau.


I know it was a major oversight, but I need something to do when I pick up an E92 335 when my 330 is off lease...


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## smokeminside (Aug 5, 2004)

I'll say it again: great report.

I'm afraid to even think about what it's going to take to follow you...


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## mullman (Jan 5, 2006)

iversonm said:


> I don't know where all the negative comments on the X3 interior come from. The fit and finish are equal or better than my e46 in every facet. I suppose that some don't like the pebble-like look of the dash and console, but that's a question of taste, not quality..


I agree.
Personally I like the X3 interior better than the X5 and on several occasions thought it appeared higher quality.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Sorry for the long absence, but life has gotten in the way of bimmerfest of late. Here's the latest installment.

Day Seven:

Much like my writeup has of late, on this day we hit a wall on the trip. We’ve been on the road for seven days, and have covered close to 1000 miles. At this point, we’re a bit drained, and our enthusiasm has waned a bit. So we decide to take it easy.

We started day seven with another excellent continental breakfast in the hotel Gerberhaus. We then took advantage of Rothenburg’s touristy side and spent the remainder of the morning buying various gifts and trinkets for those left back home. Soon after that, we hit the road. At this point, we have no particular destination in mind.

Prominent on the map is Würzburg: a half-baked plan is born. After a quick consult of a guide book, and we tell Inga to send us to the Residenz. The Residenz is a sprawling three to four story building. Not knowing exactly where to go, we parked the car and began to walk the perimeter of the building. Our first stop was a beautiful chapel. As it was Saturday, the chapel was being decorated for a wedding that was to occur in a few hours. The chapel was stunning, to say the least. I’ll leave the pictures below to do the talking.

After leaving the church, we saw a small sign for a museum, part of the University housed in the Residence. This museum, the Martin von Wagner Museum, had an amazing collection of painting and other artifacts. We spent an hour or so wandering around this collection. No amount of words can do justice to this collection. If you’re in to art museums, this is worth a stop. After wandering through the museum until we’ve grown numb to the art we’re seeing, we head to the Residenz proper.

Inside the palace, we tour the some of the rooms on our own. While quite gaudy by modern standards, the attention to detail in the woodwork, plaster, and artwork in these rooms is impressive. One of the room’s claim to fame was that it served as Napoleon’s bedroom during a visit.

To view a portion of the rooms, you must participate in a guided tour. Unfortunately, the English language tour was several hours in the future, so we had to muddle through the German tour. One of the most impressive facts of the Residenz is it was seriously damaged in World War II, and most of the rooms were restored from pictures alone. This is all the more obvious when you realize that most of the building is quite plain an institutional; the restoration was confined to a small portion of the building.

After touring the Residence, we hit the road, as the rain had caught us again. We drive toward the Rhine valley, and aim for a town I have previously visited called Bad Kreuznach on the Nahe river. I’d love to tell you what we toured and saw in this town, but we were out of energy, and confined our visit to the hotel and it’s restaurant. We called it an early evening, and recharged for our tour of the Rhine the next day. 

The most significant transition into this area of Germany is that Bier is no longer the drink of choice–this is the wine region, after all. I can’t say enough about the quality of these wines. Much of my experience with German wines in this country is the cloyingly sweet Reislings. The fantastic dry whites and red Spätburgunders that we enjoyed caused us to forget everything we new about German wines.

Pictures below: Two of the Chapel in the Residenz, one of the front door of the Residenz, and the Fortress in Würzburg.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Good evening, fellow 'festers. With my car stuck in Customs, so close to the VPC and freedom, I give you the next installment of my drawn out account... 

Day eight, the start of Schloßapalooza:

On day eight, we awoke refreshed from a good night sleep. After another great breakfast, we headed North into the Rhinetal. Setting out from Bad Sobernheim, we traveled up the Nahe valley to Bingen. As we learned later, the Rhine from Bingen to Koblenz is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the number of castles adorn the banks of the Rhine. 

For those that have not been there, the Rhine has carved its valley from the surrounding countryside, with steep banks about 100 meters high on each side of the river. In some ways, it’s the Grand Canyon in its infancy. The closest equivalent I’ve seen in North America would be the banks of the Ohio near Cincinnati. Perhaps the Over-the-Rhine section of the Queen City was named by a homesick German immigrant. 
The river is very swift. I’d guess the current to be around 8 knots. The barge traffic up and down the river is incessant, with every imaginable good traveling up and down the river, a tribute to Germany’s industrial prowess. 

As for the castles, you start growing numb to them after awhile. Every turn and bend in the river brings a new one into view. Many are ruins, destroyed by the French in some past conflict.

Our destination is a town called Sankt Goar. As it is early, we settle into town and enjoyed a coffee and pastry for lunch. Though it is Sunday, a number of shops are open. They stand as a testament to the power of the tourists’ euro. There are a number of boat tours up and down the Rhine. We quickly conclude that we’d have to devote the entire day to touring on one of these boats, and it would be dicey for us to make it back to where we started with certainty.

At this point, we decide to check out our accommodations in a Castle above the town, called Schloss Rheinfels. We negotiate another set of steep switchbacks riding up the banks. On top is a large castle, much of it in ruin. As it turns out, our room is in a building adjacent to the castle, with stunning views of the river. After checking in, we head back to explore the castle ruins. 

The tour of the castle is self-guided. While there are some suggested paths, you are more or less free to wander the castle grounds, including exploring some of the towers and unlit caverns and passageways, in a manner that would put a twinkle in the eye if a contingency-fee attorney. Compared to others I’ve seen, this castle is enormous, and it bears no resemblance to the 19th century faux-fortress palaces that are Neuchwanstein and Hohenschwangau. This is a real boiling-oil-and-catapult kind of castle, dating to 1245. It was expanded multiple times, ultimately into a relatively modern fortress designed for warfare with cannon in the 18th century, before it’s destruction in 1794.

There’s a small museum within the castle, but we found it to be a little lacking, especially when compared to what we saw on the second day of “Schloßapalooza.” We were amazed that we spent nearly three hours wandering through the fortress; it’s quite a site to behold.

After the tour, we settled into the hotel. The hotel is a four-star operation. We enjoyed dinner outside on a covered balcony overlooking the Rhine. One feature of a late-May trip to Germany is that it is Spargel (Asparagus) season. For our entire trip, every restaurant had a distinct Spargel menu. At this restaurant, we decided to find out what the fuss was about, and enjoyed white asparagus with a small pork tenderloin as a side. 

To say it was good is an understatement; it took conscious effort to resist rolling around in the leftover sauce like a dog would in fresh road kill. Drifting off into complete decadence, we washed it down with a fantastic Spätburgunder. 

Life is good. 



Pictures:

A castle, a castle, a castle, and a castle.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

More pictures:

The rhine, another castle, the fixed up side of Schloss Rheinfels, and the not so pristine side of the castle.


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## JSpira (Oct 21, 2002)

iversonm said:


> Schloßapalooza


And, the post of the week award goes to... the person who invented the word ,,Schloßapalooza``:thumbup:


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Above and below Schloss Rhinefels...


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## JSpira (Oct 21, 2002)

iversonm said:


> Above and below Schloss Rhinefels...


Esp. like this set of photos, but you lost your ß (scharfes-S)


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Jspira said:


> And, the post of the week award goes to... the person who invented the word ,,Schloßapalooza``:thumbup:


Thanks. It's my best work.

Now, I'd like to thank the Academy for....


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Day nine: The second day of Schloßapalooza.

Our last full day with the car began with more rain. At least I don't worry about Germany becoming a desert through global climate change. We check out of yet another hotel. Our migrant lifestyle is getting old. We set our sights on the other famous wine river, the Mosel.

Our target for the day is the Burg Eltz castle. This is Schloßapalooza, after all. While we managed to locate it on our infamous paper map, the castle was unknown to the navigation system. Later it would become apparent why.

We aimed Inga at the town nearest the castle. She set on a westerly course, up the banks of the Rhine and across to the Mosel. The road through the rolling hills some times is a tree covered trail through a forest. At other times, it passes through open farm fields and vineyards. Finally, we descended onto the southeastern bank of the Mosel. The road here is right at the level of the river. I imagine flooding is a problem. Compared to the Rhine, the scenery is much more peaceful and rural. The towns are smaller and farther apart. Both banks of the Mosel are form one, uninterrupted vineyard.

The Mosel lacks the Rhine's industrial feel. There are no barges upon the river.
The Rhine valley has multiple train tracks on both banks, moving both passengers and freight. It seems like there's a train every few minutes. In contrast, I'm not sure I recall seeing a train track on the Mosel.

The Mosel also appears to be the number one RV destination in Europe. There were more parks full of trailers and RVs. Although they sensibly choose equipment more diminutive in size, Germans flock to RVs with the same vigor you see in the United States.

We drive to the southwest until we reach a bridge, and we cross the river. From here, we backtrack downstream on the opposite bank. At this point, we've picked up the signs guiding us to Berg Eltz. At the town of Müden, we're directed to drive through the town and up the bank to reach the castle. With no castle in sight, the road ends beside a small trailer. A man emerged from the trailer, and we paid him to park in the small lot. With a little gesticulation and the word "Rechts," we clearly understand that we're to follow the path, and make a right.

We set off on foot. A paved path leads us to a small Gasthaus. Nearby, the path blocked by a strategically placed "beware of dog" sign, with no sign of a dog anywhere. This forces you to walk right by the front of the Gasthaus. The owners obviously took Marketing 101.

Not far past the Gasthaus, the pavement ends, and we're on a dirt path. The rain has barely relented, so the ground is quite wet. Fortunately, the soil is sandy, so mud is not much of a problem. At this point, we're walking through the woods, with no castle in sight. The path is downhill the entire way. Afer about 20 minutes of walking, we realize the walk out will be some work. At one point, we can just make out a building through the trees. Our hopes of arrival are premature, as we must walk all the way around the far side of a hill to reach the castle.

Once you reach the end of the path, the castle is finally in clear view, and it is a majestic sight. It is amazing how authentic and well preserved this castle is. I have never seen anything like it before. Unlike the fortresses elsewhere in the region, this one was never touched by a marauding French army. It is basically untouched, with its wooden buildings built high above the stone walls. We learned that the castle was owned jointly by three families. One of the three still resides in the castle; therefore guided tours are one conducted through two thirds of the living spaces. There is also a collection of Medieval artifacts within the castle. There are beautifully ornate silver and gold items like candelabras, salt sellers, dinnerware, and jewelry. Complimenting this is armor, weapons, and early firearms. Words can't do justice to the quality of this collection. While photography was prohibited, I did sneak a picture of a candelabra, shown below.

The guided tour through the living quarters of the castle is in German. However, English and French guides is available, and the guide speaks all three languages fluently. He was very receptive to questions. Based on feedback from German friends that had taken the tour, one element of the German tour that is not reflected in the English guide is a bit of linguistic history, where the guide explains the origins of many German words and idioms. For example, there's a German idiom where something like "facing the dog" means that you're broke. On the tour, you see a strongbox with a dog painted on the bottom. So, if you see the dog, you obviously have some financial issues. I never did get an answer as to why pictures of dogs were painted on the bottom of the box in the first place.

After the tour, we recharged with a bratwurst and mineral water for the long, uphill walk back to the car. As soon as we climbed back into our car, the rain returned with full force. Our luck with the rain is still holding.

We returned to the Rhine valley to another hotel south just south of Sankt Goar. This hotel is called Schloss auf Schönburg, in the town of Oberwesel. Unlike the previous night's accommodations, this hotel is a full-blown castle renovated into a hotel. Like the others, the castle is perched high on the river bank. The parking lot is on the other side of a ravine, spanned by a small bridge that doesn't look strong enough to take the weight of a car. Once we carefully cross the bridge, we park the car and enter the castle. The castle is built like a spiral staircase. As you walk into the castle, you keep walking up hill and curving to the right. When we reach the hotel lobby, we are have climbed about 150 feet above the parking lot.

When we booked the hotel, we had booked the only room available, so we did not know what to expect. After checking in, the doorman leads us to our room, helping us with our bags. At first, we cross a courtyard, and enter an elevator. We take the elevator up four stories. From there, the doorman leads us up another two floors on a spiral staircase. We have booked the room at the very top of the tower. We enter what has to be one of the most unique and opulent hotel rooms I've stayed in. It had a very unusual layout, as the room was perfectly round, with sloping walls, as we were within the conical roof on the top. Every the walls and ceilings were completely paneled in hardwood, and the bathroom was done in marble. We had a crystal decanter filled with cognac, accompanied by fresh fruit. We had a small balcony overlooking the river. Needless to say, my wife relived every fairytale princess fantasy that has been culturally programmed into her from a young age.

As my pictures don't do it justice, you can see pictures of this hotel on their website: http://www.hotel-schoenburg.com/. The room we stayed in is here. This clearly was a highpoint of the trip. I must recommend this to anyone traveling in the area. It wasn't cheap, but I felt like I got more than my money's worth out of the room.
That night, we had another four-star dinner with friends, who happened to be the ones that recommended this hotel to us.

By the way, it gets pretty windy at the top of the tower.

Pictures:

The road to the Mosel, the car in fron of the vineyards, the end of the road at Burg Eltz, and two from the hiking trail.


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

More pictures:

Two more from the longest trail, two pictures of Burg Eltz, and my illicit picture from inside the museum. (I know, I live on the edge.)


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## iversonm (Nov 15, 2004)

Day ten: 

At this point, our trip is more or less over, and so is this long, drawn out blog, so don’t get your hopes up for more long-winded prose. 

The most significant event day ten was spending the morning visiting more friends with lunch in a town called Bad Sobernheim. From there, we drove to Frankfurt, and left the car in the care of Harms. After this we took a cab to the NH hotel at the Airport in Frankfurt.

This brings this post fill circle, as I wrote post #12 in this thread in the hotel.

In retrospect, we did a bit too much driving on the trip, but most of this was due to our visit to Lausanne and Montreux. When I do another, I'll probably make it a shorter trip, and mostly stay in one region. 

Thanks for reading this drawn out post. I never really intended to make it this long. It just sort of happened. It did help mitigate the redelivery blues. Hopefully it will help get someone else off of top dead center and do an ED.

I'd like to thank all of you that have provided me advice in planning this trip, and to those who provided indirect advice that I gleaned from the "Search" tool. The people of this forum really helped make our trip enjoyable and anxiety free. 

Mike


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## Eurobmw06 (Mar 19, 2006)

iversonm said:


> After the tour, we settled into the hotel. The hotel is a four-star operation. We enjoyed dinner outside on a covered balcony overlooking the Rhine. One feature of a late-May trip to Germany is that it is Spargel (Asparagus) season. For our entire trip, every restaurant had a distinct Spargel menu. At this restaurant, we decided to find out what the fuss was about, and enjoyed white asparagus with a small pork tenderloin as a side.
> 
> To say it was good is an understatement; it took conscious effort to resist rolling around in the leftover sauce like a dog would in fresh road kill. Drifting off into complete decadence, we washed it down with a fantastic Spätburgunder.
> 
> Isn't the asparagus awesome!!!! I wouldn't touch green asparagus with a 10 foot pole here in the states. There is really no words to describe it. It is a must for anyone traveling at that time of year. I actually took a picture of my plate. I will have to find it and post it.


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