# M4 ED - Ongoing Trip Report to Prague, Budapest, Berchtesgaden-12 hour compliance



## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

oops double post.


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## Dimitar (May 1, 2014)

Congrats on the new car. SO looks fantastic. I remember reading your ED thread back in 2007 when you picked up your black E92 335i. Your thread was particularly entertaining and made me wanting to do an ED which I did in December 2013. Great to see you guys doing well, best wishes to you.


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## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

That story about the border is so reminiscent of my Hungarian border crossing. Of course I was never so glad to cross a border in my life coming from Slovenia. I had doubts too about the piece of paper for Hungary. I guess they haven't figured out the vignette thing yet. I had luckily bought mine in Germany right before Austrian border. Also got my Slovenia one there too. 3 for one at that stop. 

I know how you feel saying there was nobody around and just tumbleweeds! Kind of scary especially when you are running from the Slovenian police like I was. I can see what you mean about the Hungarian police almost pulling you over. 

Glad you're enjoying Hungary. Spend all your forints. Between my son and me we still have 10,000 HUF. I'll let folks do the conversion. Buy some local Hungarian wine at a store and try it. Not the sweet wines. 
I stayed in a VRBO apartment and it was amazing. In an old blog near Parliament and Olympic park on Pest side. My bed overlooked the Danube. Huge patio. Full kitchen. $130/night. 
You must go to a thermal bath while you are there. Hit Bratislava if you can. It was a hidden gem.


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## skier (Oct 19, 2004)

She's a beauty, congrats! Fabulous pics!


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

soledoc said:


> That story about the border is so reminiscent of my Hungarian border crossing. Of course I was never so glad to cross a border in my life coming from Slovenia. I had doubts too about the piece of paper for Hungary. I guess they haven't figured out the vignette thing yet. I had luckily bought mine in Germany right before Austrian border. Also got my Slovenia one there too. 3 for one at that stop.
> 
> I know how you feel saying there was nobody around and just tumbleweeds! Kind of scary especially when you are running from the Slovenian police like I was. I can see what you mean about the Hungarian police almost pulling you over.
> 
> ...


Wow. Running from the Slovenian poloce? I would love to hear more about that story...


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

We got back Friday from a wonderful and great trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our more Eastern European tour and spent the final 2-3 days back in Germany. It was hard ending the trip at the Munich drop-off center; but as they say.... all good things must come to an end.

Day 7 - Full Day in Budapest

Below are a few choice pics from our tour of Budapest. The first is in front of the Hop on Hop off bus tour pickup location (one of many). I highly recommend it to get around Budapest. It stops at about 40 locations and has audio headphones in various languages to tell you a little history and info on each stop and the city and general. The tour also includes a river boat ride. I learned a lot just thru listening to the headphones. The only thing bad about Budapest was our timing. We explored the city on a Monday and evidently most of the museums are closed that day. That limited our inside tours but probably gave us more time to get around the city in general.










Below are pics of us touring the Castle District. You could have spent a full day here alone. It is a photographers dream with all the views and options along with great history.














































Below is a night shot along the Danube near our hotel.










Overall, you need at least another full day in Budapest to even feel like you scratched the surface...


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

Day 8 - Drive from Hungary thru Austria to Berchtesgaden, Germany

After leaving Budapest, we had a nice drive thru Hungary and into Austria on the way to Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps (about 25 mins further southwest of Salzburg). Below are some shots we took as we crossed the border from Hungary into Austria. Remnants of the former border stations were obvious off this two lane road we detoured down to see some of the buildings near the border.

Below is a pic on the Austrian side with Hungary in the background. Note the lifted guard tower on the left of the road with the border sign on the right. Further back I assume are remnants of an old soviet era border building as well.










More strange buildings along the border on the Hungarian side.










Here is our fill of the only food in Austria we got to sample. An Italian eatery in what looked like a modern day fashion/outlet mall along the Autobahn. Pizza reminded me of NY style pizza, which is my favorite. However, they don't have a lot of meat toppings like we do here...


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## SJAPoc (Apr 14, 2007)

This is a great picture!









All of them are though... Especially the ones with your car  And with your lovely wife 

Nicely done :thumbup:


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

Day 9 - Full day exploring Berchtesgaden area

As with Budapest and Prague, you really need a couple of more days even in this region. So much history and natural wonders to see. Because Munich was less than a 2 hour drive, we did spend the following day doing things in this region as well.

First of all, we stayed at a wonderful family owned Inn called the Bavarian Inn. The view from our 3rd floor room was spectacular; which included the town as well as Germany's second largest peak - Watzmann.










As was the excellent breakfast and view (shown below).










Below is the parking at the Inn. Be careful, if your like me and prefer the end spot then you will have to park near a steep drop-off... my wife opted to get out before we parked (pics never do steep hills justice). The entire town is built at the base of a steep mountain. Needless to say, the local population all seemed to be in excellent shape.










For exploring, we tried to hit up the most popular choices that I reviewed on here and on trip advisor. This included exploring Lake Konigsee by boat, the former bunkers of the Hitler's summer home (Berghof) that were destroyed at the end of the World War II and nowadays a documentation center (museum) is here, and the Berchtesgaden Salt Mine where I was able to pick up some nice gifts. Also get to enjoy a little spirited switch back fun with the M4's performance along the Rossfield scenic road (same road that you use to get to the Eagle's Nest-which unfortunately was closed till May).

Below are a few choice photos from Lake Konigsee. The lake is noted for its clear water and is advertised as the cleanest lake in Germany. For this reason, only electric-powered passenger boats, rowing, and pedal boats have been permitted on the lake since 1909. You can only reach most points along the lake by boat (or I guess hiking). The lake is the deepest in the alps and is surrounded by very steep mountains that rise up 2000 m above the lake level. About halfway from our starting point, we came to a flat peninsula at the base of the mountain where the famous onion-domed church of St Bartholoma lies. This world-famous pilgrim church was first built in 1134. In 1697 it was rebuilt with two onion domes and a red domed roof that still exist today. Near the chapel lies the old hunting lodge of the same name. The lodge, which was first erected in the 12th century with the church, has been rebuilt several times. Until 1803, it was a private residence of the Berchtesgaden Prince-provosts; after their territory had been incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1810, the building became a favorite hunting lodge of the ruling house. It is now an Inn and restaurant where we had fresh trout caught right out of the nearby lake.









Boat arriving at Bartholoma peninsula (I took this from our boat).









Enjoying the view from St. Bartholoma.









Hiking along the Bartholoma peninsula at base of mountain.









Found this after hiking along the shore of Bartholoma peninsula. Was a nice surprise.









Enjoying the view and nice lunch of fresh trout after the hike.

That afternoon, we had time to visit the documentation center. Only had about 2 hours before it closed but that was probably just enough time. From here buses also leave to visit Hitler's famous Eagles Nest (closed till May). But based on all I read, he really only went up there a couple of times. He primarily stayed down in this area; which had a bunker built under his house, Goring's house, and others. The documentation center is built on top of this old bunker network; which is included as part of the tour. Was very informative. See below for photos inside of the old bunker.


















Above was a set of 3 machine gun emplacements that guarded one of the entrances.


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

Day 10 - Last full day in Europe. Exploring Berchtesgaden before driving back to hotel near Munich International Airport (drop-off center).

Before driving to Munich, we continued our tour of Berchtesgaden area. We did the Rossfeld scenic road first to enjoy the views and open the M4 up a little. The hotel owner told me about this scenic route so I really had no idea about it. To be honest, I was going to do some of the Alpenstrasse route that I learned about on the forum on the way back to Munich. However, this was so good that I did it instead and saved some time to later tour the Salt Mine.

By now, we almost had 1,000 miles on the M4. I recently got a GoPro so I got a little experimental with it and mounted it on the outside of the car behind the front tire and also on my window to view the instruments and view out the windshield. I got some great shots with it and look forward to editing the video. Below are just a few from my SLR where we pulled off. Maybe add some of the action shots from the GoPro later.





































Don't really have much of the Salt Mine since they didn't allow pics inside. But my wife was actually pretty impressed with it (I guess she was expecting the worse... lol). It is called the Salzbergwerk. After we donned traditional mining garments (protective clothing for warmth and the two slides we had to descend, we went down 1,600 feet into the depths, which also included a boat ride across a subterranean lake.

I really wanted to open her up on the Autobahn on the way back to Munich. Especially since the car finally hit 1,200 miles. However, there was just way to much afternoon congestion on that A road so didn't do anymore than I did on day 1 :thumbup: (I was wanting to top my record but.... unlike the Germans I am still nervous passing people at that rate of speed as you really come up on people fast - even if they are doing 80 mph). So I kept it cordial.


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

Day 11 - Drop-off and Long Flight Home

We got back Friday from a wonderful and great trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our more Eastern European tour and the final 2-3 days back in Germany. It was hard ending the trip at the Munich drop-off center; but as they say.... all good things must come to an end. I am looking forward to reuniting with the M4 again... this time at the BMW Performance Delivery Center about an hour down the road in Spartanburg, SC.

Below is our drop off pic at the Munich International Airport Drop-off Center. Like the Welt, this is such a huge improvement over what we did in 2007. We wheeled our luggage from the trunk of the car right into the airport terminal. I put right at 1,200 miles on the odometer. I estimated in advance that I would likely be just at or go over a few miles during this trip so I asked my Welt showperson. He indicated that it could wait till it arrives in the US for the break in service. I am going to email my US SA to let him know I will need this service right away. Anyone else reach it while in Europe right at or just over the break-in mileage?


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## rebirth24 (Feb 5, 2015)

Great thread! I am currently on ED and will hit my 1200 miles while on my way back to Munich from Como, Italy. I have an appointment with BMW in Munich to get the 1200 mile service and will have the car in Germany for a couple of days after it is done. Looking forward to that  Again great thread and glad you had what looks like a great time!


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Great report with lots of interesting facts. Love all the Cold War sites you visited. Should be used as a guidebook for future ED 'festers. You couldn't have had nicer weather. Thanks for sharing.


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## aardvark (Apr 15, 2002)

This was a spectacular trip and report. Not to diminish any of the other great reports posted recently, but this was one of the top 2 or 3 posted so far in 2015. Congrats!


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

Thanks for keeping us in the loop on "the rest of the story." It was 2007 for us as well for our prior BMW ED and yes, what a difference it was going back this year.


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

You had some great weather for your trip on Königssee, lucky you! It was pretty dreary for us, definitely didn't look the same as your time there.


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## soledoc (Feb 5, 2007)

panzer948 said:


> We got back Friday from a wonderful and great trip. We thoroughly enjoyed our more Eastern European tour and spent the final 2-3 days back in Germany. It was hard ending the trip at the Munich drop-off center; but as they say.... all good things must come to an end.
> 
> Day 7 - Full Day in Budapest
> 
> ...


I agree with your assesment on Budapest. We spend 3 nights there and stayed near Parliament. The end of our 2nd day we did a thermal bath which was a welcome treat...although the bath there is not nearly as nice as those in Iceland.


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

Really enjoyed your writeup and that M4 is amazing. Thanks for sharing with us!


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## claud 3 (Jun 27, 2005)

Enjoyed your post. I really enjoyed your video you made of your 2007 ED. Are you going to do another one for this ED?


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## panzer948 (Sep 8, 2006)

Hi guys, thanks for all the kind comments. Yes we were very lucky the entire trip. It didn't rain but once the entire time, and that was while we were on the boat ride in Budapest; so nothing lost. I still can't decide which area I liked best (I get asked that a lot).

Concerning the video, yes I would like to try that again. I do edit videos on the computer but the 2007 ED vid was the first and only one I ever did as a music video. After I edit the regular footage my goal will be to try my hand at doing something like that again. That new song called "Budapest" comes to mind as something I could use for background music  This time around I have better stuff to work with too since it is all in HD and the use of the GoPro gave much more interesting shots. If I do I will post a link here (and add to my sig).


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