# 53 hours and 27 Minutes Compliance



## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

immigration line?


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

Great write up, thanks! We'll be staying in the Salzburg area for a few days in April. Hallstatt was already on my list, but you've confirmed my impression it was a good choice for a day trip.


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## Hound Passer (Feb 2, 2007)

Gluhwein said:


> I saw the Sixt dude.... ...ome candy awaited us in our luxurious back row seats.




Great write up. Now I'm even more excited. I'm not munch of a wurst guy, but I do have an obnoxious sweet tooth especially for Euro chocolate (I assume that what you meant by "candy"). Sounds like a few laps around the Englischen Garten may be necessary by the time I get to the Welt.

Also glad to hear vests are easy to come by. One less thing to bring.

Someone asked this in another thread but does the NAV system download the maps from the USB stick or does the stick need to be continuously inserted?


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## akthorp (Jun 16, 2012)

Do you need a vignette only if you drive on the motorways or was the thinking you would be less likely to be caught without one on the secondary roads?

I thought you needed them wherever you drive in Austria and Switzerland.


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

akthorp said:


> Do you need a vignette only if you drive on the motorways or was the thinking you would be less likely to be caught without one on the secondary roads?
> 
> I thought you needed them wherever you drive in Austria and Switzerland.


In Austria it's only for the autobahn, so secondary roads you're fine without. Not sure about switzerland.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

Hound Passer said:


> Great write up. Now I'm even more excited. I'm not munch of a wurst guy, but I do have an obnoxious sweet tooth especially for Euro chocolate (I assume that what you meant by "candy"). Sounds like a few laps around the Englischen Garten may be necessary by the time I get to the Welt.
> 
> Also glad to hear vests are easy to come by. One less thing to bring.
> 
> Someone asked this in another thread but does the NAV system download the maps from the USB stick or does the stick need to be continuously inserted?


The stick needs to be continuously inserted.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

akthorp said:


> Do you need a vignette only if you drive on the motorways or was the thinking you would be less likely to be caught without one on the secondary roads?
> 
> I thought you needed them wherever you drive in Austria and Switzerland.


Yes, you need a vignette for both Austria and Switzerland. This is for driving on their Autobahns (main highways only). It is fairly expensive in Switzerland as you have to purchase a yearly sticker even if you are only driving on their highways for a couple of days. I think it's around 40 CHF. In Austria you can purchase a toll pass for a few days.

One way to get around this is to program your GPS to avoid toll roads -- it will take a little longer going from point A to point B, but you will see some great scenery.


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## Hound Passer (Feb 2, 2007)

Wine-O said:


> The stick needs to be continuously inserted.


Aw. Boo! But thanks for the confirm. I wish they still preloaded the Euro maps on the NAV. But probably stopped that to save time uploading the US maps at the VPC upon arrival.


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## sfbayrealtor1 (Jan 19, 2006)

The plus side of the euro maps on a Usb stick....you get to keep it! And it's a nice little 64GB stick.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

sfbayrealtor1 said:


> The plus side of the euro maps on a Usb stick....you get to keep it! And it's a nice little 64GB stick.


I just got back and mine was only 28GB.


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## SJAPoc (Apr 14, 2007)

Great report Gluhwein!










The X1 in your choice of color combo is just beautiful  Enjoy :thumbup:


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## Rowanbuds (Dec 8, 2014)

Wine-O said:


> The stick needs to be continuously inserted.


On this note - will the stick properly re-initialize if it is removed/reinserted? It seems that you couldn't use your ipod/phone via usb during the entirety of your ED if the stick must always be inserted - or am I interpreting something wrong?


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## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

1 remove NAV stick
2 insert music stick and load music to hard drive
3 reinsert NAV stick


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## Rowanbuds (Dec 8, 2014)

Got it, thanks for the clarification Gary. Any idea what the storage capacity is internally? Or how long it would take to move say 5GB of music?


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## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

I think I have about 10G loaded. Just switch to Sat or something while it's loading. Mine will even pick up loading again if turned off until the next day.


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

Rowanbuds said:


> Got it, thanks for the clarification Gary. Any idea what the storage capacity is internally? Or how long it would take to move say 5GB of music?


20 gb for music. No idea how long to move 5 gb as I don't have my car yet


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## Rowanbuds (Dec 8, 2014)

Gary J said:


> I think I have about 10G loaded. Just switch to Sat or something while it's loading. Mine will even pick up loading again if turned off until the next day.


Thanks again. Any recommendation for the file format used?

Wait - Satellite Radio will not work on the ED, right?


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## Hound Passer (Feb 2, 2007)

Rowanbuds said:


> Thanks again. Any recommendation for the file format used?
> 
> Wait - Satellite Radio will not work on the ED, right?


All the common standard formats like MP3, AAC, AIFF. But they must be DRM-Free. And yes, no Sat radio.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

Is it the case that there is no hard drive if your car (2015 428xi in my case) is not equipped with a nav. system? Thanks.


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## frank325 (Dec 29, 2005)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> Is it the case that there is no hard drive if your car (2015 428xi in my case) is not equipped with a nav. system? Thanks.


Correct.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

frank325 said:


> Correct.


Thanks, that's what I figured. I see you're picking up your 4 series on the 16th. We're picking ours up on 20th. Enjoy your time overseas!


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## sbono13 (Jul 27, 2004)

Gluhwein said:


> After a few more hours of just enjoying the scenery we eventually arrived in Salzburg. The GPS directed us to the Augustiner Brewery that Rick Steves had raved about on his TV show. At first it was very confusing. I was expecting a restaurant. Instead it was a beer hall quite similar to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich except there was no table service. One has to grab a beer mug from a shelf, rinse it out in a big sink (Rick's show intimated that this sink was where the beer was dispensed and that you filled your own mug), pay the cashier who issued you a ticket and then you took that ticket to the beer dispensing guy who grumpily filled your stein. After downing half our beers we were still confused about how we were to get food. I got up from the table and walked into the next room and found a half dozen little stands selling snacks and sandwiches. I ended-up with a Schnitzel sandwich and the wife had a half chicken. She loved it and thought the whole thing was pretty cool. I was underwhelmed.


Congrats on your car and ED experience so far. We were in Salzburg over the weekend too. skipped the Augustiner despite many recommendations, and ended up at a Mozart dinner concert. Amusing if nothing else. Don't know about you, but it's been cold for us Californians-- I'm happiest in the car with the heater running!

We asked for safety vests last Monday (the 9th), but they said they were out. Go figure, they had them at the gift shop though. Just curious, did you get orange ones or the yellow BMW emblazoned ones? We did not get an ice scraper either-- they must have been in a more giving mood later in the week 

Anyway congrats again and Prost!


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

I hope to never open the vests so I don't know the color scheme. Considering there are numerous podiums in the delivery area I'm surprised they didn't search harder.

Our GPS is not on a stick. It's installed and gets more awesome each day I play around with it. But the Garmin Nuvi still gives better, more precise directions. On our way to Leipzig I used both at the same time and the Nuvi saved us ten minutes on a better route to the BMW factory tour. I will relate that ordeal later.

One more important fact I forgot - we got a bottle of Champagne at delivery because it was our second ED.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

akthorp said:


> Do you need a vignette only if you drive on the motorways or was the thinking you would be less likely to be caught without one on the secondary roads?
> 
> I thought you needed them wherever you drive in Austria and Switzerland.


You only need them on the Autobahn (toll roads). They aren't needed on secondary roads. And the supposed "secondary" routes are quite fast moving most of the time. We are amazed to see a land with such cold temps virtually devoid of potholes or icy patches. No salt or cinders flying back at you from the car in front. They are incredibly smooth even when a knucklehead like myself actually drives off a curb.

Despite all that my pretty new car is still a filthy mess.

No, sat radio doesn't work in Europe. Our ED specialist claims they don't need it because they have high def. Besides, all the stations play the same &[email protected]#% music. I wish I could still find a U.S. Military base radio station. There is virtually no trace of our troops here anymore however.


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## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

Rowanbuds said:


> Thanks again. Any recommendation for the file format used?
> 
> Wait - Satellite Radio will not work on the ED, right?


No play radio while loading - does not take that long and gives % loaded messages.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Day Three (Monday) - This would be one of our few days with a time constraint. Because we were flying home the following Sunday when Loginout would be closed and because Mr. Pennypincher had no interest in forking out a couple extra Euro to pay the penalty for the privilege of having someone do the paperwork on their day off, I arranged to do the processing on the one weekday we would be passing anywhere near Munich Strauss airport. Thanks to a number of helpful Bimmerfesters who advised me that this could be done I set up a 12 noon appointment to have all the Loginout papers filled-out and to give them my spare key. The appointment time seemed a reasonable time long before I ran into that Saturday afternoon Stau on the Munich-Salzburg Autobahn.

Because I was worried that there might be an even worse traffic jam on a Monday morning heading into Munich we left our Bad Reichenhall hotel at 9 am. The estimated driving time per my dual GPS systems said it should take an hour and a half. I assumed that if we were making good progress with no traffic issues maybe we could stop at a Lidl or ReWe for some shopping. We encountered no traffic and saw no exits with shopping centers nearby. We got into MUC just after 10:30 and following the GPS directions ended-up in a pay parking lot on the wrong side of the terminal. We were in and out so quickly the turnstile didn't have time to figure out how much to charge us. The next street was the right "Allee" and we pulled-up into an empty space.

The ladies in Loginout didn't bat an eye when we told them who we were and apologized for being so early. They handled our documents immediately. If it took more than ten minutes I'd be shocked. At first they were all business and not exactly warm, but once the official stuff was out of the way they lightened-up and kidded around with us. Sadly the dog was not there. On the way out I snapped a few pics just in case any of you guys might have cars you're looking for.

In quick order we were out of the airport complex and heading north on the Autobahn. There were far fewer cars this time and with three lanes I was able to crank the car up to a comfortable 90 mph most of the way. I topped out at maybe 110 at one point but had no real desire to exceed that. Meanwhile I was being blown off the road from time to time by various station wagons and cargo vans. Is there anything better than the rule banning trucks in the far left lane? The only adrenaline rushes I had were from the guys coming up from nowhere behind me. Those in front never caused a problem with radical lane changes or speed fluctuations. Everybody follows the rules and almost everyone heads right to the far right lane when there are no trucks over there. So civilized.

We arrived in downtown Nurnburg just after noon. Once again the Sat Nav kind of screwed us up and forced me to drive around a few blocks of a rather rundown section of South Nurnburg. I don't want to come off as prejudiced but I was a little worried when I started seeing so many signs with Arabic writing and a lot of non-German looking folks walking the streets. When I reached the front of the Smile Hotel I was starting to think I screwed-up and put ourselves in danger in some sort of ISIS stronghold.

My fears were quickly dispelled. No one gave us a second glace as we pulled-up on a curb next to Ali's Auto Service. Ringing the bell on the graffiti-decorated hotel soon brought out a smiling, bubbly German blonde who was nearly as verbose and lively as my own wife. She knew exactly who we were and even joked about my adding a second night to my initial reservation: "You must have read more about what a great city we have. That's why you decided to stay longer. You will want to add a third night".

After showing us our own private garage and taking us to our large two room accommodation (ask for room 101) she spent the next half hour pulling out brochures and maps planning out an itinerary for us. In truth I had only been planning on spending one day exploring the town with the rest of the time spent driving around the outskirts. Her suggestions were so good that we ended-up following them to the letter. We paid an additional 2 Euro for two nights of unlimited internet for our various electronic toys. The reason I chose the Smile Hotel over much better places like the Park Inn, Ibis and Marriott was due to the free parking. Other hotels wanted upwards of 18 Euro per night and were no closer to the action.

The interesting parts of Nuremburg are situated inside the huge stone town wall that surrounds the original settlements. We were staying just a half block away from the southern wall. As Stephanie had explained it, the area of old town inside the wall but south of the Pegnitz River was the shopping district while the Northern section was more residential, historic and interesting. My wife and I quickly decided she could get her shopping done today and we'd see the historic stuff the next day when we could start earlier and try to pack as much in as possible. Just as long as I could get some lunch right away.

Just a few steps from our hotel and on the way to the nearest Old Town gate we chanced upon a Doner Kebap joint. Just as curry has become more British than fish'n'chips, Doner has become the king of German cuisine due to the influx of so many workers from the Balkans over the past 25 years. For 10 Euro the wife and I each had a gigantic Doner Kebap and half liter of beer. Neither of us could finish. A most satisfying experience.

The rest of the afternoon I played the good husband while my wife did her thing. Seriously, how many shoes do women need? About the only thing I found interesting was seeing how much more expensive men's shoes were. While I regularly saw ladies footwear on sale for under 10 Euro, the cheapest men's shows were triple that. And they don't seem to offer wide sizes either. Most of the time that she shopped I simply sat on benches in the pedestrian zone and people=watched. Eventually she began to tire. We decided to return to our room to drop off her bags nd to check our emails. Along the way I spotted a drugstore where I picked-up a couple of tubes of the German version of Airborne, a few bars of Fa soap, some of the magnificent German spray deodorant that we can't match and some Coke for the road. On our way back to the hotel, about a block from our room, we watched as perhaps 50 riot gear clad Polizei ran interference for a couple hundred red flag waving protestors. I'm not really sure what they were all worked-up about but the one word I could decipher on a few signs was "racism". But I don't know whether they were pro or con. Interesting that they were parading through a predominately Arab-Balkan neighborhood where very few of the inhabitants were paying any attention to them.

After spending a few hours back at the room catching up on events back home, posting on Bimmerfest and re-arranging our suitcases, we ventured back out for dinner. The plan was to cross the river into the historic area and hopefully find a quaint atmospheric Gasthaus or Stube. Before we reached the Karls Bridge I espied a warm, welcoming old tavern that looked like something out the 1880's. Karlsbruckla (http://www.karlsbrueckla.de/) was the perfect spot to relax after doing close to 13,000 steps on the Fitbit. Naturally, we started off with two big Tucher Hefeweizen. I had been in Europe almost 3 full days and had yet to sample my first real Schnitzel. I ordered the Jagerschnitzel and my wife had Kasespatzel. Service was quite quick and served by a very cute girl who spoke excellent English. My mushroom covered cutlet may have been one of the best I ever enjoyed in all my many years of traveling in Germany. Absolutely perfect. Since tomorrow was Fasching (Fat Tuesday) she warned us that restaurants would be packed and the streets chock full of crazies starting early in the day. She pretty much told us not to bother coming back to the Karlsbruckla because they would be full of partygoers all day long.

Although the day time temps had been rather comfortable in the bright sunshine once we left the restaurant in the dark things had changed considerably. We spent a half hour window-shopping and snapping photos of some of the old stone bridges. When it got too cold to take any longer we hastened back to our hotel room for an evening of watching German TV. Tonight the entertainment was a night of televised Fasching celebrations featuring what we assumed were big name German entertainers. I never heard of any of them and found them pretty lame and almost embarrassing to watch. But the studio audience loved them and howled all night long. It turned out to be the perfect night to hit the sheets early for an early start the next day.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Day Four (Tuesday) The original plan I had in my head was to spend this day cruising the environs in and around Nurnburg. No particular plan - just a day in the new car. However the dawning of the day brought a foggy. miserable day with the hint of snow in the air. Hoping things might eventually clear the wife and I took a leisurely breakfast before heading out to look for a bank. But time was not on our side and the day remained dismal. A new plan was instituted and we decided to leave the new X1 garaged while we explored the historic Old Town on Nurnburg. 

Our day started with a great breakfast spread. We had a choice between numerous cereals, yoghurts, cold cuts, cheeses, rolls and bread, fruits and my absolute favorite, soft-boiled eggs. We had them almost everyday and it seemed like each hotel we stayed at made them better than the previous one. Our hosts at the Smile Hotel had plotted a nice little itinerary for us on a map. They warned us to do as much sightseeing in the daylight hours as possible because that night of Fasching (Mardi Gras in Germany) would be a loud, crazy evening. We set off following their suggestions and within half an hour completely deviated from their well=planned agenda. Instead of going directly to the Albrecht Durer house and exploring the medieval heart of the city we quickly got diverted by the many bridges spanning the river Pegnitz coursing through the center of the walled city. After taking photos from every possible angle we headed North to the looming castle rising high above us. It didn't match the hike up to Neuschwanstein but climbing the slick cobblestone hill leading up to the imperial fortress of Kaiserburg left us winded. When we finally caught our breath and made our way to the castle entrance we were more than a little disappointed to see that the castle was closed on only 4 days all year: Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year and Fasching Tuesday.

We took more pictures of the shuttered castle then proceeded back downhill to see the painter Albrecht Durer's house. It was only a short stroll away. But instead of heading inside we were distracted by the posters advertising the World War 2 Art Bunker. It too was closed but a sign indicated that there would be a tour at 2 pm. When we found the ticket office we also saw that they offered a tour of the medieval tunnels below the old city which began at 1 pm. We signed-up for both and spent most of the rest of the day out of the cold and deep underground. To my wife and I the history was fascinating. The medieval tunnels were hollowed out of the local sandstone mountain that the castle and old town were built upon. They were used Middle Age clergy, Renaissance brewers, Romantic Age lovers and food vendors and by the Nazis as command posts. The tour is not for claustrophobes but the miles of tunnels were not strenuous to walk. Our tour was conducted in English and ended too quickly. The last stop was a visit to a distillery that was still using some of the old tunnels to store and age their booze. The free sample at the conclusion was a high point.

Then it was on to the tour of the WWII Art Bunker. It seems the Nazis were actually concerned that all the precious art of Nurnburg might be destroyed by Allied bombers (much was) so they began storing it in a series of tunnels beneath the Kaiserburg. As the bombing got worse more and more art stolen from other nations by the Nazis was also stored and cataloged there. This tour was the non-English one but we were given audio headsets that kept us informed in our own language. I enjoyed this tour even better. It was amazing to see so many 75 year old artifacts still in pristine condition. As a WWII history freak I often tend to view the war solely through the eyes of the Allies. The preserved Nazi sites in Germany help get a perspective from the other side. I tend to forget just how horribly the German common people suffered. This exhibit really brought that message home. 

The evening was approaching as we finished our sightseeing day with a stroll through the old neighborhoods of Nurnburg. The truth is that these ancient looking buildings were restorations of the old structures that had been almost completely flattened during the Second World War. As pretty as it looked to us I knew that in the summer it had to be even more beautiful.

Our Fitbits told us we had walked over 8 miles that day and our feet verified that stat. We were too tired to explore eating establishments. We headed back to where we had eaten the previous night. Once again the Karlsbruckla served up a fabulous dinner with much needed libations. Despite all the warnings about bawdy revelers milling about ready to reek havoc, we were one of only two tables in the restaurant. Dinner at the same establishment the night before had been so great we both ordered the exact same meals. Dinner for two with a litre of beer each = ***8364;24.80.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

*On to Grimma*

Day 5 (Wednesday)

I was really looking forward to this particular day of the trip. When planning our itinerary I decided to forego our usual favorite haunts in the German and Austrian Alps because it was simply too big a chore and too expensive to equip my X1 with snow tires. Instead I planned a route taking us to northern Bavarian towns that my wife and I last visited back in the 1980s when we both worked for Pan American Airways. I also really wanted to try seeing something new and to finally see Bayreuth. I had read much about its connections to opera and the Reformation.

As I assembled our itinerary and started booking hotels I couldn't find a Bayreuth hotel that met all my requirements: under $100 per night, free parking, free WiFi, breakfast included and reviews above 8.0 on Booking.com. Eventually I found two very interesting hotel choices located much further north, in the Leipzig area. One was a restored castle now used as a Pension and the other a Middle Ages abbey renovated into a resort hotel. Both had the exact same amenities at an identical price. Unable to decide I booked both for the same 2 nights. Every few days I tried to reach a decision on which to cancel - the abbey had WiFi in every room while the castle only had it in the lobby. But the castle seemed way cooler than a one-time home for nuns. The castle restaurant had better reviews but the abbey had a bowling alley and farm animals on site. Studying aerial views on Google Earth didn't make the choice any easier. Both places looked awesome.

Then someone on Bimmerfest mentioned taking the BMW plant tour. I knew we were eligible for a free tour on the day of pickup as part of the ED process in Munich It was very interesting on our first ED 3 years before, but I doubted my thus far very accommodating wife would be all that eager to walk those many miles again. Since my X1 had been built in Leipzig and I was already booked at 2 hotels in the area I decided to contact the Leipzig plant regarding tours. Within an hour of shooting them an email they responded with a late afternoon tour confirmation that fit in perfectly with our itinerary. They not only booked us on the English speaking tour but also sent some great tips for visiting the plant and included what seemed to be a pretty nice map. When I plotted the location of the BMW Leipzig factory on Mapsource I saw it was much closer to the Hotel Kloster Nimbschen. Because the tour would end late in the afternoon I decided it would be best to stay at the nearest hotel. I cancelled the castle. And Bayreuth went out of the plan as well.

Knowing we had to be at the BMW Leipzig plant by 4:00 pm we arose earlier than usual then headed downstairs for another massive breakfast. The breakfasts on the trip so far had been so filling that neither of us felt hungry until mid-afternoon, if at all. This time I watched some of the German guests grab their Frühstück. I had been feeling a little grubby about going up for seconds but after watching those Teutonic gluttons load up their plates I tossed aside my inhibitions. Our host, Norbert, didn't seem to mind and stopped by to chat with us about our stay. He spoke excellent English and had a nice sense of humor. He works on a US military base nearby. He encouraged us to take more to eat, even suggesting we take some to go, but I didn't want to overstay our welcome. I had heard horror stories about American tourists filling up Ziploc bags with free breakfast foods. No wonder so few German hotels still offer that amenity these days.

After that we loaded-up the car with our expanding suitcases then walked back inside to pay the bill. Between my loquacious wife and Stephanie at the front desk chatting away, we didn't get out of Dodge nearly as quickly as I had planned. The day before this I had purchased a little booklet about the Nazi regime in Nuremburg. I decided I'd like to swing by some of the old ruins just to snap a few photos. I didn't expect there would be much left to see. Boy, was I wrong.

Almost the whole Nazi rally area still stands. Much of it was never completed as Hitler's and Speer's grandiose plans were severely curtailed by a little thing called "World War II". But plenty of interesting old structures still stand. I am fascinated by all the old Nazi stuff I've seen in Germany. One has to dig a bit to find most of it because the Germans are certainly not proud of that era, but there's plenty to see if you do some research. As we drove around the Nazi Party Rally grounds I was morbidly impressed by the immense Congress Hall built in the style of the Roman Colosseum. I was almost afraid to take pictures for fear of upsetting any nearby German citizens. After getting out of the car to explore the concrete Grosse Strasse that seemed to stretch on forever I noticed some signs posted in German and English. They explained exactly what went on in some of the vacant fields and indicated where other party buildings had once stood. One sign pointed to the Documentation Center of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. We decided to check it out. We ventured inside planning to only take a quick look around. Two and a half hours later we rushed out of the building skipping a good number of exhibits I would have loved to spend more time at. There was so much to see and learn about. Once again the tour was via an English-speaking audio device that was incredibly instructive. I thought I knew just about everything about that period of time but I learned more new info in two hours here than I did in the past twenty years of reading about Nazi Germany. I highly recommend visiting this somewhat hidden treasure.

When we reached our car and I punched in the address of the BMW Leipzig plant I saw that we could expect to arrive there 5 minutes before the start of our 4:00 pm tour. For the next 3 hours I drove as quickly as I felt comfortable up the A9. Most of the time I stayed around 90 mph but on a few occasions pushed it up to near 120 mph. For me it was too stressful trying to maintain that kind of speed. I felt the car might have done much more, but I wasn't up to it.

That was one boring drive save for the miles upon miles of hops fields eventually replaced with miles upon miles of wind turbines. Having replaced my 2012 BMW 128i with this new X1 I was quite thrilled to see the onboard computer posting 25 mpg numbers most of the way. Best of all, we arrived in the Leipzig area 15 minutes earlier than expected.

As we approached the BMW plant I was surprised to also see a Porsche and a VW facility in the same industrial park. Nearby was a big Amazon warehouse. The BMW complex was immense. We followed the signs that stated "Besucher" (visitor) and eventually ended-up at an isolated office building. I hopped out of the car to find a locked-up building. Checking the map that BMW had emailed me I discovered that it really didn't indicate where the tour started. It only mentioned the need to pass through security who would presumably direct us to the tour. We circled the plant twice ( a distance of probably ten miles). No guardhouse or gate. I pulled into an immense parking lot and drew close to the artsy-looking end of the building. No signs regarding tours or any Besucher signs. Again we drove that big circle around the complex. I was ready to just bag it. My wife finally whipped out her mobile phone and called the visitor's desk number listed in the email. After about 5 agonizing minutes someone came on and listened to her pleadings, half upset, half angry, and then gave her direct turn by turn directions. We eventually pulled up at that very same artsy end of the building. We were told to park and head into the revolving doors. The tour had already started but someone was waiting for us at the front desk. All was forgiven as we headed on the best factory tour ever. Twenty minutes late.

We were issued lanyards with visitor badges to wear and goggles for the entrance into the body shop where our group was already touring. After donning our audio headsets we joined the group and spent the next two hours walking our butts off. At the end of the day my Fitbit had recorded over 13,000 steps. The paint shop at Leipzig was much more interesting than Munich as were the assembly areas. The entire plant is one big work of art. In the entrance lobby the car shells pass overhead on their way from the body shop to the paint area. Everything is open. The office workers have no walls between them. But if privacy and secrecy is needed big glass booths are set up for the discussion of private issues. Visitors can enjoy the almost total silence that goes into making these great cars. Someone with good eyes can read exactly where the car being built is destined by reading the order sheet tacked to the side of the unfinished car. Unlike in America, there is no goofing around or resting by the workers as the cars roll by on the conveyor system. No one laughs or smiles. It is all business. I found it interesting that workers never do the same task two days in a row. Breakrooms for the workers have Foosball and Ping Pong tables and a gourmet cafeteria is also available, The company sponsors a soccer league for the workers.

One fact the tour guide gave I still find hard to believe: no two cars are exactly the same. Supposedly there are so many color combinations, interior and exterior, so many options and packages, and various models and engine types that each car is unique. The Leipzig plant makes X1s, 2 series and electric cars for all corners of the world. And as big as the plant is, it's one of the smaller BMW factories in the world. Best of all, it was immaculate inside. Even in the paint area there are no splotches of paint. Power to the various plants in the complex comes from gigantic wind turbines.

Sadly the tour ended after the second shift had come in and the souvenir shop had already closed. No real swag given out but we did get to keep the BMW Leipzig lanyard.

The half hour ride from Leipzig to our abbey hotel in Grimma was through some of the darkest landscape I'd ever seen. The next day we saw that this had been wide open farmland with miles between farmhouses and far away from civilization.

After registering at the Kloster Nimbschen Hotel we inspected our lovely hotel room, unloaded some luggage, ate the candy on our pillows then walked a hundred yards down the road to the hotels's second restaurant - the Klosterschanke. It was Schnitzel Week and I was in heaven. Accompanied by a good many Hefeweizens my Zigeunerschnitzel was the perfect way to end a full and fascinating day of education.


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## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

frozen lake? Looks cold.


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## Ninong (May 20, 2014)

Wow! That was a VERY interesting and informative read. Thanks!


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

ninong said:


> wow! That was a very interesting and informative read. Thanks!


+1


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Believe it or not, it's about 30 degrees warmer in Germany than it is back home in NE Penssylvania. Most of the time our temps were in the high 30's and they even went up to 50 one afternoon. A heat wave.

And sorry guys, I'm only halfway through my narrative. More to follow shortly....


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

*Day 6 (Thursday)*

Another day of "sleeping in". After doing my morning ablutions and while the wife was getting ready to head over to breakfast in the main building of the abbey, I did some reading about Kloster Nimbschen. In 1523 Katherine von Bora, one of the nuns at this abbey, became quite enamored of the teachings of Martin Luther. She and a dozen other nuns conspired with Luther and his cronies to escape from the clutches of the Catholic Church. Hiding in barrels of fish that were loaded on a merchant's cart, they escaped to Wittenburg. The other nuns soon married others in the growing Lutheran movement. Only Katherine remained single two years after the miraculous escape. She said she would either stay a virgin or marry Luther himself. In June 1525 the 26 year old Katherine married the 41 year old Martin Luther. Eventually she bore six children and figured prominently in the early Reformation movement. It seems the whole Protestant revolution started in Germany and later expanded upon in England was strongly influenced by guys (Luther and Henry VIII) smitten by the ladies (Katherine and Anne Boleyn). I guess I've done dumber things for the same reason.

Once again this breakfast exceeded the magnificence of the previous lodgings. In a huge well-appointed but vacant breakfast room stood over 50 feet of counter top devoted to starting the day right. Besides the usual wealth of cereals, juices, waters, rolls, cold cuts, cheeses, dairy products and fruits, this spread included bacon and scrambled eggs along with some local sausages and stinky fish. The soft-boiled brown eggs were perfectly cooked. I was tempted to take a couple but I decided to save room for the myriad other possibilities, For a guy who was supposed to be watching his cholesterol I would need to do a great deal of penance at the abbey.

On our way back to our room we passed a small field that held a couple of goats and two miniature deer. Unable to lure them over to us we then headed over to the crumbling remains of what once had been a medieval church. Renovations were paused for the winter months but in fairer weather it looked like this would be an ideal spot near the river to enjoy a day of picnicking. Maybe next European Delivery.

Once again this was a day I was eagerly awaiting. The nearby town of Grimma was unknown to me and not much was written about it in tourism books. What I did see on the internet told of a very old riverside town with a number of unique historic buildings; many dating back to the Middle Ages. In my mind I couldn't wait to "discover" Grimma and tell everyone on Bimmerfest and Fodor's that I had uncovered the new Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Leaving our parking spot I followed the little green street sign showing the way to Grimma. It was a beautiful crisp winter morning with nary a cloud in the skies as we paralleled the River Mulde on an ever narrowing blacktop road. I started to worry about oncoming traffic as we passed a series of abandoned underground bunkers and mist-covered fields hiding small herds of tiny deer. Big fat hawks seemed to be sitting in every other tree as we inched up the 8 foot wide road. To my left I could see we were beginning to parallel the main road leading to Kloster Nimbschen. When we eventually passed through an open gate I realized that I had been cruising down the local bicycle path. The green signs were for bikers and hikers. The blue directional signs were for drivers. In any case, the X1 performed beautifully on the bike path.

Driving into Grimma we were initially a little disappointed. The roads were very narrow and although the buildings we passed looked nicely painted and in good repair, there was something very Communist-Eastern-European-looking about all of them. Now I realize they lacked shutters, window boxes for flowers, any real ornamentation, and were totally devoid of charm. The few businesses we saw lacked the big display windows seen in southern Germany and displayed almost no signage. The system of one way streets made it very difficult to drive through town taking pictures. I wanted to get close to the river where I supposed the most interesting of the older buildings might stand. But there seemed to be no way to get there, I decided to park.

We proceeded to saunter through a rather dull, lifeless little town which seemed to be stuck in time: Not back in the Middle Ages like I dreamed it would be but more like 1960's East Germany. I even saw a restored Trabant as we strolled toward the river. The closer we got to where we thought the river stood the uglier things got. There was no path to the actual river. We walked a couple of blocks along a run-down factory facade that appeared to be part way through a reconstruction project, past a few crumbling brick buildings and even next to a church that was inaccessible due to a gaping hole and wall of dirt at its entrance. Discarded bottles and ciggie wrappers lay along the street. I was not being charmed. The one restaurant the GPS had marked was boarded up and gutted inside. This section of town put the "grim" in Grimma. Just past the bombed-out part of town we were able to get closer to the partially frozen river. Along its banks stood cranes and more piles of dirt and debris. Apparently they are working on improving the river walk but it was a long way from being a tourist must-see. Climbing over electrical cables and workers' tools we made our way onto the longest suspension bridge in Saxony. The old steel cable bridged swayed as we ventured half way across.

Once we headed a few streets away from the river we came to the commercial part of town. I was bored but the wife found a few shops to her liking. Enjoying the mild temperature and intense sun I simply rested on the many benches scattered around town. A farmer's market was taking place in the front of the town hall That entertained me for a short while; especially when a local farmer and his shill tried to convince me that his home-made honey was the best I'd ever find. They spoke entirely in German which meant I understood about 1/3 of what they were saying. I just smiled and nodded a lot. Then walked away. After about an hour and a half walking through Grimma I had had enough. So much for spending the day exploring the new Rothenburg OdT.

Back in the X1 I asked the GPS to find us some points of interest. The first interesting one was the castle of Colditz just a few miles away. About 5 years ago on a family Christmas vacation we stayed in Colditz. I had no idea we were so close this time around. As a kid growing up in the Sixties I was strongly influenced by the movie "The Great Escape". It got me interested in all the WWII escape stories and the most interesting of all was the history of the men imprisoned at Colditz. How incredibly stupid and incredibly German it was to put all the Allied troublemakers in the same supposedly inescapable castle. They were just asking for trouble.

Since it was such a beautiful day I only half-listened to the GPS directions. A couple of times I deliberately deviated from the directions to check out an interesting building or side street. Around noon we passed through the big hospital complex that was once the occupying Russian army barracks on the outskirts of Colditz. Before too long I found myself on the back side of the castle. Because we had been here a few years before we only spent a few minutes here looking around and taking a few photos. A quick stop in the gift shop resulted in my buying two new books about the prisoners held here and a souvenir shirt, I passed on taking the tour but I did take advantage of the free WC. German travel tip: never, ever pass up a free toilet. They are getting tougher and tougher to find.

In the gift shop I grabbed a brochure promoting the castles of Saxony. The map inside showed that there were eight other castles in the nearby area. Our new plan, after hitting the Colditz Lidl, would be to squeeze in as many of these castles as possible in the next 4 hours of daylight. The perfect excuse to put some more miles in with our new car and to take advantage of an absolutely beautiful sunny day.

The visit to the Lidl food store would have been uneventful except for the fact that when we decided to grab a couple of sandwiches at the attached bakery, there was nowhere to sit except with an old man at the single dining table. He smiled when I asked "Bitte?" about taking the two remaining seats. He started yakking to me in German until I said "Nur Englisch, es tut mir leid". He then slowed down his German and started thanking us for restoring their freedom. I didn't understand too much but he was grateful either to the Americans or the English for bringing freedom back. And I don't know if this was in reference to freedom from Hitler or freedom from Russia. For some reason he started mentioning Yugoslavia as well. Once again, I ended the conversation with a big smile and lots of nodding. Then stuffed the sandwich in my mouth.

The rest of the afternoon was a very leisurely and fun drive through miles upon miles of rolling countryside. We succeeded in seeing 5 of the 8 remaining castles. We didn't bother going inside any of them partly because of time constraints, but mostly because I doubted English tours would be available during the off season and because I didn't know anything about the historical significance of these places. Perhaps on a future trip I will read up on the history of Rochlitz, Gnandstein, Kohren-Sahlis, Kriebstein and Podelwitz. One other interesting discovery on our day's excursion was the fact that the old women in this region of Germany know very little about dyeing their hair. We saw at least a dozen senior citizens with the most grotesque purple dye jobs. Instead of searching for punch buggies, we spent our time trying to spot the worst-looking hair.

It was a shame to see this day end, but as comfortable as my X1's seats may be my butt was getting mighty sore. It would turn out that this was the only day of the trip we did less than 10,000 steps on our Fitbits. Since downtown Grimma had been such a disappointment we decided to play it safe and eat at the Klosterschänke again. As it was still Schnitzel Week I moved on to another cutlet on the menu. Starting off with bread soup and the usual wheat beer I decided to try the turkey Schnitzel surrounded by a bed of Spaetzle and green beans. Mmmmm. In my next life I need to marry a German cook. I was eating better on this driving vacation than I did on the 7 day Caribbean cruise. And as I write this little travelogue a week later I am in the process of cooking up my own version of Jagerschnitzel using one of those Lidl sauce mixes.


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## SJAPoc (Apr 14, 2007)

Great pictures and wonderfully detailed report  Takes a while to put together, but it is much appreciated by all and will make lasting memories every time you re-visit this thread :thumbup:


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

*Day 7 - Thursday*

No need to bore you with the details of another massive buffet breakfast. As you have probably surmised by now, I experience the culture of a land by what I can toss into my belly. And I certainly appreciate the German culture.

Checking out of the hotel I was more than a little bummed to realize that we were entering the final phase of this European Delivery operation. Henceforth the rest of the mission would involve one night stands as we made our way down country to our extraction point at Munich Johan Strauss Airport. Upon punching in the address of the next hotel into the GPS I began to question my own wisdom in planning the next leg of our sojourn. Like my bounteous breakfast this morning I fear I bit off more than I should chew. The drive to Schwäbisch Hall that looked like just a short drive on the map was in actuality more than 4 hours away. And on the Autobahn most of the way. No scenic drive today.

However we made pretty decent time despite the heavy truck traffic. The fact that the heavy loads have to stay out of the far left lane gave us the opportunity to zoom quickly most of the way. Never topping 120 mph we covered the 261 miles in 3 and a half hours including a stop for gas and the use of the WC. Once again it was a beautiful sunny day. Temperatures were climbing close to 50 as the morning wore on. The only negative was the simple fact that my butt was sore as hell after sitting for so long.

We arrived at the Hotel Smartino (http://www.hotel-smartino.de/en/home.html) on the outskirts of Schwäbisch Hall just after 1:00. Unlike any of our other hotels this one was ultra-modern and more motel than Gasthof. It was clean, new and full of modern amenities like big bathrooms and showers, big screen TV, free toiletries and excellent internet. We didn't tarry. After unloading our bags we headed to the Old Town of Schwäbisch Hall.

This was another site we had visited decades ago during our pass riding days on Pan Am and TWA. Absolutely nothing looked familiar to us as we descended down from the heights to the little city nestled in the Kocher River valley. We parked in the first public parking garage we passed and tried to follow the posted signs leading to the Altstadt (old town). But before we even got out of the garage there were no more signs indicating where we should go. We ended up emerging onto a deserted cobblestone street. We followed a couple that headed-off to the right. Wrong move we discovered much later. We walked and walked past residential and professional office buildings expecting to eventually come into the Old City and the shopping district. Instead we came to a busy highway and a couple of gas stations. We continued walking toward a big bus depot not sure if we were even in the right city.

At this point I thought about turning around and heading back to the car. Looking back at the big hill we descended and realizing how much of an uphill climb that involved, I decided to push on. Finally on the opposite side of the bus staging area we saw a Volksbank. Since we were having some problems withdrawing funds from the banks in the Grimma area because none were part of the Plus network, we tried the ATM at this bank. We knew we were back in the ***8220;good***8221; part of Germany when we were able to withdraw the full $800 limit our home bank normally allowed.

Walking out of the bank we seemed completely surrounded by young girls. Everywhere we turned 17-25 year old lasses were out shopping like it was the day before the start of the fall semester. Perhaps the Spring-like weather brought them all out of hiding. Many didn't bother to wear jackets as the bright sun warmed the streets of Schwäbisch. I have no clue why there were so many females and yet no males of the same age in town, but I made a mental note to come back here sometime in my next life.

Of course my wife immediately became infected with the same disease that seemed to possess these locals of the fairer sex. She began ducking in and out of every other storefront we passed. Thankfully she fought the temptation to actually buy anything but as my stomach began to growl louder and louder with each passing minute it became tougher and tougher to steer her in the right direction. I kept hoping we'd pass some kind of Würst stand but because we were in one of those rare periods in Germany when no festivals or holidays were impending, I searched in vain. Just when I was beginning to lose hope, we chanced upon that most German of all food establishments ***8211; a Dõner Kebab shop. The Mrs. wasn't hungry but it had been 5 hours since my last feeding. I ordered the Dürüm accompanied by German fries. My snack spilled off my plate and was almost more than I could eat. Somehow I was able to wash it all down with a diet Coke. I felt like I needed a nap after that feast.

Feeling restored I endured a few more blocks of window shopping as we drew closer to the river. I hoped to explore a Jack Wolfskin store as this seems to be the German equivalent to our obsession with everything with the North Face logo. Fortunately I never saw one.

Along the Schwäbisch Hall riverbank scores of girls and mothers with babies strolled casually in the warmth of the afternoon sun. Unlike Grimma, this was a beautiful pedestrian walk. Colorful homes, cobblestone streets, window boxes with flowers and wrought iron merchant signs served up numerous photo ops. It felt like the first day of Spring. The only thing marring this high was the faint smell of fresh cow manure wafting through the air. That pungent scent permeated the air everywhere we walked.

We continued walking back up the steep sloped streets of the old town observing more and more locals venturing out to enjoy the sun, Many sat at outdoor cafes sipping coffee and eating ice cream. As we walked through the narrow medieval streets occasionally we would remember just a little bit about our previous visit. When we reached the summit of the hill we looked up at the market square where the old church rose high above us. This was familiar: to the left was our hotel where we stayed back in 1982. The hotel, Gasthof Goldener Adler ( http://hotelgoldeneradler.de/en/), had changed quite a bit. No cars on the street and outdoor dining tables where none existed before. No longer was there a garage attached to the side of the building. The hotel had expanded and seemed doubled in size. So did the rates. It had become much more deluxe over the decades. I feel pretty sure they no longer give you a bowl of lard to spread on the fresh home-made bread baked on site.

Ironically, leaving the market square soon brought us to the steps leading up to our seemingly isolated parking garage. Had we just gone left after exiting the parking lot we would have been mere steps from the one area of town we remembered from the past.

We still had an hour or two of sunlight left. Again we just hopped in the car and drove with no particular place to go. The farther we drove out of town the stronger that smell of cow dung became. I guess the farmers took advantage of the warm sunny day to get an early start on spring planting. I was beginning to lose that new car smell inside the X1 and take on the essence of L'eau de bovine.

This leisurely foray took us up into the hills above Schwäbisch Hall. The views were incredible but there was nowhere to pull off the road for picture taking. We continued driving toward the ever increasing stench of poo. Out on the countryside we could see freshly plowed fields as far as the eye could see. Somewhere out in this rural region we drove into a tiny fortified hill town. The little hamlet of Vellberg is barely mentioned on the internet. The Wikipedia entry is only one sentence. I thought it was one of the most picturesque places we saw on our trip. Very cool. Apparently the local castle is now a hotel. With rooms going for 80 Euro per night this place goes in the ***8220;next trip***8221; notebook.

Neither of us was particularly hungry but we knew we'd hate ourselves much later if we didn't take advantage of the chance for another meal in Germany. With nighttime now upon us we drove back to Schwäbisch Hall. We found a free parking spot near the Goldener Adler Hotel and thought about going in for dinner. However I saw an out of the way little restaurant on the opposite side of the market square that looked inviting. We liked what we saw on the outdoor menu. Almost as soon as we walked inside I wanted to walk out. The place didn't exactly have a whole lot of German charm and was too brightly illuminated for my liking. There were no customers inside, just the owner sitting at the bar. He welcomed us inside and before we knew what was happening we were seated with menus in hand. I've said it before and it was true once again, it's impossible to get a bad meal in Germany. Although not up to the standards of some of the other restaurants we had enjoyed, this little tavern served a delicious Goulaschsuppe and a nice Jägerschnitzel with Spatzle. And how can you screw up a Hefeweizen from the tap? Even though we thought we weren't hungry we cleaned our plates and ordered another round of beer. We were the only patrons the whole time we were there except for a few seedy looking dudes who came in to play the slot machines near the bar.

This being our second last night in Germany the unpleasant task of packing up all our souvenirs and other purchases loomed. We went straight back to the Hotel Smartino and spent the rest of our evening trying to cram all that junk back into our suitcases.


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

Thanks for keeping it coming. Hope the weather holds for us as well next week.


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## X1 (Aug 31, 2012)

*X1*

Nice to see an ED from a fellow X1er, in midnight blue no less! My brief summary is under Four week compliance for three week trip! Great description of your ED.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

*All Good Things Must End Sometime*

The end is nigh. I must not have been expecting the this wonderful trip to actually end because in my up-until-now careful planning I never came up with a plan for our final day. I woke up this morning and realized I had nothing. The only item on the schedule was our last night of lodging a few miles from Munich airport. We had a whole day for some spontaneity.

As mentioned earlier I had been very deliberate about setting up plans that kept us away from the possible snowy conditions in southern Bavaria and the Alps. Even though the X1 had AWD I had no intention of testing the Germans' strict snow tire requirements. But the weather throughout this trip had shocked me. We had never been in Germany in mid-winter and seen so little snow nor had such comfortable temperatures. Even though this morning looked to be the grayest and coldest of the week as we ate breakfast in the cozy solarium that served as the Hotel Smartino's breakfast room, I decided we had to head south. The obligatory Neuschwanstein photo must be done. If we chanced upon any snow squalls as we drove toward our absolute favorite part of Europe, we knew the area well enough to know how to get back quickly on the road toward the airport. If a storm hit, and none was in the offing, we'd just sit it out in Hallbergmoos until we were ready to fly home the next morning.

We had managed to squeeze all of our accumulated souvenirs and foodstuffs into our two rolling suitcases but somehow it was a bit more difficult to fit them in the trunk side by side as we had done every other day. Even the hardside suitcases expand as you load them with more and more junk. I hope the BMW folks give the trunk and front floormats a real nice cleaning before I get the car back in two months. We tracked-in a ton of dirt. And maybe even some of that ubiquitous cow manure.

Once again I was using two GPS devices to navigate - the in-car BMW system and my recently upgraded Garmin Nuvi. I set both devices for our journey to Füssen. The Garmin gave us an arrival time 20 minutes faster than the BMW system. The initial leg of the trip was agreed upon by both GPS. We spent the next half hour traveling through some extremely interesting old towns that more than once piqued my interest. But there was no stopping for photo ops. I wanted to have some time to enjoy the back roads in the Fussen-Oberammergau-Garmisch triangle instead. The towns of Bühlertann, Rosenberg and Ellwangen will have to wait awhile for our tourist dollars to come in and revive their economy. In retrospect I should've succumbed to temptation. Oddly enough, a couple of times the BMW GPS showed us driving through fields while we were headed down country roads.

All this travel on the scenic, secondary highway eventually brought us to the A7 - the main artery heading into Austria. As we merged onto the wide Autobahn we were once again struck by how many Dutch and Belgian cars were on the road. And virtually every one had a roof rack with a Thule box attached. We were on the highway no more than 10 minutes when I laughed and said to my wife "Look at those poor slobs heading North." Traffic was slow as molasses as non-German skiers presumably began heading home after their week of skiing in the Alps. Before too long the congestion in the North-bound lanes cleared and we blithely carried on. A few miles north of Ulm traffic suddenly became much heavier in our lane.  The Garmin spoke up and warned of a twenty minute delay. The BMW system just carried on unmindful of the traffic situation. The traffic was slow but kept moving for a few miles. Then we stopped. And then we moved a few more miles before another logjam.

I tried to get the BMW system to offer a detour. We tried voice commands and playing with the menu but we couldn't figure it out. The Garmin soon changed our arrival time to a half hour later than the original estimate. When we finally got it to give us an alternate route it put us on a heavily commercialized road that simply paralleled the Autobahn. At the first opportunity I rejoined the A7. We dealt with the slow traffic for almost 45 minutes before I finally said "Forget about Neuschie. Let's go to Kempten (a walled medieval town much closer to Munich)". We bailed-out from the tide of Dutch invaders all headed for the same destination and took to the countryside. Totally ignoring both GPS I just drove on hoping to spot a yellow directional sign for Kempten but always headed toward the sun in the south.

Once again we passed through some beautiful countryside, saw some lovely churches and chapels, ended-up behind farm machinery and smelled more cow dung before the farm road led us right back to that damned A7. At this point the road looked clear again. And it was for the next hour or so. There were still thousands of skiers on the road but traffic seemed to be moving reasonably. No chance to get the car up into the hundred mph zone, but we were doing a comfortable 70-80 most of the way. And there were fewer and fewer trucks the farther south we drove.

As we continued our drive I couldn't help but notice how few exits there were. And the exits we passed never listed any towns I was familiar with. Finally we saw the exit for "Nesselwang". For some reason that sounded familiar. I briefly considered getting off there and then re-programming the GPS to take us to Füssen. But with traffic moving so smoothly I carried on. Over the next rise I saw nothing but red taillights. Long story short: we spent the next 50 minutes totally stopped. Our gas gauge was below 1 tick and our listed range was 28 miles. I shut her down. Before too long everyone else did the same. And soon after that the Dutch horde all exited their vehicles and stood around chatting, exercising and playing in the snow. Some picnicked. Most got out of their cars with big smiles as they made their way back through the line of cars looking for other Hollanders. I assume our German license plate kept the away from us. Still some hard feelings from that last war I guess. I was in no mood to chit-chat anyway. I had to pee. There were people all along the road, wide open fields made inaccessible by a storm fence to my right and steady speeding traffic over in the north-bound lanes. I came close to pouring out my soda bottle and using it but didn't want to gross out the Mrs and/or make a mess in the new car.

Suddenly just after 3:15 pm people started scurrying back to their skiwagens. Like a slow rolling avalanche I could discern movement in the distance. Engines started, brakelights glowed, then extinguished and somehow traffic started moving again. Like nothing happened. For the next 3 miles or so we drove like there had never been a problem. But up around the next bend...Total traffic stoppage once again. Tempting us, taunting us just above our heads was a huge blue sign informing us that the Füssen exit was just 2000m away. Just as the first score of curses flew out of my mouth I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a line of cars, all with local FüS and OAL licenses (http://www.europeanplates.com/information/german-city-codes.html) speeding up the breakdown lane. Normally those people are a-holes in my book, but today I joined them. We soon passed under the 1500m to Füssen sign, then the 1000m to Füssen sign, at the half kilometer post we all stopped. Ahead of us was a tourist bus with a bunch of Polish tourists standing off to the side.

We didn't move for a further 15 minutes, but then one of the enterprising locals who was the leader of our law-breaking band of scofflaws found a way around the crowd of freezing Poles and led us up the exit ramp. At the top of the ramp the group turned left. With less than 15 miles left in our gas tank and about 50 liters gurgling inside my own tank, I headed west looking for a gas station and WC. Naturally none were readily available. By the time I found an open petrol station in the western end of the town of Weissensee, we were running on fumes. Fortunately I was thinking despite my bladder pains. Instead of filling the tank I remembered that the car was supposed to be returned with a near empty tank of gas. Using my still functioning, but impaired brain to compute the distance from here to Füssen to Landsberg to Munich to Hallbergmoos and back to the Airport I approximated our mileage. Then using the onboard BMW computer which told me we were averaging 25 mpg I calculated we needed no more than 6 gallons. Then I had to convert that to litres. Was 24 litres too much? I was in agony at this point. I just put in 30 Euro's worth and hoped for the best. Then I sprinted for the toilet.

After that the whole day went much better I must say. Once again I was hungry for a Würst but a quick drive through the Füssen shopping district didn't present any opportunities. Instead we broke open one of the packages of candy we were taking home for friends and family. Even the German chocolate bars from Aldi and Lidl are awesome.

Traffic was much lighter in and around Füssen. We saw a few frustrated Dutchmen parked in town waiting out the traffic woes on the Autobahn. Had they asked I could've directed them over a number of back roads we were quite familiar with from our decades of travel in the area. Back in the days when border crossings actually meant something we would take the lesser traveled tertiary roads between Germany and Austria to avoid the long delays at the much busier crossings. With very little snow in the area it would've been quite simple to navigate toward Innsbruck on the local roads.

We had lost too much time with our traffic delays to be able to do a return visit to Oberammergau and Garmisch. Instead we took a slight detour to do the Neuschwanstein/BMW photo shoot then proceeded up the B17 simply enjoying the scenery. Again we passed through more open farm country, this time without the smell of organic fertilizers. I love this road for some reason. If I were 40 years younger and had the time I would love to explore it on a bicycle. There are so many interesting off-the-beaten-track things to visit. A quick look on Google Earth reveals all kinds of cool WWII and Cold War ruins, coaching houses, country churches, concentration camp remains and beckoning lakes and rivers.

Usually when we're visiting Germany we do it in a cheap rental like a Fiat Punto or Ford Fiesta. I'm usually the one the locals tailgate until they can get past me. In my spiffy new X1 I was the obnoxious twit. When one of the locals out for a weekend drive was going a bit too slow for my liking, I was able to quickly get around them and get on my merry way. In most cars I would've been more reluctant to pass with a blind turn coming up but this X1 easily got the power down and I was in and out of the oncoming lane in mere seconds. And the ride was incredibly comfortable. Not once do I remember being jarred in my seat. Most of this is a testament to the nearly total absence of potholes or bumps on the German roads, but I took the path less traveled on more than one occasion and the car performed quite well even on dirt and gravel.

After Landsberg am Lech (another of our favorite towns) I was back on the Autobahn. In and around Munich traffic was light at 5 pm on a Saturday. Once again my butt started getting sore after so many hours in the car. And the ride up to Hallbergmoos seemed to take forever. As we drew ever closer to our last night's accommodations I swear we passed very close by the place we had had our winter tires installed back on our 2012 ED. I will have to keep that in mind in 2018. We will be in the area again.

And the reason why we will be back sooner if not later is because we inadvertently saved the best for last. When setting up the trip on Booking.com I tried to find the place we stayed in 2012 but couldn't locate them. Then I tried the NH hotel at MUC because we had stayed there the year before on our final night before flying home. It was no longer a bargain. Then I checked-out the highest rated establishment that offered rooms under $150 per night. When I saw that the Hotel Neuwirt (http://www.neuwirt-goldach.de/) had rates of $80 per night, free WiFi, free parking, its own restaurant that people raved about, free breakfast AND was only 3 miles from the airport I was sold.

Before checking in I saw that the gas station across the street had a car wash. "Waschenstrasse". I realize that you motorheads would never put your beautiful new car in a automated car wash and would even be hesitant about using a coin-fed pressure washer, but I decided to take a chance. I figured if the car got scratched BMW would fix it under the insurance anyway. Thank God somebody in front of me was already lined-up to wash their car. By watching him I figured out what to do. I sent my wife off to the nearby store to buy the wash ticket, then made her hop out of the car to punch in the code after directing me delicately into the washing bay. She had to scurry to get back inside before the fully automated washing unit descended down upon our car. Even though this thing was very similar to our washes back home, the Germans found a way to do a much better and efficient job. Concealed jets washed the gunk out of the wheel wells from underneath the car while two high pressure washers moved along the length of the car to clean the wheels and tires. After that I didn't see too much as a huge mist of soap engulfed the car. We shook as a big wheel dropped down and scrubbed away 8 days worth of salt and grit. Then came the rinse cycle followed by a dryer that actually did dry off the car instead of just blowing hot air. The whole process took close to ten minutes. Well worth the 6 Euro. And this was the basic wash.

We then checked into the Gasthof Neuwirt. We had to work our way around the onslaught of locals coming in for dinner that night. When we found the front desk and told the clerk we had reservations for the night the staff couldn't do enough to help us. We needed no help but timidly inquired about dinner that night in the bustling restaurant, "No problem. What time?" Allowing ourselves half an hour to get our stuff completely out of the car (including first aid kid, warning triangle, owner's manual, detachable cupholder and a few items that rolled under our seats) and to freshen-up was perfect timing.

That night's dinner was absolutely one of the greatest meals of my life. Everything was perfect. The hotel menu displays an entire page to list all the local farms and merchants they use in preparing their meals. That careful attention to detail was evident in all they served us. Just the salads accompanying both our meals would be enough to feed the average diner. I ordered the Bauerntopferl which was a casserole served in a frying pan. It was composed of a couple of Schnitzels, bacon, mushrooms and gravy served over Spätzle with cabbage on the side. My wife had another Käsespätzle that she couldn't finish. Delicious local beer complimented the meals perfectly. For the first time on the trip I ordered dessert - Apple Strudel of course. They probably churned the ice cream themselves down in the basement. It was so beautiful and tasty that I didn't even think about taking any pictures.

We spent the rest of the evening unpacking and repacking making sure we had the most precious and fragile items in our carry-ons. And that all the weapons I had picked-up along the way were stowed in my suitcases. I made darn sure that the beer brandy I bought in Nuremberg was safely swathed in 6 days worth of dirty underwear deep inside my Samsonite. After this we spent some time catching-up on all the useless emails sitting on our IPads. We missed nothing of any import. The WiFi was by far the fastest we had the entire time. We even attempted a Skype call that wasn't answered.

The flight home the next morning was rather uneventful. Thankfully. We had our usual breakfast feast at the Neuwirt's bountiful buffet and quickly checked-out. We were at Loginout within 15 minutes and easily found a parking space. I took a couple of photos of much more expensive BMW cars heading for the U.S. Then we miraculously found a luggage cart abandoned right around the corner from the Loginout door. That made the transport of our heavy bags and carry-ons much easier. Loginout is only a hundred yards from the departure area for virtually every airline except the carrier we were on, US Air. Of course we were in the wrong terminal. With the luggage trolley it wasn't as big a hassle as it might have been to walk clear across the airport plaza to Terminal 2.

To US Air's credit check-in was short and simple. Although our bags were a couple of pounds over the limit the clerk didn't say a word. Foolishly we ignored all the interesting shops in the outer area of the terminal and rushed for security. Passing through security was a slight pain simply because on this particular day the powers that be decided I might be the nephew of Osama Bin Laden and virtually strip searched me. It took me ten minutes to gather up all my discarded electronic devices, clothing articles and to lace up my hiking boots.

The gate area of Terminal 2 was rather disappointing. Basically just two stores to browse through and no Airbrau for that final German beer. Our flight was smooth but interminably long. Strong headwinds. I sat through 3 movies, two meals and a constant stream of liquids being served. Still I was bored to death. Things got better and quicker when we landed. Getting through Philadelphia immigration and customs was super fast. They has self check-out. Our bags took just a few minutes to arrive and we were on the shuttle bus to our parking lot within 45 minutes of landing. Waaaaaay better than our experiences at Newark.

As much as I enjoyed my first European Delivery with our mothers back in 2012 this one was even better. Better weather, more room in the car, nicer accommodations and meals and far fewer hassles with the BMW dealership I was working with.

If I can pass on any lasting information it would be to highly recommend using John Weltzien and Braman BMW for your next BMW and European Delivery. The guy was always quick to respond with the right answers every time I emailed him. Absolutely no pressure from John and a very fair deal. I'd also suggest that anyone considering a future East Coast ED fly in and out of Philadelphia airport. So much easier to get to and cheaper than the New York airports with far friendlier employees.

And my final recommendation, based on my own failure to do so, is to advise you to remain calm despite all your excitement at delivery time. Do not rush down the Stairway to Heaven eager to embrace your new baby before setting up your GoPro, pulling out your SLR camera and making sure your cellphone camera is ready to go. Very regrettably I have just 3 pictures taken at that precious moment. The GoPro sat fully charged and unused in the bottom of my camera bag for the entire trip. Stupid.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

And I should have looked in the glovebox where the Euromaps USB drive may have been situated.


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

Thanks again for the most interesting reportings. Did the obligatory castle photo stop provide a picture we will be seeing in the near future?


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