# Some pictures from 07-05-08 Delivery



## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

Front of the Welt:










Interior shots of the Welt (the red car is MINE!):




























The premium lounge for customers taking delivery:










The obligatory shot of the 4 Cylinder Building and Museum:










When we were driving out of the Welt to valet park and tour the museum, we were greeted by the following sight, apparently a BMW motorcycle group was having a meet & ride:










Thanks to Philippe Kahn of SouthBay BMW for helping to make this all happen. The staff at the Welt couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. We toured the BMW museum and then had lunch before taking off for Neuschwanstein Castle and this picture:










I cannot recommend doing BMW European Delivery enough! What a fantastic experience!

We did 2 for 1 on Lufthansa (thankfully booked well before the fuel price increases). Rolf met us at the airport and gave us a really grand tour between the airport and our hotel near central Munich. Rolf is a fountain of information and any first-timers should really consider using his services.

We stayed at the Kings Hotel First Class which was perfectly located for us (okay, there is a strip club across the street, but hey, with a name like "Boobs" its GOT to be harmless!).










Went to the Hofbrauhaus the last night we were there:



















Tales to continue in future postings...


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*On to Verona, Italy*

After 3 nights in Munich, we took off for Verona, Italy for 2 nights. We stopped in Innsbruck, Austria for lunch, but it was raining and cool. Verona was dry and hot. Stayed in the heart of the old city at the Hotel Accademia. Had gelato every chance we got. Ate at Greppie restaurant (about half a block behind our hotel in a little alley. LOOK FOR THE SIGNS) twice for lunch, it was that good!










A highlight of Verona is the Arena where, during our first night was hosting a pop music concert, and the second night was hosting the opera, Aida. It is adjacent to a large walking area and tree shaded park area, with lots of restaurants in the surrounding area.










A random shot of the river which runs around the old city.










Another highlight of Verona is visiting the home of Juliet and seeing her statue and the balcony on which she was wooed by Romeo.










Another highlight of visiting Juliet's statue is getting your picture taken while rubbing her right breast (really, even kids were doing this!)










My wife and I loved every second in Verona and will definitely make it a part of our future ED itinerary.

Now, on to Como, Italy...


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## MB330 (Oct 18, 2005)

O, Man!!!!!
Thanks for sharing!
Great photos!!!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Congratulation on your beautiful ride!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## SJAPoc (Apr 14, 2007)

Congratulations on you gorgeous car! And thanks for sharing the report and wonderful pictures... very nice! :thumbup:


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## Gig103 (Sep 10, 2007)

Those are some great pictures. I hope you actually visited the castles, and that it wasn't just a photo op!


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## Vitacura (Jul 22, 2005)

Amazing pics! Thanks for sharing! :thumbup:


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

Gig103 said:


> Those are some great pictures. I hope you actually visited the castles, and that it wasn't just a photo op!


Unfortunately, all we were able to visit was the village at the foot of the castles. My wife is disabled and cannot do the regular tours without a wheelchair. There are disabled tours available, but only on Wednesdays and we were there only Friday through Monday.

But the view was great anyway. The paragliders soaring over the mountain and castle was quite the sight.


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## bigudibmw (Oct 26, 2005)

The 19" are gorgeous.


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## Ian335i (Jun 4, 2007)

Great pictures!


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## emdreiSMG (Dec 10, 2003)

Way to go Ed! Munich, Verona and Hermosa beach...three places I know and enjoy very much!! Have fun.


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*Como, Italy*

Now on to Como, Italy . . .

Drive from Verona to Como only took about 1hr. 45mins. Only time I actually took the car up to 100 and kept it there for an extended period of time (wife was napping!). Car drove like it was on rails!

View from our hotel room at the Palace Hotel, in Como.










An overview of Como near the top of the mountain which is accessible by funicular.










We took a fast ferry (hydrofoil) up to Bellagio for lunch and an afternoon of wandering around. This fast ferry was passing ours on its way to the boatyard. It is my undertanding that Como is the only lake which uses these particular boats, as they have been phased out of service everywhere else.










Along the way, I took many pictures, but this lakeside villa Star Wars fans (of the second trilogy) should recognise, as scenes were filmed there.










Arriving at Bellagio.



















Back in Como, a monument and museum dedicated to one of their prominent historical figures, Allessandro Volta (he invented the electric battery).










We were in Como for 2 nights and had a great time. Our last night, we finally had pizza (after having been in Italy for almost a week) and it was the best pizza we ever had!

From Como, we drove on to Luzern, Switzerland only for an overnight stay, to give us a rest on the drive to Paris. It was raining for most of the drive and using the tunnels was actually a blessing to get out of the rain. When we reached our hotel, we took pictures and the rainstorms moved in about 2 hours later. This was the view from our hotel room looking across the lake at Mount Pilatus.










Looking back at Luzern.










Now, on to Paris...


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*Now on to Paris*

For my final entries, some pictures of our Paris experience:

The Opera House (our hotel was a couple blocks away; Best Western L'Horset Opera; highly recommended):










Statue of bust of Charles Garnier, the French architect who designed the Opera House:










The first museum we toured, the Orsay, on the left bank and a former train station converted to a museum. A beautiful structure inside and out:










One of the reasons I love the Orsay, the collection of paintings by Monet:


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*More of Paris*

Of course, no visit to Paris would be complete without a visit to the Louvre, which we did on Bastille Day, when the museums open for free:



















So much art, so little time (sigh), the following are what my wife and I consider three pieces that cannot be missed:

the Venus de Milo










Winged Victory










and, of course, the Mona Lisa (which, since my wife was in a wheelchair, the security motioned us to the front where they let us inside the roped off area to take pictures up close, though she is under glass and very difficult to photograph without reflections, as can be seen in my picture)










now, later on Bastille Day...


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

.... and if I am correct, Renoir's girls playing piano is also at the Orsay. (We have a replica hanging over our piano with the faces of our two daughters which was painted by an artist in Thailand to replicate Renoir's work, but would love to see the original there in Paris some day.) By the way great photos and I love the shot you got of your car with the castle in the background.


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*Later on Bastille Day...*

We traveled along the left bank to the Eiffel Tower for the fireworks display.

This picture was of a really "green" building:










This picture was taken at 10:30 p.m. as the sun was setting and the Eiffel Tower strobes were firing for quite the sight:










This picture was taken after the fireworks concluded and we were on our way back to the hotel:










Also on our way back to our hotel after the fireworks, we came across the most incredible slideshow display which was projected onto the face of the Assemblee Nationale building. The following is a daytime shot of the building, followed by three shots of the various moving images projected onto the building:





































As Paris is a city of bridges, this was one of the more impressive examples:










And, after a lunch at Guy Savoy, I took this picture of the Arc de Triomphe before we strolled down the Champs Elysees:


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## b-y (Sep 14, 2004)

See PM.


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*Time to say goodbye...*

Finally, before we knew it, the time came to drop the car off at Charles de Gaulle airport and catch a Eurostar train for London.

Here she sits after I've signed all of the paperwork and as I wait for the van (and try not to cry) to take me to the terminal, where I catch a shuttle to the Opera House to collect the wife and luggage from the hotel:










This final picture was taken from the front seat of the shuttlebus at about 30 mph as we were leaving the airport, like the E92 what a sleek piece of mechanical art!!:










We had a wonderful time and cannot recommend ED highly enough. Now, on to planning the next one!


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## woodie5 (Mar 11, 2007)

Great pictures and sounds like you folks had a wonderful time.


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## MrBones (Oct 26, 2007)

:clap:


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## SusieBelle (Feb 18, 2008)

Based on what I have seen of your pictures, Edhermosa, I think it would simplify matters if we just packed you in our suitcase next time we do an ED and have *you* take all of our pictures. Great job!!!!


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## Dave 330i (Jan 4, 2002)

Beautiful pictures. It looked like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.


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## andytaro (Jan 6, 2008)

Nice Pics of Paris. I'll be there in 2 weeks.
By the way, did you drive in Paris? 
I'll be driving to Paris but plan to leave my car at hotel parking. My co-worker from Paris strongly against driving in Paris.
Indeed, I won't be driving there!


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## mdsbuc (Mar 17, 2005)

Simply beautiful!


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

andytaro said:


> Nice Pics of Paris. I'll be there in 2 weeks.
> By the way, did you drive in Paris?
> I'll be driving to Paris but plan to leave my car at hotel parking. My co-worker from Paris strongly against driving in Paris.
> Indeed, I won't be driving there!


We didn't take the car out once parked at the secured parking in Paris. Driving into Paris wasn't a problem since it was on the Saturday before Bastille Day and traffic was down in the city as apparently many residents tend to leave Paris during the Friday to Monday holiday.

However, in the interest of full disclosure (and for the amusement of fellow 'festers), I did have quite the adventure on the day we were leaving Paris. My drop off appointment at Charles de Gaulle was at 9:00 a.m. I arrived at the parking structure a couple of blocks from the hotel at 7:00 a.m. just to give me some lead time in case of traffic. First, the ticket machine would not read my parking ticket, just kept spitting it back at me. I decide to go ahead and take the car to the exit gates, hoping an attendant would be nearby. Sure enough, a helpful attendant was there but when I tried to pay by credit card, their system wouldn't accept it (I also ran into this at a couple of toll booths approaching Paris; never had a problem with a retailer or restaurant though). So luckily there was an ATM at the ground floor which I hit and returned to pay. After fighting with the NAV to find the airport, I departed at around 7:45 a.m.

Now, I had been informed by the drop-off location to wash the car prior to drop-off and they had given me the location of a TOTAL station, with car wash, at the entrance to the airport. I arrive at said station at around 8:15 a.m. (not bad I thought, central Paris to airport in about 30 min.) and discover that the car wash is being serviced. Since I am rather early, I decide to locate the drop-off facility and circle back. No problem. I find the drop-off location and get back to the station at around 8:30 a.m. Car wash is still being serviced. Slowly. So I go in to purchase a car wash, expecting to be told that it is out of order and the nearest car wash is in BFP some hours away, but my luck is holding and he sells me a car wash and informs me the service tech is almost finished. I go outside and wait and about 5 minutes later, the rather elderly tech picks up his cone, packs his van and departs. Hooray! It takes me a minute or two to figure out the instructions and the car wash operates as intended. I then drive to the drop off facility and arrive at 9:00 a.m. I walk in to the office, hand over my paperwork and...

get asked "Where is the rest of it?". I ask politely "This is everything, no?". I then am informed that I am missing the export paperwork. After searching the car twice (and trying not to succumb to the nausea at thinking I had lost irreplacable paperwork), I realize that I'm going to have to get back to the hotel and search there. Hey, it only took me 30 minutes to get here, our train isn't till 3:15 p.m., I can do this!

So I drove back into Paris to the hotel (took about 40 mins.) and luckily there was a spot to park right in front, dashed up to the room, quickly explained to my wife (the saint) what happened, located the missing paperwork in about 2 minutes and dashed back to the car and hit the road back to the airport.

Then the low fuel warning comes on.

So a quick stop at, yes, you guessed it, our favorite TOTAL station, to splash some fuel in to turn off the warning, then back to the drop-off location (I was told to not have more than a 1/4 tank of gas or they would just remove the excess). TT Transit handled the drop-off and it took all of 10 min. to have my passport copied, paperwork signed and put me into the van to the airport terminal to catch the shuttle bus back to the Opera House. Very helpful and friendly people (and they didn't laugh at me when I said "I'm probably not the first one to do this, right?", a definite plus).

Between the shuttle ride back into Paris, getting from the hotel to Gare du Nord, finding out at Gare du Nord that the French don't believe in porters, baggage carts or pretty much any help from curbside to train, we finally sat in our seats on the train with about 10 min. to spare. After that, the Eurostar trip to London was a pleasure. Smooth ride, good food and drink service, very helpful staff, particularly when we reached St. Pancras station in London, which was totally opposite our experience at Gare du Nord. Also, St. Pancras has undergone an extensive renovation and was just a pleasure to go through with alot of shops and restaurants.

For our hotel in Paris, Best Western Premier Hotel L'Horset Opera. The parking was a couple blocks away at the Place du Marche Saint-Honore, between the hotel and the Louvre, with a four story underground parking structure. I parked on the 3rd level down which never seemed more than half full and had various high end cars (Aston Martins, AMG Mercs, etc.) parked on that level as well. For 5 days of parking (Saturday afternoon through Wednesday morning), the cost was 99.5 Euros.


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## andytaro (Jan 6, 2008)

Thanks for revealing your secret! I'll make sure I'll take all paperwork with me to TT car.
By the way, does the TOTAL station have a brushless car wash? How do I say I want to a car wash in French? Car wash sil vous plait?


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

The TOTAL station car wash is not brushless. I hand wiped the car down after the wash so I was really looking for any flaws and didn't notice anything. When I purchased the car wash, I just said "car wash" and pointed to the one I wanted on the list which was posted on the counter.


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## chaz58 (Sep 11, 2007)

Nice photos and Paris description. Somehow things never seem to go quite as expected in France!


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## IHatePho (Aug 22, 2008)

*Awesome pics*

Just joined the forum tonight. Absolutely awesome pics! I'm jealous. How was the weather in Como? I've wanted to go there for ages.


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

We stayed in Como 2 nights and the weather was great until the day we left, as light rain started moving in around lunchtime and our drive to Luzerne was off and on rain. The Como area is indeed very beautiful.


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## PhillyNate (Jul 27, 2008)

Great pics and congrats. I now officially wish I had done ED. Maybe when I do the M3 next time.


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## SJAPoc (Apr 14, 2007)

Great report! Sorry I missed the latest series of pictures before... Just fabulous :thumbup:


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

*09-26-08 Re-delivery at South Bay BMW*

Just a couple of pictures to show the car at re-delivery. Thanks again to Phillipe Kahn for a great purchasing experience.

The car (now with the oem aero kit installed):










and the happy owner:


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## bimmernupe (May 11, 2006)

Great story and pics. It seems you had your own melodrama at the end of the trip.


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## Edhermosa (Jan 7, 2008)

Yes, self-inflicted of course!


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## MarcusSDCA (Jan 14, 2004)

Magnifique! :thumbup:


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## Gig103 (Sep 10, 2007)

andytaro said:


> Thanks for revealing your secret! I'll make sure I'll take all paperwork with me to TT car.
> By the way, does the TOTAL station have a brushless car wash? How do I say I want to a car wash in French? Car wash sil vous plait?


There's an "ELEPHANT WASH" near the TT Car dropoff, with one of the high pressure guns. I used that to get most of the bugs off and to give the car a once over, but didn't use the brush, obviously!


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## BCR (Mar 2, 2009)

Wow great ED adventure and gorgeous car

Taking notes...


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## Northcar (Sep 21, 2005)

Not sure how this thread got back to the top since most recent reply was 8/4/08 above, but certainly enjoyed rereading the first part and also catching "the rest of the story" that i missed the first time. Certainly one of my favorite photo threads. (Edited: - oh, ok, I now see there was a second page with a recent posting on the 2nd page that I had missed.)


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