Bavaria...

---

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes as the streams of hot water run down my body, I attempt to come back to the world of the living. The last night in my own bed was quite good, and though I was not fully awake, I did feel fully rested. Reaching over my head, prepared to wince in pain, I was surprised to find the motion didn't bother me. Water skiing has it's price, I suppose.

Drying off, and packing the last few things, I wonder what I have left behind. The planning has been immense though, if there are details I have missed on this trip...its not from lack of planning. Making my bed, I reflect on the past week - a turmoil of excitement, anticipation, and the sadness of leaving a place and people you love.

Packing up the boot of the BMW 540 touring (that's a wagon), I wonder how full the new car will be...perhaps it's a good thing there are only two of us.

Several phone calls...and my driver is on his way. While waiting, I slowly seethe as I attend to a document that was 6 days late in arriving to my Inbox, and is causing me and several other people to jump through several hoops to get this bit of work taken care of. I truly do not understand people who don't do their job. The yellow highlighter works quietly while I flip through the pages, marking where signatures belong.

Saying goodbye to the neighbors, I head out into the warm summer air. It might only be 10am, but it's going to be a warm day, and the sun is blinding. Turning the key, the big 4.5 liter V8 rumbles to life, and we set off. Not quite behind yet, but not ahead, and there is much to do.

A few minutes at highway cruise, and we take to the secondary roads, turning into an older neighborhood, with large lots, nice houses, and tons of hardwoods. The temperature drops seven degrees. Crunching gravel under the 245/40/18” BFG's, the big touring comes to a halt.

Entering the house, details are attended to; passports out of the safe, documents signed and placed in a secure location, house keys exchanged, alarm codes checked. Picking up the last of the luggage, it's obvious that the new car will not hold all of this in its boot.

House locked, goodbyes said, we set off - thoroughly behind schedule now. Spurning the skinny pedal, the 540 settles into an easy cruise at 80mph. Checking my fuel level, I calculate we'll just be able to make it an hour before fuel is required.

Coasting into a station with 22 miles left on the display, I fill up with 18 gallons of premium. Setting off, I do not spare the throttle, settling into the left hand lane, parting traffic. People are not moving today - not good for me. I would like to pick up a pack that was running hard, and make good time, but no one seems to want to go more than ten mph over.

The mounties are out. Calculating time in my head, I set the cruise at 80mph, and hang to the left hand lane. The touring seems to hide - several others are pulled, I press forward, unconcerned.

Arriving at the airport, unloading the car, and finding a luggage assistant, things get moving. Check in, though long, was relatively painless. Having the wheelchair certainly gets help and attention, and that is good. Finally reaching the gate, I am able to appreciate the airport, and relax for a bit. There are some details left unattended, but, they'll just have to be okay.

The Charlotte Airport has free wi-fi. Awesome. I love it when a junkie is able to get his fix...and I wonder to myself how long it is before wireless is everywhere.

The jet arrives. Apparently I missed the memo that we were flying on an aircraft carrier. Or at least something that size. This thing is huge. It's only two weeks old, and seats 303 people.

Having the wheelchair, we board first, and get settled. For coach, there's a surprising amount of room, though I won't say that it's spacious. But at least I don't feel like the eight hour flight will kill me. Service....gracious...the US airlines really should take note. Lufthansa is a profitable, working company. We had great service - a spotless plane, and good food. Taking off was pretty insane. That plane weighs a lot. It took a lot of runway, and a lot of ground speed, to produce enough lift for that big bird to fly. But it was cool to watch.

Wine...pretzels...hot towels...then the main course...followed by dessert, then coffee. Yeah, this is much better. Breakfast was served, along with 3 other beverage services, all by bright, smiling faces, all of whom were very helpful.

Towards the end of the flight, I became restless, no surprise. I don't really sit very well. At least I have my own monitor, 10 movies, plus tv shows, and music to keep me entertained. I could feel the descent start, the nose angling down just slightly, and the pitch of those 4 huge turbines changing. As we make our final approach, I see no signs of a city. Hmm. Though I'd done a little research, I wasn't intimately familiar with layout of Munich. Deplaning, gathering luggage, finding an ATM, a taxi, and getting to the hotel - while time-consuming, was not difficult.

The hotel was nice, and I spent an hour unpacking and so forth. Then I ventured out to find a SIM card for the phone. Successful in that quest...I moved on to venturing around the hotel to see what was here. Settling on a couple places to eat, I returned to the room and slept for a little while. I think i'd been up almost 30 hours...

Slightly refreshed, grandmother and I set off for dinner, consisting of bier, brats, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. All very good, and local. I couldn't help but think what this might be like with the person you love.

After dinner I go for a long walk around the center of the city, exploring, getting my bearings, and taking in the sights. That was a marvelous walk, and I enjoyed people watching as much as the architecture. Finally retiring to bed, I was simply dead.

Three AM, and someone might have well have pitted Obama and Clinton in my room. There is simply no was I can go back to sleep, due to the argument going on in my brain about what time it was...
back to bed at 5...
waking at 9:00, i decided to get up, and be productive

A light continental breakfast, water and cash for grandmother, and I set off for the trains to find a ticket to the BMW Welt (world).

The Welt surpassed expectations.
The food was excellent...premium lounge was huge... and nicely furnished.
The welt is cavernous (really!!) it has 4 basements... and they can store 284 cars in day storage, managed by a robot, and stacked like pallets in a warehouse. Amazing.

The museum was cool, but I'm glad i didn't pay 12 euro's for that.

I take the factory tour tomorrow

The amount on display there at the welt is worth the trip, even without buying a BMW.

I arrived at 1pm, and left at 6pm. I feel like I had adequate time for everything, except the factory tour, which I get tomorrow.

If i'd known better, I wouldn't have "checked" my bag at the first check-in. There are lockers in the Premium Lounge, and I really wanted my laptop up there....but it had disappeared, and reappeared when I took delivery of the car. Not a big deal, but it did have my laptop in it, and I wanted to use it in the lounge. Oh well, the Welt had so much stuff to do, you could easily spend a day in there

Returning back to the hotel....thank god for navigation. Driving here isn't terribly difficult, but it does require all of your attention, especially in town, where bikes, parking cars, and random people seem to be everywhere.

Back at the hotel, I drop off stuff, pick up my Grandmother (which is really the reason why I'm here), and we set off for an evening cruise. Lots to see, and we have a great time just getting lost, and then letting Nav get us back. So sweet.

We had a low key dinner at the hotel restaurant. Decent food, good service. She went to bed, and I updated my blog.

Crashing around midnight, I slept like a rock until 5am, at which point I was wide awake. Forgetting sleep, I went downstairs to the underground garage and detailed the car...yes...I really am that big of a dork.

Following cleaning my baby, it was upstairs for a shower and breakfast.

Loading up the wheelchair, and hailing a cab, we set off for the art museum. Quite good, and some 4.5 hours later, we were both a bit more cultured...okay...maybe not. But it was still cool.

I had my factory tour at 3:30pm, and left around 2pm for that. I explored a couple of things in the Welt that I didn't yesterday, and got floor mats, the safety vests, and a little backpack.

Next stop - after installing my new mats - hotel, followed by the Haufbrahaus. Well...I've been. Definitely not my thing though. And I've decided that I'm not a fan of the German cuisine. We wandered around the square a bit, but grandmother was tired, so it was back to the hotel (gotta love taxi's), and to the bar for a scoop of ice cream...and water...in my case.

She went to bed fairly early, and I decided that I needed to stay up later, trying to adjust to this time schedule.

Thursday morning...

Up relatively early, and downstairs for breakfast...
Setting off around 9am, we head for the Nurburgring. The drive there is incredible. The sights, scenery, and the car are just amazing. Driving the Autobahn is pretty easy, but you must watch the rearview. People are much better drivers than in the US. 70Mph feels slow. Cruising range was 83-95 mph, with a few stints of 110, and one of almost 125. Definitely quick. Dynamically, the car far surpasses most that I've driven, and that engine is an absolute dream. The transmission is also damned good, and performs spectacularly well, in all modes.

Finally arriving up at the Ring, it was raining. I really didn't want to wreck the new car, and with less than 1000 miles on it, no pushing on any corners, and no rain experience, I was having serious second thoughts about going round this track. Locating the information building, I found that the track was closed for a Porsche event, and would not re-open until 5:30pm. Well...that means 6:30 by the time you're finished...and 11:30 by the time I was back in Munich. No way was grandmother up for that, and honestly, neither was I.


So I settled for some souvenirs, and we climbed into the car, watch part of the track for awhile, and as we left, the skies proceeded to pour buckets of rain. Boy, I"m glad I didn't drive. Driving at 40mph on the little country road was problem enough...I'd hate to think of what that track would be like...73 corners...most of them blind..with tons of other fools who're trying to go fast in the rain. No thanks.

The ride home was fun though. 110Mph in the rain...and the car did fine. Followed a lot of fast cars, and I became more comfortable with the driving, and the speed. A couple of full throttle runs displayed just how fast this car is going to be...really freaking quick...and no more than 125 on the speedo, as recommended during break-in.

Back at the hotel at 8:30...we hit several batches of traffic, and a fair amount of rain. 700 miles on the odometer...will be done with break in in another 500 miles...and then the fun can really start.

Gym, shower, dinner at the hotel...and write a trip log, and I'm done for the day.

---

  Next Entry »

Additional photos below

Photos: 135, Displayed: 30