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Published: March 17th 2015
Looks Like a War Zone
Actually I was sleeping quite comfortable in these twin German hotel beds. The mattresses were nice and stiff with warm down comforters on top. I slept like a log and snored like a buzzsaw.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
Arriving at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds
After another wonderful breakfast and some lengthy chat with our hotel hosts I decided I wanted to quickly swing by the southern end of town where the Nazis used to hold their huge political rallies. I was told that there was really nothing much there so I assumed we'd see a couple of pieces of concrete and maybe remains of a stadium. I was greatly surprised bu how much was still preserved. 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
Kongresshalle
Just this structure alone amazed me. It looks bigger than the Coliseum in Rome and is in better repair. It's a bit of an illusion however as it isn't a big oblong arena. It's more of a "D" shaped edifice. 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 canceled 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
Am I Allowed to Look ay This?
I felt a little weird stopping the car and getting out to take pictures. I was afraid of offending one of the locals with my interest in their sordid past. Little did I know the whole complex is a big reminder of those wicked times. 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
The Parade Route
Up this long concrete block road the Nazi part members and the military would parade in a show of force and intimidation. Behind me the road appeared to lead all the way to the Kaiserburg. That was an illusion too. For the troops marching this way it was meant to look like they were marching toward the old glory that was once the Holy Roman Empire. After the War American troops used this long stretch of road as a runway for supply planes. 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
The Great Street
"According to the plans of the architect, Albert Speer, the Great Street was to be the central axis of the Party Rally Grounds. It is 60 meters wide and was to be 2000 meters long. Only 1500 meters were completed. For this, 60,000 granite slabs were laid. Speer aligned the Great Street with the Imperial Castle in the Old Town, to create a symbolic link between Nuremberg as the city of the imperial diets and Nuremberg as the "City of the Party Rallies". 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
Another View of the Kongresshall
Before turning this into a big huge Nazi Disneyworld this was one of Nuremberg's nicest parks. A zoo was located near this lake. 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
Entering the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds
We had been to the extremely interesting Nazi Dokumentation center in Berchtesgaden on our previous European Delivery. We decided the tradition needed to continue so we detoured from our Leipzig drive to "spend a FEW minutes" looking around in this museum. We ended-up spending over two hours exploring this museum documenting the rise and fall of the Nazis in Germany and Nuremberg. 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
We Could Have Spent all Day in Here
Once again we were given headphones that narrated the story of Nazism as we moved from exhibit to exhibit. At first we started punching in the numbers of each display. Half an hour later we were still stuck in 1932 so we began stopping only at the most interesting looking displays. 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. Break rooms 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
I Can't Even Imagine What This Must've Been Like
With my short attention span I would have made a terrible Nazi. Standing for hours waiting for Adolf to show up and speak for hours would never sit well for me. I'd be the only brownshirt sitting down with my eyes closed or hopping around impatiently. But I certainly wasn't bored as we deliberately worked our way through the Kongresshall museum. 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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