2 Week ED Trip

Have been back from Munich a few days now so I guess it's time to begin posting a short report on this trip. Arrived in Munch Thursday June 1. Since we had 3 persons plus luggage, and Rolf was unable to obtain anything bigger than his Mini on this day, he had referred us to Sigrid Aniol, who me us at MUC and drove us to the delivery center in her taxi, a 7-series diesel. Ms. Aniol couldn't have been any nicer or more helpful. She pointed out the sights, including the new Allianz Arena, and to my wife's chagrin, demonstrated how well the car tracked at about 110 mph with no hands on the steering wheel. I couldn't believe it was a taxi, much less a diesel. What a car!

The ED Delivery was actually kind of uneventful. We arrived around 11:50 am, walked to the front desk, and when I gave my name and passport, breathed a small sign of relief when the lady actually had a file on me and pulled a license plate out of it (this was our first ED). It was probably about 12:50 before a young delivery specialist introduced herself and we handled the paperwork and were shown to the garage, which, by that time, was fairly full. Although she showed me some of the car's features, having been up all night and into the next day, most of that was just a blur. Luckily my 8-year old's retention was much better than mine.

Pulling out of the ED garage, my wife was taking a few pictures, and I must have been exiting too slowly for Bernhard (who I recognized from this website), because he began yelling at me to hurry up.....I still don't really know why. A slightly undignified way to leave the ED center to be sure.

Anyway we took a few minutes in the parking lot to program the NAV system, and drove down to Grodig, Austria (just outside of Salzburg), in the rain. The area is very scenic even in the rain. Stayed at the Sallerhof in Grodig. What a nice little town and hotel: www.sallerhof.at. After crashing for a while we walked down the street to Gasthaus Noffinger for what might have been our best meal ever. Their beer (Stiegl) was also one of my all-time favorites.

That's funny about Bernhard.....maybe they don't like breathing car exhaust inside the delivery "garage".

Your post brings up the point made by a lot of people: picking up the car on the same day you arrive from the overnight flight is truly exhausting. It's better to relax the first day in Munich instead (if your schedule permits).

The car looks great!!

Congrats!

That is funny how you mention to get to the desk, all tired from being up 24 hrs, and suddenly your energy rises as the attendent actually has a file with two plates in your name!

Congrats on the new car....

Thanks! Good point about staying in Munich the night after arrival and picking up the car the next day after a night of rest. For the next ED trip (I hope there's a next one) we'll definitely do that. Unfortunately our itinterary combined with the World Cup made it impossible this time.

Our first full day, June 2, included a salt mine tour at Berchtesgaden, a boat ride on Konigsee, and a walk around Salzburg. Here are a few more pix, including Hotel Sallerhof, the salt mine, and the Konigsee boat ride. Both the salt mine and the boat ride seemed to be good activities for anyone with kids. The Konigsee is in part of the Berchtesgaden National Park. The church with the red domes is the St. Bartholomew chapel, accessible only by boat. These are very close to the "Eagle's Nest" which unfortunately was closed that day (the weather was too overcast anyway).

Finishing up June 2, after Konigsee, we drove back over the border into Austria and found a parking garage in downtown Salzburg, near the Hohensalzburg Festung (the big fortress overlooking Salzburg). It was raining lightly as we found our way to the bottom of the fortress. While looking for the vernicular, we ended up actually hiking up to the fortress. This is not for the weak! After touring around on top for a while, we found the top end of the vernicular and took it down. (We recommend, however, using the vernicular to go UP.) We walked around for a while and did some light shopping in the old town while trying to find our way back to the parking garage. A busy day......maybe a little too much for one day. But still more fun than the office! Wish we had had more time in Salzburg, and wish it had not been raining.

A few more pictures from this day:
(1) the car at the Germany/Austria border;
(2) in Salzburg, Mozart is "da man";
(3) looking up at the Salzburg fortress;
(4) breakfast at the Sallerhof;
(5) at the fortress, looking over Salzburg.

really nice pics!

I wonder... how much in general are meals at average/nice restaurants such as the one in the pic above???

The breakfasts of course were all included in the room price. I think we averaged around 10 euros per adult for dinner, plus 1 or 2 beers at around 2 euros each, plus tip. These places were not overly fancy but very very nice, picturesque, clean, friendly, and the food and beer were great. I miss those restaurants already!!

Saturday, June 3, we checked out of the Sallerhof in Grodig and drove north a short way on the autobahn to Chiemsee, a lake between Salzburg and Munich. There we took a boat ride out to Herreninsel, an island containing one of mad King Ludwig's palaces. The weather started clearing and the palace tour was absolutely worthwhile.

Photos were unfortunately prohibited inside the palace. These 3 pictures were all taken on the island Herreninsel, at or near the palace. One of them makes me chuckle every time I see it......

Originally Posted by Munich2006

Photos were unfortunately prohibited inside the palace. These 3 pictures were all taken on the island Herreninsel, at or near the palace. One of them makes me chuckle every time I see it......

Great picture.

You account makes me want to venture East on my next ED.

Originally Posted by Munich2006

One of them makes me chuckle every time I see it......

One chuckle here. Very nice write up and pics.

OK, after the visit to Chiemsee, we contined on about another half-hour through some of the most beautiful little towns and countryside I've seen, to Unterwossen, Germany, which, as the crow flies, is not too far from Chiemsee and only about an hour, if that, south of Munich. We checked into Hotel Gabriele (www.hotel-gabriele.de). We had a reservation we booked via the internet (as we did everywhere on this trip). The owners spoke very little English, but our limited German and their limited English were enough. We were shown to a room on the top floor, and my son and I hauled most of the luggage up the stairs. I hope he's as gung-ho about hauling luggage at 12, 14, etc., as he is now at 8!

After that, I wandered out to the car myself for one more thing, walked around the hotel, and ended up following a little dirt road/path sandwhiched between the houses at the edge of the town, and the hillside. What an awesome little walk. I cut back into the town to go around the block but that road didn't go through, so rather than getting lost I backtracked to the hotel. From the woodpiles around there, it was clear those people are very serious about stocking their firewood in for the winters. Anyway I gathered up the wife and kid and we hit that path, and headed the other way, for a great walk before dinner, spotting edelwiess, a deer stand, and a cow field, while overlooking the rooftops and beyond that, a snow covered mountain. For dinner, I had some kind of fish from Chiemsee lake, and it was incredible, as was the rest of the meal.

Apparently this place, and general area, is kind of popular with German vacationers and weekenders, particularly for biking and hiking in summer, and cross country skiing in winter.

Thanks again for the great Pics!

Great pics! The car shot in post #12 is fantastic! The car looks uber-sleek.

A very nice job of framing those shots, and yes, that is one heck of a woodpile!

Checking out of Hotel Gabriele in Unterwossen on Sunday morning, June 4, Frau Gabriele told us they had not had anyone from the U.S. stay there before, and she asked us how we had heard of their hotel. When I went to pay I pulled my Visa out of my pocket, which made her cringe, as I thought it might, so I pulled a large Euro note out of the other, saying "oder Geld?" and she sighed with relief.

The rain returned as we drove out of town and headed north back to Munchen for one night. Yes, returning to Munich on day 4 of a 13 day trip was odd, but chalk it up to the World Cup. We reached Munich early and checked into Hotel Isartor, on the east side of the old town, near the Isar river and the Deutsches Museum. Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the museum, which I believe is Germany's biggest, and is similar to the Smithsonian in D.C. Highlights there included the actual, first U-boat ("U1"), a real V-1, and various other aircraft, spacecraft, engines, etc. We only saw a fraction of the museum though. After lunch we walked west through the old town, past the Marienplatz, etc., and looked for the TI office near the main train station, but couldn't find it. Walked around and around trying to find the Hofbrauhaus, and finally did. We split a number of mases while the kid played it safe and stuck with orange soda.

Next morning, June 5, we checked out of the Isartor and drove up to Rothenburg, still hurting from the night before.

Spent Monday night, June 5 in Rothenburg, which many of you no doubt know is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany, with the original town wall intact. We had a reservatioon at Cafe Uhl, and were looking forward to sleeping over a real Bakerei. To our surprise when we checked in with Robert behind the bakery counter, he had a young lady walk us up the street to a separate building, and show us the triple "room." It was actually what I'd call a small apartment, and the interior looked entirely brand new. It also had a small fenced courtyard in front in which to park our car. We answered yes, that would be OK. We later learned that the suite had been completed just 2 weeks earlier. The price was indeed, as we had reserved, only 80 Euro, including breakfast in the cafe/bakery. This is the last time we will stay only one night in this town.

The night watchman tour should not be missed.

(1) our room, with parking in front and the town wall behind it
(2) view of the town with the wall
(3) ditto, from the top of the Rodertor
(4) George, the only surviving "night watchman" of Rothenburg
(5) Cafe Uhl

Those are great photos in Rothenburg. I may have to appropriate a couple of them for my own collection (if you don't mind.) They bring back great memories. Agreed, the Night Watchman's tour is a "don't miss" while you are there.

Tuesday, June 6, woke up in Rothenburg to surprisingly cool, crisp, and cloudless weather. Wow! Checked out of Cafe Uhl and set the nav system for Pension Peters in Berlin. Some of you may recognize Pension Peters from one of the Rick Steves videos. The drive to Berlin was kind of interesting, as it was my first time in the former East Germany. We noticed the autobahn got pretty rough beginning in the general area where the East would have started. However, closer to Berlin, it had been recently updated and was very smooth. Found the Pension on Savignyplatz at about 6 pm, and found that I had to park in a small garage around the block that was 2 levels underground, and was more like a crevice in a cave than a garage. By the time I had grabbed the first round of luggage from the car, the motion detector-activated garage lighting had gone off, leaving me in basically absolute darkness. Luckily I remembered the BMW flashlight in the glove box and it got me out of there. I took some solace in that there was another BMW, a 5-series wagon, with an ED plate, in the Pension Peters spot next to mine (never did meet the owner though). Later that evening had dinner with my wife's distant aunt and uncle, who live in Berlin.

Spent 3 nights in Berlin.....went on a city bus tour, and the Berlin Zoo, which was incredibly park-like and relaxing, not to mention kid-pleasing. Got a few good pix of the Brandenburg Gate on June 7, where they had traffic blocked off and were setting up for a soccer celebration. That evening we saw the same spot on TV, live, and it was standing room only for 150,000 people, for "Die Grosse Fan Fest." Another highlight in Berlin was eating in the atrium at KaDeWe, the largest department store in continental Europe, overlooking the city. Berlin had World Cup Fever, big time.

Hi MDS, glad someone's reading. I sure got a kick out of reading about other ED trips, so I figured its time I put a trip report in here myself. Hope to have the BMWNA letter informing me of the ship ID any day now.

Originally Posted by Munich2006

Hi MDS, glad someone's reading. I sure got a kick out of reading about other ED trips, so I figured its time I put a trip report in here myself. Hope to have the BMWNA letter informing me of the ship ID any day now.

I'm enjoying the write up from start to finish. It's a good way to rekindle some of our own wonderful memories. Great job! Hopefully your wait for redelivery will not be too long. Best of luck.

Nice Bitburger Pils T-shirt. I was stationed there from 1977-1979 in the USAF. I toured that brewery wayyyyyy toooo many times. Boy, do I remember Pomme Frites with mayo.

We're thoroughly enjoying your write-up and photos, especially since you're traveling with a kid, something we're very familiar with.

I enjoyed your ED write-up very much! Thank you.

Originally Posted by mscamp

I enjoyed your ED write-up very much! Thank you.

+1

Great write up. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and the pic that made you chuckle, made me belly laugh. Really great pic!