Trip Report

After more than a year of planning we finally pulled it off, thanks to all at Bimmerfest, Rolf, and jtmililani808. The information and motivation has been invaluable. Our trip from Apr 17 to 24, involved the pick up of 2 cars, a 335i sedan (for me), and a 328i sedan (for my friend, Gloria), and travel to Bolzano, Venice, Salzburg and Munich.
We arrived at 8:50 am after 19 hours of travel from Seattle, and Rolf was waiting. From there it was straight to the Delivery center, and breakfast. Rolf apparently likes the meatballs. There wasn't much of a wait, in fact, we had not finished eating, and receiving our directions from Rolf so they said they would be back, which was a mistake on our part, as it was 20 minutes later when our turn came up again. The delivery process went smoothly and took about 40 minutes. In retrospect, I would probably ask for the express delivery in the future. Having owned a BMW, the basics were intuitive, the details of the car, I was in no condition to receive, and would not have remembered anyway.
Then we were off to the drop off center to drop of Gloria's car. Thanks to the sd card from jtmililani in our Nuvi 360, getting there was no problem, except for the part at the end, even though I have read here numerous time, go all the way to the end of the street and up the ramp to the left. There were several occasions where the gps told us that we had arrived at destination, but exactly where it was, was not exactly clear. In this case, it was half a block away from the actual ramp.
From there it was off to Bolzano IT(about 4 hours away). Rolf had instructed us to go through Oberau, rather than through Innsbruck, which he said would save some on tolls. We rejoined the autostrada, just north of Brenner pass. Tolls from Brenner to Bolzano were 12.70E. I got my Austrian vignette at a small gas station along the way (7.50E for 10 days) But balked at paying 30.00E for the safety vest. I didn't risk it all the way however, because, later I saw a vest in a hardware store in Venice for 3.00E.
Next day, it was on to Venice, which is one amazing place. We parked at Tronchetto, but found out on our way in that there were spaces available at Piazzale Roma for the same price. Advice for Venice, pack as light as possible, and be prepared to walk. Highlights were cappucino and tiramisu in San Marco's square, gelato anywhere, and shopping.
Next, we were off to Salzburg. The gps took us toward Udine and Villach on A4 but for some reason took us off the highway just before Villach, probably a short cut, but through a very windy country road, which I thought would turn to gravel at any minute. The only time I questioned the judgement of the gps. Turns out we went over Nassfeld pass to a place called Hermagor, before connecting again with A10.
We reached Salzburg at 3:00pm on Saturday. Things close at 7:00pm and didn't open on Sunday. So, there was only a short time to see things. Did manage a hike up to Hohensalzburg, and some salzburger nockerl as a reward after.
Sunday was back to Munich. Since stuff was closed on sunday, we went to Englicher Gartens, which turned out to be one of the fun surprises of the trip. We found our way to the Chinesischer Turm, which at least on a Sunday has a biergarten, with great food. There were crowds of people eating and having a good time. I think that the food there was better than at the Augustiner downtown. A band was playing in the tower.
We spent more time that we should have trying to get to Nieberlassung BMW. In the end, it didn't have a bigger selection of accessories, or even unusual cars than my dealership.
Because of the convention going on in Munich, we stayed in Freising, which was pleasant. Had dinner at the Weihenstephan brewery (the oldest brewery in the world, so they say) And rode the S1 back and forth into town. Much as I like driving my car, riding the train was a relaxing break. (and the express train took only 20 minutes from Freising to Munich)
Some impressions:
Every one speeds. Even when the limits are on, cars are usually travelling 20kph in excess of the limit, even in the right hand lane. This was true even in Austria. In some cases where one couldn't change lanes, I didn't want to be the foreigner holding up traffic, but didn't want to risk a ticket either. I even observed someone passing on the right.
The gps was one of the smarter decisions. Incredibly liberating, with no fear of making a wrong turn.
The toilet paper was not as bad as reported.
The coffee everywhere was great.
Don't try to order weiss wurst with spargel, was told that it was like have donuts with hamburger.
We probably crammed too many things into one week, but would not have left anything out.
Some pictures below, with more to come

great trip report!

but...did I miss the pictures?

n/m...I found them in the other thread

Thanks for the writeup and for the pics in the other threads. Did you stop to see the Ice Man in Bolzano? I'm wondering how that was, if you did.

Sorry, didn't see the Ice man. Was only there for an evening.

Originally Posted by ddtan

Sorry, didn't see the Ice man. Was only there for an evening.

Your trip sounds great. Where did you stay in Bolzano? Would you recommend?

Thanks!

We stayed in the Hotel Post Gries. It cost 129 euros a night for a triple room. I would definitely recommend. It's not a 4 star hotel, but clean and comfortable, with quite modern amenities. You can look it up on Trip Advisor, or Venere.