ED Story and 14-day ED Itinerary for Germany & Austria

It was the trip of a lifetime for me, my wife and kids! We covered Southern Germany (Munich, Stuttgart, Black Forest, Bavarian Alps, Lake Konstanz, Passau) and Austria (Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna)

I am posting my itinerary along with the research I did - hopefully it will save time for someone planning a similar trip. I tried to post the excel sheet but the site does not allow xls files. Thanks to Bimmerfesters for all the useful info posted. I know I broke the 12 hour rule, but I am glad I never saw the face of a computer screen through the trip!

Trip photos are at:
http://www.picasaweb.google.com/dile.../2007JunBimmer


DAK's Itinerary for Germany and Austria Trip
Date Itinerary/ Travel
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Leave for Munich: DFW-LHR-MUC
Thursday, May 31, 2007 Reach Munich 12:00 noon; Rest
Friday, June 01, 2007 Afternoon: Munich-Augsburg-(Ulm)-Gunzberg
Saturday, June 02, 2007 Late Evening: Gunzberg-Stuttgart
Sunday, June 03, 2007 Late Afternoon: Stuttgart-Titisee
Monday, June 04, 2007 Titisee-Freiburg-Titisee (Drive via Feldburg/Seebuck peak; Todtnau falls;Belchen mountain; Schauinsland; Route 317 to Freiburg
Tuesday, June 05, 2007 Titisee-Triberg-Gutach Schwarzwaldbahn - Freudenstadt-Titisee
Wednesday, June 06, 2007 Titisee-Konstanz-Lindau (via Schluchsee)
Thursday, June 07, 2007 Lindau-Immenstadt-Fussen-Innsbruck
Friday, June 08, 2007 Innsbruck-Garmisch-Mittenwald-Innsbruck
Saturday, June 09, 2007 Innsbruck-Salzburg
Sunday, June 10, 2007 Salzburg
Monday, June 11, 2007 Salzburg-Vienna
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 Vienna
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Vienna-Passau
Thursday, June 14, 2007 Passau-Munich
Friday, June 15, 2007 Munich
Saturday, June 16, 2007 Munich
Sunday, June 17, 2007 Leave for Dallas

Some interesting things we did:
1. BMW Factory tour: Visiting the Munich plant also gave us an opportunity to see the paint shop. This tour was amazing!
2. Mercedes-Benz Museum: Normally I shy away from museums when travelling with kids, but we all loved this. It's not only an awesome museum of automotive (particularly Mercedes Benz) history but also one of the best designed museums I have seen. A great experience! The autobahn from Munich to Stuttgart was clogged with traffic upto Gunzberg, but after that it was pretty open.
3. Black Forest: The huge cuckoo clock in Schonach was worth seeing. Driving around Black Forest is worth the visit. I took small winding roads that the GPS showed at 0.5 mile resolution , or just allowed myself to get lost by ignoring the GPS and then allowed the GPS to guide me back. This gave us an opportunity to drive on small mountain roads through forests and meadows, often so narrow that I was worried about a car coming from opposite direction. Fortunately the roads were too remote for any. A couple of times I drove into dead-end roads and had a tough time turning my 7er around. Don't miss eating the Black Forest Pastry.
4. Lindau on Lake Konstanz: A bit touristy but picturesque and well worth a visit. We broke our journey here on the way from Black Forest. We avoided autobahns for the most part, since the car was anyway in break-in period. Final stretch from Konstanz is by Ferry - real fun for kids.
5. Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau: The castles & their surroundings are beautiful but the castle tour was a bit of a let-down. Too touristy, crowded and time-consuming for what we eventually got to see. The kids liked it though - the horse ride and the castle's likeness to the Disney Castle (which has been designed based on this) appealed to them.
6. Drives through Bavarian Alps, along Deutsche Alpenstrasse and Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse. Again, get lost. And beware of slow moving tractor trailors.
7. Innsbruck: Parking near the Alpine Zoo is hard to find - take alternative forms of transport if you decide to visit it. Swarovski museum was ok. Worth visiting if you are buying stuff here duty-free. Works out cheaper than buying online in the US and paying for tax+shipping, despite a high Euro. The prices here are quoted inclusive of tax.
8. Salzburg: Marionette Theater is awesome! Check show timings beforehand on the web. Sound of Music tour is touristy but the little anecdotes told by the guide made it fun. Salt Mines are a must-visit! Stayed at a very beautiful castle-hotel. Saw a blue zoll-plate June 5th pick-up parked at the same hotel, but never met the couple - apparently they took an early morning bus to Salzburg on Monday.
9. Vienna: Prater Park is overrated. A city tour was informative & enjoyable. overall a beautiful city. Relaxed in a cafe along the Danube, watching the boats go by. We enjoyed seeing the Hofburg Palace, especially the Spanish Riding School. We wanted to visit the Circus & Clown museum and the dolls museum but both are closed
10. Drive along the Danube: Picturesque drive along the river with Vineyards on the opposite side. Durnstein & Krems are on the way. The old town has such narrow streets, I had to fold my mirrors to pass between buildings. Luckily no one else was foolish enough to drive here so there was no vehicle from the opposite direction. Quaint place, though.
11. Turned off halfway along the Danube road and took a narrow mountain road to Passau, bypassing Linz altogether. If you want to enjoy this, don't listen to the GPS, but do use it to look for twisting, winding roads. Passed through some of the most beautiful villages.
12. The approach to Passau from Austrian side is awesome. We stayed on the tip of the island. Another picturesque place.
13. Back to Munich - Got a chance to open the throttle on the way from Passau to Munich. ED drop-off. If you love soccer, do see the Allianz Arena in Munich- they have guided tours also. A city tour, walking along the pedestrian zones in Munich center, a walk down Leopoldstrasse & dinner at a cafe, a walk through Englischer Garten and a visit to Biergarten rounded off the trip nicely. Obletter toy store on Karlsplatz is also fascinating for kids - and even for grown ups.

Hope this is useful to anyone planning else ED. PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers
Dak

Awesome....says it all.

It looks like you had a great time. Now for the wait....

Wow, great pics!

Great car, great trip, great pics. Congrats! Enjoy the wait- it's torture.

Great Pics and Write-Up

Originally Posted by ttsd2006

IDurnstein & Krems are on the way. The old town has such narrow streets, I had to fold my mirrors to pass between buildings. Luckily no one else was foolish enough to drive here so there was no vehicle from the opposite direction.

What town did you drive through exactly? Most of Dürnstein is restricted to residents only.

Originally Posted by ttsd2006

11. Turned off halfway along the Danube road and took a narrow mountain road to Passau, bypassing Linz altogether. If you want to enjoy this, don't listen to the GPS, but do use it to look for twisting, winding roads. Passed through some of the most beautiful villages.
12. The approach to Passau from Austrian side is awesome. We stayed on the tip of the island. Another picturesque place.

Did this too 2 years ago and could not agree more. Congratulations on the car!

Beautiful car, great writeup!

May I ask you a question? Was there a special reason for you to choose the color white?

Originally Posted by Alfred G

May I ask you a question? Was there a special reason for you to choose the color white?

Perhaps it matched the Kühlschrank

Great pics!! Thanks for posting!!

You made me excited and happy for you and your family.....awesome.

Originally Posted by Jspira

What town did you drive through exactly? Most of Dürnstein is restricted to residents only.

I'm fairly certain it was Duernstein I drove through - one part of it is the very old town not far from the highway along the Danube and another part is the new town. There is a petrol bunk (I think Shell) at a roundabout at the corner where the town meets the highway. The town is also apparently known for its old church though we didn't get down anywhwere - it was a bit rainy.
I guess I broke some rules unwittingly. No wonder there were some surprised residents staring at me as though I was mad - and I WAS mad to take a 7er in there. Had a difficult time getting out back to the highway. Thank goodness for the GPS.

Originally Posted by Alfred G

Beautiful car, great writeup!

May I ask you a question? Was there a special reason for you to choose the color white?

Now you've touched a raw nerve - Got enough heat from the family who preferred Black or Dark Blue or whtever the shades offered by BMW are called. But this was my car.
Just liked the color - thought it looked good on a 7er, and I still like it after having seen the car. I have heard white is hard to maintain or patch up - don't know if it is true. And yes, it does match the Kuehlschrank but I'm unlikely to drive the car into the Kuecheraum even well above 0.08% alcohol level in my blood
[Duh - how do I insert umlauts?]

Any special reason for asking?

Congrats ont the new 7er! Loved the pics, brought back memories of our trip. Here's to a speedy re-dlivery.

Erik

Thanks All. Apparently my car is finally in NJ - expecting it next week.
Never saw the face of that clock though - is it worth chasing after?
I did get a "welcome package" with a letter and some promo material.

Originally Posted by ttsd2006

Never saw the face of that clock though - is it worth chasing after?

I also got a welcome package, but no clock. In the interest of collecting useless memorabilia, I've sent them (BMW) a politely worded email requesting the clock, and got back an answer requesting my shipping address.

So it was a truly minimal hassle...

Originally Posted by Alfred G

Beautiful car, great writeup!

May I ask you a question? Was there a special reason for you to choose the color white?

You germans and your hate for the White color car....

I think I had the only white color car on my ED....

Everyone kept calling it "the refrigirator white"....Stainless Steel must have not gotten to Bavaria yet

...lol...In any case to the OP:

you picked the best color choice...for some reason I like your Alpine White very much !!!!

Good Luck with the car and BTW, nice pics

Originally Posted by dencoop

You germans and your hate for the White color car....

I think I had the only white color car on my ED....

I guess, I'm missing a modern trend, because white is becoming more and more popular in Germany, too.

The largest Mercedes dealer in Munich has a 6 story showcase and they are to display 50 cars in it, one over the other. And since a month they have all models in the Showcase in white, A-Class, B, C S, ML, SL, CL ...

I'm just old fashioned I guess and I prefer large cars in a dark color, like mine: