[MarcusSDCA]

Thanks as always to Beewang for the referral to Franco at BMW Santa Barbara.

The car: Titanium Silver 330i 6sp manual, Sport, Premium, Black leather, Aluminum trim, Navigation/Idrive, Fold-down seats, Satellite prep.

The date: July 1 pickup in Munich.

And...BMWFS approved the lease assumption of my current E60 to some really great buyers from here in San Diego.....so it was a VERY good BMW day!

Can't wait to use a clutch again!

 

[beewang]

I really dunno why everyone is thanking me :eeps: .... I didn't do a DAMN THING!!

Congrats Marcus!! That is one fine 330i you're getting :thumbup:

cheers,

beewang :bigpimp:

 

[Jon Shafer]

:thumbup:

 

[will-san]

Dude, I am picking up an identical car 4 days before you. You clearly have excelent taste!

 

[MarcusSDCA]

Dude, I am picking up an identical car 4 days before you. You clearly have excelent taste!

Clearly. :thumbup:

 

[mrbelk]

So what made you decide on the NAV/iDrive? I remember you told me that you were waffling.

Looks like everythings working out for you with the lease assumption, too.

Will you actually get out of Munich this time? You should try to tour the Regensburg plant.

-MrB

 

[MarcusSDCA]

So what made you decide on the NAV/iDrive? I remember you told me that you were waffling.

Looks like everythings working out for you with the lease assumption, too.

Will you actually get out of Munich this time? You should try to tour the Regensburg plant.

-MrB

Well...practicality won out in the end. How can a real estate broker pass on built-in navigation. I'd rather have it and rarely use it than not have it and regret it.

Hey...I did get out of Munich last time....I was about 5 miles from Austria on my Sunday drive to Garmisch. One big difference this time is that I have a friend from here that moved to Stuttgart for 3 years.....so I'll have a tour guide...so yes I'll be driving around a bit more. And I believe there's a dropoff in the Stuttgart area.

 

[mrbelk]

Well...practicality won out in the end. How can a real estate broker pass on built-in navigation. I'd rather have it and rarely use it than not have it and regret it.

I knew you'd come to your senses.

Hey...I did get out of Munich last time....I was about 5 miles from Austria on my Sunday drive to Garmisch. One big difference this time is that I have a friend from here that moved to Stuttgart for 3 years.....so I'll have a tour guide...so yes I'll be driving around a bit more. And I believe there's a dropoff in the Stuttgart area.

I know; a quick out and back if I recall. There's definitely a Stuttgart dropoff; your bimmer will be all alone amongst all the Merc ED dropoffs. I've been told that the Merc plant tour is good; as is the P-car plant tour. So how long will you be gone?

If you want to get really adventurous, I _highly_ recommend the Hotel Greif in Bolzano, Italy. Bolzano (or "Bozen," in German) is a lovely little town with an excellent exhibit in their archaeological museum on "Otzi," the 5500 year old iceman mummy that was discovered in the alps not far from there. It's basically just across the Italian/Austrian border, on the A22 which goes through the Brenner Pass. Lovely scenery.

-MrB

 

[yamilrx]

I knew you'd come to your senses.

I know; a quick out and back if I recall. There's definitely a Stuttgart dropoff; your bimmer will be all alone amongst all the Merc ED dropoffs. I've been told that the Merc plant tour is good; as is the P-car plant tour. So how long will you be gone?

If you want to get really adventurous, I _highly_ recommend the Hotel Greif in Bolzano, Italy. Bolzano (or "Bozen," in German) is a lovely little town with an excellent exhibit in their archaeological museum on "Otzi," the 5500 year old iceman mummy that was discovered in the alps not far from there. It's basically just across the Italian/Austrian border, on the A22 which goes through the Brenner Pass. Lovely scenery.

-MrB

I'll never forget one of my trips(non ED) to Bolzano we visited a church by mistake which had a display of small skulls. I believe they were kids skulls. It was pretty weird. We actually went to Bolzano from Innsbruck to eat some Italian food and realized that it was so close to Germany that there was more German influence than Italian. So the Italian food was actually nothing out of this world.

 

[mrbelk]

I'll never forget one of my trips(non ED) to Bolzano we visited a church by mistake which had a display of small skulls. I believe they were kids skulls. It was pretty weird. We actually went to Bolzano from Innsbruck to eat some Italian food and realized that it was so close to Germany that there was more German influence than Italian. So the Italian food was actually nothing out of this world.

Creepy. Our Fodor's guide didn't mention anything about that. We did go inside the "Duomo" and I went inside the domenican church, but there was no mention of a skull collection.

We were going to stay in Innsbruck the night after Bolzano, but we liked Bolzano so much that we cancelled our Innsbruck hotel and stayed an extra night.

There are definitely italian restaurants in Bolzano, but the Bavarian influence is very strong. Our first night there, I had "bistecca alla milanese" (italian for wiener schnitzel) with roasted potatoes. Our second night there, I gave in to Bavaria and had Nurnburg style grilled sausages with sauteed potatoes. By then I was a litte OD'd on pasta and pizza and prosciutto. Back at the Marriott for our last night, I cozied up to a double bacon cheeseburger at "Champs" sportsbar.

-MrB

 

[e36M3r]

Absolutely nothing worse than talking about the food, to make me want to start planning my next Euro vacation... and my car is not even back yet!

 

[Wallenrod]

Northeastern Italy has a lot of Austrian (or Tirolian or rather Sudtirolian) influence. This is most evident in the Trentino Alto Adige region with Bolzano and Trento being main cities. As a matter of fact the cuisine of the region has a lot of Italian lightness to pretty hearty mountain working men meals. As a matter of fact this is one of the most exciting culinary regions of Italy. Pastas/pizzas is what most Americans think of Italian food but this is rather a souther italian thing. There are actually quite a bit of pasta dishes up north but pastas will be usually of whole wheat variety. There's a lot of polenta dishes. A lot of crepe like "lasagna dishes" with hearty cheeses like fontina from neighboring regions. There is lake and forest streams fish like trout. There is a lot of dumplings but they are a little different than german variety. My favorite are with plums in the middle, sateed with butter and sage. They have a lot of apple orchards and tons of different apple pastries like fried apple rings sprinkled with confectioners sugar. There are definitely sausages and "krauti" or sauerkraut based dishes but with different spins like a casserol dish with sauerkraut with radicchio and cheese.
Cotoletta alla milanese, as the name suggests actually, is a dish from the neighboring Lombardia where cuisine is quite different from that of Trentino and Alto Adige.
As a matter of fact - Trentino and Alto Adige are two different regions in one with its distinctive cuisines. Also Alto Adige produces one of the best white wines in the world: Pinot Grigio and Pinot Bianco. You can see some of the vineyards along the route towards Brennero.

 

[directcj]

If you want to get really adventurous, I _highly_ recommend the Hotel Greif in Bolzano, Italy. Bolzano (or "Bozen," in German) is a lovely little town with an excellent exhibit in their archaeological museum on "Otzi," the 5500 year old iceman mummy that was discovered in the alps not far from there. It's basically just across the Italian/Austrian border, on the A22 which goes through the Brenner Pass. Lovely scenery.

-MrB

I second Hotel Greif. It's in the middle of town with a covered public parking garage that is accessible from the hotel (they have a door in the garage which is connected to the hotel) available at a reasonable rate. From their website you can even see each of their rooms allowing you to actually request which room you want to stay in. IIRC, Hotel Greif didn't show up in my e60 NAV DVD but Park Hotel Laurin, a sister hotel, did. I initially parked in the parking lot for Hotel Laurin then asked at the Hotel where Hotel Greif was and where the parking for it was.

 

[eimSD]

Thanks as always to Beewang for the referral to Franco at BMW Santa Barbara.

And...BMWFS approved the lease assumption of my current E60 to some really great buyers from here in San Diego.....so it was a VERY good BMW day!

Can't wait to use a clutch again!

How are you getting the car back to San Diego -- courtesy delivery for a fee? Or training it up to SB and driving back?

 

[MarcusSDCA]

How are you getting the car back to San Diego -- courtesy delivery for a fee? Or training it up to SB and driving back?

No courtesy delivery...isn't that up to $500? No way.

I was figuring AMTRAK. I'll look at American Eagle too. Who knows....I just don't want to ask anyone to drive me there....what a pain in the butt that is...especially if it's not between midnight and 5am!

 

[MarcusSDCA]

Just checked train vs plane. $250-300 to fly, $47 by train. Since I'd have to change planes in LA and all the security stuff....flying's not worth it...timewise or moneywise.

 

[JAWJr]

Your car sounds awesome Marcus :thumbup: Glad to hear you decided to make the switch back to manual! Enjoy your trip.

~Jon

 

[MarcusSDCA]

Your car sounds awesome Marcus :thumbup: Glad to hear you decided to make the switch back to manual! Enjoy your trip.

~Jon

Maybe there is something I can bring YOU back from Munich this time. Need anything for that beautiful coupe?

(Formerly marcus545)

 

[JAWJr]

Maybe a stein holder? Just Kidding. No, I really don't think there's anything I need, other than the chance to drive mine on the autobahn again. Guess I'll just have to order another car! Have a great trip.

~Jon :thumbup:

 

[djlfp]

Just checked train vs plane. $250-300 to fly, $47 by train. Since I'd have to change planes in LA and all the security stuff....flying's not worth it...timewise or moneywise.

You might also consider a one-way car rental. Greater flexibility and comparable cost.