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European Delivery, April 2002

April 25th

Thursday morning we left Salzburg and drove back up north, through Munich again to Rothenburg. Rothenburg is an authentic (12th century I think?) medieval, German city. It has huge walls around it that you can see in the pictures, cobblestone streets, and neat old buildings. Its a bit cute and touristy, but still REALLY neat. If you've been holding out to get just that PERFECT beer stein, this is the place to get it. We didn't get one, but if we had wanted one, we could have found it here. Alot of the shops have the Jamaica syndrome as I call it. (When my wife and I went there on a cruise, every shop in town had the EXACT same junk that every other shop had, although they tried to persuade you that THEIR junk was the best and the cheapeast). But I did get a really neat bottle of cherry brandy there in a handblown bottle. One other thing that EVERY shop has it seems, indeed its in all the windows, are schneenballs.
A note on driving in Rothenburg. The nav was trying to bring us to our hotel and wanted us to turn down this tiny, one lane cobble stone street off of the main, modern street outside the city. It looked better suited to donkeys pulling turnip carts. We finally tried it and were actually in the city as you turned a few bends. The streets are narrow as hell, but many are two way traffic, so be very cautious going around the many blind corners. Anyway, the end of the street was being torn apart so we had to leave the city and enter through a different way that one of the local people gave us directions to. This was at maybe 2 in the afternoon, at the height of the tourist part of the day. The streets were mobbed. There are very few cars to be seen so you keep thinking you're going to get in trouble for driving on the streets. With all the people around our car, I felt like I was driving through a parade. And driving on cobblestone in a BMW with the sport package suspension and wheels isn't the most comfortable experience ever. Not to mention not wanting to ding my wife's new car as we drove around these narrow curves and streets.

We only had to ask for directions 3 times before we found our hotel (the Nav seemed satisfied that it had gotten us there so it wasn't helping us any further). Our hotel was the Hotel Eisenhut, and I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Rothenburg. It is hundreds of years old I believe and was on many top European hotel recommended lists that I saw (the only hotel in Rothenburg that seems to be known outside of Rothenburg). They have parking, although it was valet. Our car was returned to us without a scratch however. Our room was more like a suite. There is an entryway for greeting guests with a coat closet almost big enough to be a sitting room. Then there is the living room section with the adjoining bedroom. The bathroom was up a few stairs in the back of the room. Strangely, it only had a bathtub. No shower. The room keys they use are more like boat anchors. They recommend that you give them the boat anchor at the front desk when you go walking around so you don't have to carry it.
After settling in at the hotel, we went around to the aforementioned shops. We also visited the Crime and Punishment museum. This is pretty recommended. Its fairly cheap admission and they definitely have more than enough exhibits. We found ourselves skipping around after a while because the museum is just so immense, but it is very interesting. They have all these medieval torture devices on display, as well as paintings that depict torture. Its nothing you couldn't take a small child to, its never really objectionable. My favorite things to see were the shame masks that they made people wear. Big iron things with facial expressions on them to denote what they did wrong, such as a waving tongue and big ears for someone who gossips too much, etc. Allow at least an hour for the museum.
We took a nap because of our jet lag that was still hanging on, then went out for a walk to find a restaurant to eat dinner. As we were walking out of the hotel, we saw a tall guy dressed in period costume with a large lantern leading a throng of tourists down the street. I remembered from the guide book that this must be the rounds of the night watchman tour. I believe it is free. We really should have joined the group because the guide book said the tour was neat. But we wandered around the city and found a place to get dinner. After dinner however, frankly we were bored. There isn't a whole heck of a lot of nightlife in sleepy Rothenburg. The tourists had all gone home and the city was nice and quiet, but unfortunately there was nothing to do.

April 26th

On Friday we were ready to head back to civilization. We said good bye to Rothenburg (after driving in a few circles through the cobblestone streets trying to find our way out) and hit the autobahn. We had had a few quick bursts into triple digit MPH range but since we were trying to take it easy on the car, we really hadn't gone that fast. But with 700 miles on it we figured it would probably be o.k. to do some higher speed bursts. My wife was able to get the top speed record that I snapped a photo of. On the way through Munich to our hotel, we were driving through Munich and I was able to get this rather neat photo. A 5 series with its Roundel prominently displayed on the trunk lid and the roundel off in the distance on one of BMW's buildings. I just thought it was neat.

The BMW drop-off point is in MUnich. E. H. Harms is a few miles outside the city. Do not expect to bring your bags with you (unless you're flying outside that day) AND take public transportation back. It is not especially close to the train. We dropped our car off on that Friday afternoon. First we brought our bags to our hotel in Munich and then after checking in, drove to the delivery center. It is in a warehouse district and a bit hard to locate. Go to the end of the street and then left up a parking garage ramp. This ramp will take you to the rear of the E. Harms office. There you can park your car and one of their representatives ushered us inside (he was waiting for us as we had called from the loading dock door before he instructed us that we needed to proceed up the parking ramp and to the rear of the building).
After a short wait, our car's information was entered into their computer and we signed some papers about the condition of the car as they were receiving it. There were other non-BMW cars there as well being dropped off for stateside delivery. A couple from Washington State were dropping off their Volvo V70 while we were there. Then we were all finished and said good bye to our car for 4-6 weeks. I made sure to remove a few items from the car to take with us.

continue reading about Euro Delivery

April 25th
	Thursday morning we left Salzburg and drove back up north, through Munich again to Rothenburg. Rothenburg is an authentic (12th century I think?) medieval, German city. It has huge walls around it that you can see in the pictures, cobblestone streets, and neat old buildings. Its a bit cute and touristy, but still REALLY neat. If you've been holding out to get just that PERFECT beer stein, this is the place to get it. We didn't get one, but if we had wanted one, we could have found it here. Alot of the shops have the Jamaica syndrome as I call it. (When my wife and I went there on a cruise, every shop in town had the EXACT same junk that every other shop had, although they tried to persuade you that THEIR junk was the best and the cheapeast). But I did get a really neat bottle of cherry brandy there in a handblown bottle. One other thing that EVERY shop has it seems, indeed its in all the windows, are schneenballs. A note on driving in Rothenburg. The nav was trying to bring us to our hotel and wanted us to turn down this tiny, one lane cobble stone street off of the main, modern street outside the city. It looked better suited to donkeys pulling turnip carts. We finally tried it and were actually in the city as you turned a few bends. The streets are narrow as hell, but many are two way traffic, so be very cautious going around the many blind corners. Anyway, the end of the street was being torn apart so we had to leave the city and enter through a different way that one of the local people gave us directions to. This was at maybe 2 in the afternoon, at the height of the tourist part of the day. The streets were mobbed. There are very few cars to be seen so you keep thinking you're going to get in trouble for driving on the streets. With all the people around our car, I felt like I was driving through a parade. And driving on cobblestone in a BMW with the sport package suspension and wheels isn't the most comfortable experience ever. Not to mention not wanting to ding my wife's new car as we drove around these narrow curves and streets.
	We only had to ask for directions 3 times before we found our hotel (the Nav seemed satisfied that it had gotten us there so it wasn't helping us any further). Our hotel was the Hotel Eisenhut, and I would highly recommend it to anyone going to Rothenburg. It is hundreds of years old I believe and was on many top European hotel recommended lists that I saw (the only hotel in Rothenburg that seems to be known outside of Rothenburg). They have parking, although it was valet. Our car was returned to us without a scratch however. Our room was more like a suite. There is an entryway for greeting guests with a coat closet almost big enough to be a sitting room. Then there is the living room section with the adjoining bedroom. The bathroom was up a few stairs in the back of the room. Strangely, it only had a bathtub. No shower. The room keys they use are more like boat anchors. They recommend that you give them the boat anchor at the front desk when you go walking around so you don't have to carry it. After settling in at the hotel, we went around to the aforementioned shops. We also visited the Crime and Punishment museum. This is pretty recommended. Its fairly cheap admission and they definitely have more than enough exhibits. We found ourselves skipping around after a while because the museum is just so immense, but it is very interesting. They have all these medieval torture devices on display, as well as paintings that depict torture. Its nothing you couldn't take a small child to, its never really objectionable. My favorite things to see were the shame masks that they made people wear. Big iron things with facial expressions on them to denote what they did wrong, such as a waving tongue and big ears for someone who gossips too much, etc. Allow at least an hour for the museum. We took a nap because of our jet lag that was still hanging on, then went out for a walk to find a restaurant to eat dinner. As we were walking out of the hotel, we saw a tall guy dressed in period costume with a large lantern leading a throng of tourists down the street. I remembered from the guide book that this must be the rounds of the night watchman tour. I believe it is free. We really should have joined the group because the guide book said the tour was neat. But we wandered around the city and found a place to get dinner. After dinner however, frankly we were bored. There isn't a whole heck of a lot of nightlife in sleepy Rothenburg. The tourists had all gone home and the city was nice and quiet, but unfortunately there was nothing to do.
April 26th
	On Friday we were ready to head back to civilization. We said good bye to Rothenburg (after driving in a few circles through the cobblestone streets trying to find our way out) and hit the autobahn. We had had a few quick bursts into triple digit MPH range but since we were trying to take it easy on the car, we really hadn't gone that fast. But with 700 miles on it we figured it would probably be o.k. to do some higher speed bursts. My wife was able to get the top speed record that I snapped a photo of. On the way through Munich to our hotel, we were driving through Munich and I was able to get this rather neat photo. A 5 series with its Roundel prominently displayed on the trunk lid and the roundel off in the distance on one of BMW's buildings. I just thought it was neat.
	The BMW drop-off point is in MUnich. E. H. Harms is a few miles outside the city. Do not expect to bring your bags with you (unless you're flying outside that day) AND take public transportation back. It is not especially close to the train. We dropped our car off on that Friday afternoon. First we brought our bags to our hotel in Munich and then after checking in, drove to the delivery center. It is in a warehouse district and a bit hard to locate. Go to the end of the street and then left up a parking garage ramp. This ramp will take you to the rear of the E. Harms office. There you can park your car and one of their representatives ushered us inside (he was waiting for us as we had called from the loading dock door before he instructed us that we needed to proceed up the parking ramp and to the rear of the building). After a short wait, our car's information was entered into their computer and we signed some papers about the condition of the car as they were receiving it. There were other non-BMW cars there as well being dropped off for stateside delivery. A couple from Washington State were dropping off their Volvo V70 while we were there. Then we were all finished and said good bye to our car for 4-6 weeks. I made sure to remove a few items from the car to take with us.