08-13-2018, 02:27 PM | #1 |
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2018 AW M2 LCI European Delivery Journal
Intro
My wife and I just got back from our Honeymoon/European Delivery. We were in country for 13 days (+2 travel days). The trip was absolutely incredible and the best possible way to start our marriage! I've been an M fan since I was a little kid. Growing up I idolized the E30 and E46. In late high school/college, I got a little sidetracked with the Subaru scene. I had three different Subaru's during this period, all of which were great; I just couldn't get BMW out of my head. Finally, in 2012 I picked up my first M car, a CPO 2010 AW E90 M3. I immediately fell in love. It was everything I wanted it to be and it sold me on M cars for life. I traded it in once the warranty expired in 2015 and got an Infiniti Q50S Hybrid. Great car, but zero fun factor or personality. Around 2017 I started getting the itch for my next car. Initially, I wanted an M3, but having test driven one, it just wasn't for me. It's an incredible car no doubt, but it just felt big. Naturally, the M2 became my first and only choice. In August 2017, I proposed to my now wife. We set the date for July 21st 2018, and agreed to do ED during our honeymoon in Western Europe. Around the end of 2017, I began contacting dealerships looking for one that would do ED on an M2. After starting in Oregon, then going to Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and North California, I finally landed on Steve Thomas BMW in Camarillo, CA. I got in touch with Jimmy Bach (who's fantastic btw) who offered to do it at ED MSRP. We set everything up over the next month and picked a delivery date of 8/1/18. Because of the M2C, I later found out that my car was one of the very last M2's made and likely the last to be delivered for ED. Pretty cool! The Car 2018 BMW M2 LCI Executive Package 6MT Alpine White On to the trip... Day 1/2 - Travel to Frankfurt/Nuremberg We flew United (had some miles) from SFO to Frankfurt. United offer a ton of current movies in their in flight entertainment system, so we watched movie after movie until we got there. Neither of us slept a wink due to some old dude with a bad cough a few seats over. Oh well. Because of my wife's injury (knee surgery), we decided to get a rental car instead of taking the train from Frankfurt to Nuremberg/Munich. Enterprise hooked us up with a nice Golf. It was a 6 speed, which was great since I hadn't drove stick since my M3. After picking up the car, we drove to my wife's great aunt's house in Zindof, slightly outside of Nuremberg. The drive was pretty boring. There was also a ton of traffic. I was also fighting every urge to fall asleep. We didn't do much once we got there as we had both been awake for nearly 24 hours. We ate some dumplings and then crashed. View from her second floor apartment: Day 3 - Nuremberg After we slept for almost 12 hours, we woke up to a homemade traditional German breakfast (cold cuts, breads, eggs, coffee). My wife's cousin's then came over to take us on a tour of the area. We were treated to lunch at Bratwurst Röslein near the center of town. We went with the traditional Nuremberg Rostbratwurst with Sauerkraut and a Radler to drink. The food was excellent! After lunch we continued exploring the rest of town. ???? Later on in the afternoon we drove to Furth and walked around the city park for a bit. For dinner, we drove outside of town to Baumhaus der Biergarten in Emskirchen. The place was absolutely packed, despite being 30 minutes outside of town. We soon found out why: the food and beer were delicious and incredibly cheap! We had some curry wurst, a few beers, and headed back home for the night. Day 4 - Dachau/Munich After saying our goodbyes to my wife's aunt and cousins, we headed south to Dachau. Being a WWII buff, I felt like this was something we had to see. It was an extremely sobering experience visiting a place like this, but we were both glad we went. After leaving Dachau, we had lunch in a small park and headed off to our hotel in Munich. At the hotel, we cleaned up and headed towards the Marienplatz for dinner and sightseeing. Luckily, our hotel was right along the main train line. For dinner, we stopped at Nuernberger Bratwurst Gloeckl am Dom. The food and beer we both excellent and the prices weren't too bad. I got the mixed bratwurst plate with sauerkraut, which turned out to be a little more that I bargained for. After a massive dinner, we decided to walk it off as best we could. We enjoyed more of of the Marienplatz and then headed back to the hotel to prepare for the big day. Day 5 - Delivery Day/Salzburg On delivery day, we were up bright and early at 06:00. We checked out, grabbed the rental car, and headed to the Enterprise drop off point about a mile from Welt. After dropping the car off, we got an Uber and arrived at Welt with plenty of time to spare. We were greeted and welcomed upstairs to start the paperwork. I did paperwork with Patricia for about 30 minutes, before heading to the lounge for some breakfast. Our original delivery time was 10:10, but because it was a slow day, she bumped us up to 09:10. After an hour long wait, I met with Alexander at the kiosk and we began delivery! First look... THERE SHE IS!!!! After about an hour of going through the car and packing everything up, we headed to the parking lot. I had originally scheduled the factory tour, but Patricia advised us that there was about 3-4 km of walking, which certainly wouldn't work for my wife. We decided to cancel it and instead do the museum tour. The museum was excellent! After stopping by the premium lounge for some lunch, we finally got on the road and made our way south to Salzburg. There was a decent amount of traffic, so I didn't really get a chance to open her up unfortunately. A few miles outside the border, we stopped to grab an Austrian vignette. We stayed at a nice B&B about a quarter mile from the center of town called Pension am Eschenbach. It's run by a nice old lady and her daughter. The place was beautiful, and best of all, had onsite free parking! After checking in, we headed to the center of town for some dinner and sightseeing. For dinner, we ate at Gasthaus Zwettler's, about a block away from the Mozartplatz. The wife and I both got Kasespatzle with a side salad. One last shot before sunset... After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to rest. This trip was very hard on my wife, since she had to crutch everywhere. That drastically limited our night time activities. Day 6 - Salzburg/Zel am See/Innsbruck We woke early the next day to be the first up to the Hohensalzburg. The views were magnificent. After seeing the castle, we grabbed the car and headed further south into Austria. Originally, we planned on going to the Berchtesgaten, but the whole area was socked in with rain clouds. Plus, I'd heard it was a lot of walking. So, we decided instead to venture further south to drive through the Austrian Alps. We made our way to Zel am See, a beautiful vacation town. Being that it was the summer holiday, it was incredibly crowded. We drove around the lake and stopped at a park for some lunch. One of my favorite shots of the whole trip: Krimml Waterfall Zel am Ziller When we got to Innsbruck, we checked into the hotel and took a quick nap. We stayed at the Ibis Innsbruck right near the center of town. We ventured out a bit, but tried to stay fairly close to the hotel since rain was forecast. After about an hour, it began to monsoon. We we stranded under an awning with a few other people for about 20 minutes until it let up. At this point, we were both in need of some more recognizable food, so we ate at a local pizza shop called Pizzeria Crocodiles. The pizza was excellent and very inexpensive. After dinner, the rain started on again, so we headed back to the hotel and watched some movies for the rest of the night. Day 7 - Innsbruck/Garmisch/Linderhof The next day the rain let up, so we ventured out to see the rest of the city before heading back up to Germany. We tried to take the gondola up to the top of the Zugspitze, but the whole thing was cloudy, so we decided instead to visit Schloss Linderhof, which was highly recommended to us by my wife's cousins. Linderhof was definitely no joke. The palace was build by Ludwig II, who is also famous for building Neuschwanstein. This was apparently his favorite palace in all of Bavaria. We got a tour of the inside (no photos), which was incredible. The level of opulence was astounding. After Linderhof, we headed down the mountain towards Fussen. Once we got to town, we checked in to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Sonne downtown. This was by far our favorite hotel during the whole trip. It was amazing in every way. If you're staying in Fussen, check this place out. After checking in, we walked to a highly rated local restaurant recommended by the hotel staff: Madame Plusch. My wife and I both got the roast beef with kasespatzle and a special edition beer. The restaurant was fantastic and the food was delicious. Because of the high amount of walking at Linderhof, my wife was bushed, so we called it a night. Day 8 - Fussen/Zurich After a good night's sleep, we headed over to Neuschwanstein. Unfortunately, like we noticed through most of the trip, the summer haze hampered our photo shoot. I forgot to pack my lens polarizer as well, so we had to make due. Not being satisfied with the photos, we parked near the castle base and my wife agreed to hang out at the cafe while I hoofed it up to the Marienbrucke bridge. I managed to get up and down the hill in about 40 minutes. The photos views were well worth the effort. After hiking to the castle, we headed out of town for Zurich. At the German Austrian border, we hit traffic. After about 30 minutes, we found out why. The German police were doing random stops. After letting eight or so cars through, it got to us. Of course, we were stopped. The police asked me out of the vehicle, checked our documents, and asked questions. Overall they were pretty cool, especially once they found out I'm U.S. military. As I was leaving, they asked me to "give it some juice", which was pretty funny. I obliged and they cheered. The drive south was pretty uneventful. Mostly farms and fields. We then sat at the Swiss border for nearly an hour trying to get through traffic. Once again, we were stopped. Same drill, documents and questions. I'm guessing the temporary tags throw people off? Once we got to Zurich we were both pretty dead. A supposedly 2.5 hour drive turned into nearly 6 hours. Our hotel was also pretty far from downtown, so we just decided to eat at the in house restaurant, which actually turned out to be pretty fantastic. Day 9 - Susten Pass/Grindelwald/Lucern We got up bright and early and headed south. We got to Wassen at the base of the Susten Pass at around 08:30. I filled the car up with some vPower 100, and we headed up the hill. The drive itself was incredibly stressful. The roads are very narrow and there isn't much between the car and a thousand foot drop. Plus, apparently every thrill seeking motorcycle rider and hardcore cyclist in Europe rides this thing, so I had to constantly look out both ways. The views though were well worth the drive. Once we got down the pass, we headed up to Grindelwald. The mountains here were absolutely breathtaking. They seem almost too tall to be real. The city itself was also very beautiful. Definitely going to come back here someday to spend more time. After having a quick lunch at the Coop supermarket, we headed back north. We made a short stop in Lucern, but because of the heat and my wife's crutches, we didn't get too far. Once back in Zurich, we headed downtown for some dinner. We ate at Bierhalle Rheinfelder, which was delicious. I got a cordon bleu and the wife got rosti with cheese and ham. Despite the delicious food, the service was atrocious, even for European standards. The waiter decided to cater only to his first two tables and ignored the back four. Oh well. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to do some much needed laundry. Day 10 - Geneva We headed south the next morning for Geneva. Once we got into town, we checked into the hotel and headed over to the local BMW dealership, Emil Frey SA (which turned out to be 1 km from the hotel). At this point I was starting to sweat my mileage. I knew that I would definitely go over 1,200 by drop off, possibly by 300 miles. So, at around 950 miles, I decided to go ahead with the service. They penciled me in for the next morning. We dropped the car off and headed downtown via public transport. Our hotel was right on the line and they gave us two unlimited passes, which was awesome. We once again had the craving for pizza, so we stopped at Pizzeria da Paolo. The pizza was excellent, as was the chocolate mousse. Halfway through dinner, the rain started up full force, which made for a really beautiful walk back to the station. Day 11 - Geneva I woke up early and dropped the car off first thing at the dealership. They told me it would be done in the afternoon. I walked back to the hotel and we got some breakfast. We got on the train back downtown and toured around the city as best we could on foot. We were both very impressed with the city. At around 3pm I got an email from the dealership. My car was done, so I walked over and picked it up. Grand total was right around 500 CHF, which I was told would be reimbursed by BMW NA, which is nice. Yay, no more break in period! We headed back downtown for dinner. We decided to check out Le Relais de l'Entrecôte. The restaurant is well known for not having a menu, and serving only one item: steak frites. When we got inside, we were greeted by a team of servers. Our waitress sat us, and asked what we wanted to drink and whether we wanted our steaks rare or medium. 15 minutes later, we were in steak heaven. Easily one of the best steaks I've ever had and some of the best fries I've ever had. Once we finished our plate, she came by with seconds!! Yes, you read it right, seconds are included in the meal. So we had another delicious plate of steak and fries. For desert we spilt Profiteroles au chocolat (cream puffs, stuffed with ice cream and doused in chocolate syrup), which undoubtedly was amazing. If you're ever in Geneva, STOP AT THIS PLACE! Day 12 - Dijon After a light breakfast, we headed out of town. Instead of taking the boring freeway up to Dijon, we decided to drive through the wildlife park north west of the city. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The roads up the mountain were a blast and unlike the Susten, nearly empty. I finally got to get on her a bit! After a few hours of windy roads, we hit the freeway and made our way to Dijon. Once we got to town, we checked in and made our way downtown. The city center is pretty small, so we didn't have to walk much, which made us both happy. For dinner, we ate at La Casa des Crepes. We got a savory and sweet crepe, both of which were excellent. After dinner, we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel. Day 13 - Strasbourg Not being in a hurry, we slept in a bit and headed out to Strasbourg. The drive was pretty boring. Just French freeway until we hit the city. We checked in to our hotel, which turned out to be right near downtown. We headed out to explore and grab some dinner. We decided to eat dinner in Petit France at a place called La Corde a Linge. It was right on the river and very crowded, so we figured it would be a good choice. We both got spatzle with cream, onions, and bacon, which was fantastic. After dinner, we headed back as the rain picked up again. Day 14 - Frankfurt Our last full day in country was unfortunately all business. We headed out very early to make the 11:30 appointment with the shipping company. Once we got into town, I dropped my wife off at the hotel by the airport. I spent 20 minutes or so at the shipping company doing paperwork, before saying my final goodbyes. Here she is as I left the facility for the train back to the airport: Once back at the hotel, we packed and rested as our flight would have us up very early the next morning. Trip Details All said and done, we logged 1,474 miles across four countries. The trip was absolutely incredible. We had no major issues. Despite my wife's condition, we still managed to do and see just about everything we wanted. I'm already looking forward to our next ED adventure and I can't wait to get my white beast back in the states! Thanks for reading and feel free to ask if you have any questions!
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Last edited by nosbocaj; 03-27-2019 at 02:44 PM.. |
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08-13-2018, 02:45 PM | #2 |
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Next time you are at the Rheinfelder Bierhalle you definitely need to take their garlic-sauced salad as starter! you won't look back, i promise!
Thanks a lot for this extensive write up and the very nice pics!
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08-16-2018, 08:01 PM | #4 |
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Glad you were able to make the trip! Strasbourg brings back memories already 10 months ago!
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2018 M2: BSM, Exec, 6MT (ED on 10/5/17, re-delivery on 11/30/17) My BSM M2 European Delivery Story
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08-17-2018, 12:43 AM | #5 |
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Great review!
Reading your trip took me back to my M2 ED back in December of ‘16, great job. Nice pics as well. It is such an unbelievable experience that is very hard to explain to someone that has never done a BMW ED.
BTW, kudos to your wife! It’s not easy to do all of that walking around in Europe, let alone on crutches! Your review is making me look forward to my next ED. |
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08-17-2018, 01:44 AM | #6 |
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Great story! Wish I had been able to take ED on my M2 but the slots were all full before I bought. Oh well, I'll know better next time!
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08-20-2018, 02:34 PM | #8 |
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Great car, great trip and great delivery journal/pictures! It's great that both of you persevered despite your wife's injury.
You went to many of the places we did during our European Delivery in 2016, so your post brought back a lot of good memories!
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08-20-2018, 11:58 PM | #9 |
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Thanks for the comments everybody! It was an incredible experience that I'd definitely like to do again in the future.
ED does though have one MAJOR disadvantage...I have to wait another 8-10 weeks to drive it again...
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08-21-2018, 09:10 AM | #10 |
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OP and others: when it comes to flying, always bring the soft foam earplugs. Definitely helps a LOT with noise, whether screaming babies, coughing people, jet engines or loud talkers (some of whom don't shut up the entire flight).
Thanks for the pics, including of the food. As to Strasbourg, did you see any storks flying or nesting? It's a charming aspect of that wonderful city. And, if your drive took you past Colmar (about 45 miles south), did you see the smaller version of the Statue of Liberty? Lastly, what was your top speed during the trip? |
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08-24-2018, 10:43 AM | #11 |
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Fantastic!! Makes me want to go back and do another - we just did our ED journey this past May, for 12 days. Congrats on a great journey, and thanks for posting all the photos. It lets us sort of relive the trip, as we hit some of the same places you did.
Question for you - what was your impression of driving through Innsbruck? On the day we were there, and maybe it's like this every day, we quickly figured out that pedestrian crosswalks are completely optional. When someone wants to cross the street, even a major street, they just step into the street and start crossing. And the younger people aren't looking, they're staring at their phones, as if it's just an understood thing that pedestrians have the right of way no matter where they are in the street or the traffic on the street. It was like Whack-a-Mole in reverse, just trying not to hit people just randomly stepping into the street!! |
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08-24-2018, 11:15 AM | #12 |
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Innsbruck, like so many towns and smaller cities in Europe, based on our somewhat extensive travel there, is way more pedestrian friendly (and occupied) than is typical in the USA.
When we get to towns in Europe, we park, and go where we need to go on foot, bus, tram, whatever. Whether Rothenburg ob der Tauber (a walled medieval town in Germany) or Strasbourg (capital city of the Alsace), park your car on arrival and become a pedestrian. We loved our time in Innsbruck; maybe the nicest breakfast room of any place we have ever stayed. Regarding ED for anybody who's not yet done this, we're doing so for the first time in less than a month, and we booked our lodging with priority given to the places that offer parking on site (and most at no extra cost). It's a different mindset when you're going to be driving your own new (M!) car vs. a rental.
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08-26-2018, 11:40 PM | #13 | ||
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Quote:
We didn't see any storks in Strasbourg unfortunately, nor did we stop in Colmar. You're right though, it's a great city. We both loved it! High speed was somewhere between 125-130 mph. Hit a nice stretch of autobahn between Strasbourg and Frankfurt. My wife was also asleep which helped... Quote:
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08-27-2018, 05:10 AM | #14 |
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This is one of the best ED posts I've seen. Loved the pictures and the details!
I've done ED twice, and can't wait to do it again. Also nice to see another M2 owner from Portland!!! |
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08-28-2018, 06:02 PM | #15 | |
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Did you get yours through a local dealership? I couldn't get anything out of Portland or Kuni ED wise. Both told me over MSRP or year long waitlist.
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03-20-2019, 03:53 PM | #17 |
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Looks like a blast!
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