Wow, today was really
amazing. We got a car, got lost, and stayed in a crazy Austrian castle.
The day started off with us rising at about 7:30, getting some breakfast
and packing. We got a cab at our street corner and took off towards
the BMW European delivery office, on the outskirts of
Munich. We got there and were greeted by a rather reserved bunch.
We passed the hour and a half we had to wait by looking at the cars
out in the lot and reading (and for me listening to my iPod) . The
moment of truth finally came and we walked through the doors and there
was the car. Wow, it looked nice. I just had to circle it a few times
to take it all in. It was truly a work of art, and on top of that
we were going to drive it on the roads of Germany and Austria. We
got in the car and went for the theoretically short drive to the BMW
factory. Of course we got lost and a 5 minute drive turned into a
20 minute race. On top of that when we finally got to the Munich plant
all the parking spots were full. We finally got a spot after we ditched
the advice of a German who had a personal grudge against all foreigners.
We were finally ready to go on the factory tour. We had a very friendly
young German guide who spoke flawless English. We walked into the
factory and were floored. The first thing we saw was the stamping
shop. There were huge presses that stamped out parts for the cars.
Next was the body shop, where the cars steel bodies were welded
together. It was the most dramatic part of the plant, all the work
in this section was done by robots. Next we saw the final marriage
of the completed body with the drive train. It was very cool. We finally
took our leave and got on the Autobahn for Salzburg. We arrived at
our hotel and were amazed. It sits on a cliff overlooking Salzburg.
It had a pretty stiff staff but it was a really cool old building.
We had a good and very long dinner and went to bed. I wish I could
say more, it was really amazing. Well, so long.