| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
We were too busy the second half of the germany trip for me to post online, so my thread went to the archives. Here's the rest of the emails that went out though: HELLO! We are home! Things got busy for the second half of the trip, so I wasn't able to post. Here are the updates: Wednesday 7/16/2008 We spent today in Wolfsburg at the VW factory and headquarters. It was a very interesting experience. Quite a strange place, but very cool non the less! The screwed up and put us in the German factory tour, but it was what we were looking at that was impressive, I didn't need to understand what the heck they were talking about. Tomorrow begins our 4 or 5 day trek. Not exactly sure what we'll be doing, or where we'll be doing it, but it should be a good time! Hopefully I'll be able to keep emailing updates. Now for pictures! Yesterday we went to a large observation deck on the top of a 28 story building in downtown Koln. It was pretty cool! Not too many pictures, and I didn't bother naming them. Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06208454129/ Slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06208454129/show/ Then todays shots from Wolfsburg! LOTS of these! Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06208982655/ Slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06208982655/show/ | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Saturday 7/19/2008 Been too Busy (and too far from an internet connection) to shoot out an email lately, sorry! George and I took the high speed train to Nurnberg Thursday morning, and spent the day walking around the city. We are officially in Bavaria now, so things are looking much more like the Germany that I have learned so much about from the movies. We were sitting out front of the train station when Markus pulled right up in his cute little car. Meeting up couldn't have been easier. From there we went to Alfmeir (Markus's Company) and got quite the tour of the facility. Friday we headed straight to Ingolstadt to tour the Audi plant. We were stuck on the German tour again, but it was still excellent. After the tour we spent some time in the museum and I took plenty of pictures. From there we headed to Fussen and took the hike up to the base of the castle that inspired the Disney World Castle. (Again, many pictures, all of them better than Markus's) Then we headed to Garmish, which is apparently Opa's favorite city in Germany. The balcony in our hotel room looks straight out at the Alps. It's an absolutely awesome view. Markus has some great sounding plans for today, which will land us in Munich tonight. Markus is leaving tomorrow morning, and George and I have reserved spots for a tour at the BMW facility down there. Monday afternoon we will be taking the train to Heidelberg and Meeting up with Christine (my relative) and we will stay there for a day. Tuesday we will be heading to Stuttgart to spend a day walking the city, and we will attempt to get into a tour of the Porsche plant. Then Tuesday evening we will head back to Cologne. Wednesday we have no plans, and Thursday we will be on our way back home. That's all for now. If our hotel has internet tonight I'll be able to upload pictures and I'll get out another email. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Wednesday 7/23/2008 We had an amazing time out and about with Markus (my uncle) all over Bavaria, and then Christine and Walter (My relatives) in and around Heidelberg. Despite our lack of planning ahead, I think everything worked out extremely well. I took TONS of pictures with Markus, and they tell the story much better than I can. All I can say is that George and I were both just floored by everything Markus was showing us. Look at the pictures. We ended up in Munich to find out that this weekend they are celebrating the city's 850th Birthday! Quite the celebration! We had a blast... until it was time to find a hotel. After we left Markus in the morning, we took a train to Heidelberg and met up with Christine and Walter at the station. We spent the afternoon and the next day all around Heidelberg, Happenheim, and Mannaheim. We went downtown, to the Heidelberg Castle, and to an Auto/Train/Plane museum in the area. Cool Stuff! Again... Lot's of Pictures! They all were extremely generous, and we had a great time. Porsche and Benz would not allow us to take the tours (cross them off the list of my next car!), so Christine took us to the largest dealerships in the area and we were able to get up close to all the models, and we got a handful of literature. Rain moved in, so instead of taking the train on Tuesday to another city to walk around before we headed back to Cologne, we ended up sleeping in, and taking the train directly to Cologne. We were cruising at over 160 MPH in the train! Yesterday evening we went bowling again, and had a great time. I've gotta run! But free up an hour and check out all the pictures: Slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06330716729/show/ Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06330716729/ | ||
| Thumper74 |
So did you tell them their steering wheels are on the wrong side?  | ||
| Mikef5000 |
And finally: Thursday 7/24/2008 Due to a 3 hour delay in London, we missed our flight from Chicago to Columbus. They tried to get us on a later flight, but the soonest available is tomorrow morning. We went to the desk and without question Virgin Airlines gave us hotel accommodations including meals. You can't beat the awesome service of Virgin Atlantic. Soooo tonight George and I are planning on partying it up here in Chi-Town! WooHoo! I actually had full intentions of going downtown in Chicago just for kicks, but by the time we were done eating dinner it was getting dark, and the fact that we were up for 26 hours was beginning to catch up with us, so we ended up just crashing early. TODAY We caught our flight yesterday morning without issue and made it into Port Columbus around 10:30. Our luggage made it just fine as well, although George ended up with a broken bottle in his bag, and therefore a bag full of soaking wet fruity smelling clothes. Bummer! We treated ourselves to an amazing Taco Bell feast with a handful of people for lunch yesterday, then Donato's Pizza for dinner. It was a good 'welcome home'. I'm back to work today, and it's almost like I never left. UGH. At least my car started and runs like I never left too... and it's about 300 times more fun to drive then Julian's hilarious car in Germany:  It was an amazing trip and I hate that it's over, but I guess life (or, work) must go on. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
And my Buell specific post: I saw two Buells during my 2 weeks in Germany. Both Tubers; one S1 in a museam, one M2 on the street.    This is the kicker though, I had just bought flowers for the mother of the guy we were staying with in Germany, so I'm walking up the street with two other guys and flowers when the M2 passed me. And of course I'm on the side of the road about pooping my pants giving him the rock on sign  and everything, I can only imagine what he was thinking. | ||
| Thumper74 |
They spelled Erik's name wrong... Got a Sharpie? | ||
| Mikef5000 |
And a collection of some of my favorite shots:             | ||
| 2kx1 |
any more pics of the Scirrocco? | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Lots of Scirocco pictures in here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 06208982655/ I LOVED that car. |
