Travel, Scenery, Plates, Drop Off, etc.

We took the scenic route since we had no time constraints, and drove through the Black Forrest on October 19th, which was the most beautiful scenic drive I had ever taken because of the fall colors. We drove through twisties for about two hours until we arrived in the town of Baden-Baden. Once we arrived in town, we decided to go directly to our hotel, which was on top of a mountain. It was about ten minutes from town.

We chose to stay at the Schlosshotel BUhler hai for the time we were spending in Baden-Baden and the surrounding area. It is one of the top-rated luxury spa hotels in the world. The benefit of the Mercedes ED program is you get the choice of 12 five-star hotels and this happened to be one of them. We paid for our food and lodging for the second night.

While we were staying in Baden-Baden, we took a little adventure and explore an old castle. The castle was called Hohenbaden. The castle had only been partly restored, but the architecture was unbelievable. It was built nearly 900 years ago and yet it didn’t look a day over 500.

We climbed every staircase, snapped every possible picture from every possible angle that we could go without falling over the edge. Then we decided to add in a shameless plug which was present throughout the trip promoting our new website.

From the castle, we decided to explore the town. While we were in the town, we decided to check out Casino Baden-Baden. Unfortunately, we were not dressed up enough to go into the casino itself.

The German word, 'Baden,' translates as 'to bath/bathe.' The springs of Baden-Baden were known to the Romans, and the foundation of the town refers to the emperor, Hadrian, with an inscription of somewhat doubtful authenticity. The bath-conscious Roman emperor, Caracalla, tableonce came here to ease his arthritic aches. Baden was also known as Aurelia Aquensis, in honor of Aurelius Severus, during whose reign Baden would seem to have been well known. Fragments of its ancient sculptures are still to be seen, and, in 1847, the well preserved remains of Roman vapor baths were discovered just below the New Castle.

We bid a fond farewell to our beautiful hotel and it’s surrounding and headed for Stuttgart at about 8 AM on Monday, after dropping off the rental car. We used our Mercedes-Benz-Cab vouchers to get a ride to Sindelfingen to pick up the E-350 4matic.

Upon our arrival, our luggage was put into storage while we headed into their restaurant to eat our complimentary breakfast. But first, my wife accompanied me as I did some light paperwork. And while this was being done, I gave my boys the camera and the license plate to go do a little bit of light shameless plugging.

I’d say they did a pretty good job, wouldn’t you?

We have the car, our luggage is securely inside, and we are off to Fussen to see the Neuschwanstein castle! We were driving through Fussen, and Fussen is the highest town in Bavaria, sitting at a lofty 808 meters (2,650 feet) above sea level. The river Lech, originating in Austria, flows through Fussen and adds further magic to the mountain town.

The Romantic Road--a road that runs across the countryside and features beautiful old walled towns, gorgeous meadows, and picturesque villages--comes to its end in Fussen, and what an end it is. Looking out upon the hills and mountains of Germany is breathtaking, and you haven"t even seen the castles yet.

We were given the name of Hotel Christine owned and operated by Kurt Ruppert, great host who also happens to be a master chef, which was very obvious from the delicious breakfast he served us. He was a very funny man, and when he found out we were from Chicago, he said, "Ahh Chicago! Bang Bang Gansters!" and made little finger guns. We appeared to be the only guests at the time, however he was completely booked for the next couple of weeks coming up.

And now we were off to the castles. We parked in the quaint town of Fussen, which was at the bottom of the mountain. We waited in line to take our transportation up to the castle. It had snowed lightly so they did not want any cars to go up the mountain. So, instead, they had us take horses. But the view of the castle was worth wait. As you are walking up to the castle, you are blown away by the sheer size of the castle, and you wonder how they could have built such a massive structure.

We couldn’t get up to the bridge due to the snow, but we had a gorgeous view of it from afar. We were told the view of the castle from the bridge is simply breathtaking; however, we were unable to go out on the bridge that day. But we did get to see the castle, and what a castle it was.

We spent a lovely day touring the Neuschwanstein castle. We saw beautiful interior decoration, lovely paintings as well as a plethora of other things. The castle is a 19th-century Gothic Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Fassen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as homage to Richard Wagner.

After spending a day at the castle, we took a nice brisk walk down the mountain. Arriving back at our hotel, Kurt (right) suggested a really nice Italian restaurant that was nestled in the center of town on the lake. La Montanara, it was a beautiful Italian restaurant. We had a delicious slice of Italy in our Bavarian journey.

After a restful night in our comfy B&B, and another delicious breakfast cooked by our personal master chef, we bid a fond farewell to our great hotel and our even greater host, since we had to get to the opening of the BMW Welt.

As soon as we arrived, we ran into a few people from the BMW forums as well as the Assistant Director of European Sales for North America. I had run into a lot of people that I had talked to over the phone or through email, but had never met face to face. One of those people was Christina from Guest Relations. She was the first person at the Welt we were greeted by, and to receive one of the hats I had made to give away on the trip.

We had spent part of our afternoon exploring the Welt and mingling with my customers who were picking up their cars that day. We spent our afternoon handing out hats and taking pictures. Here is what we came up with.

That night, we were invited to attend a special party for everyone picking up their cars that week. I had different customers who were picking up cars that I still had to meet, and would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. We were served cocktails and appetizers. My son Andy took the pictures and gave away the hats to as many people as he could. Here is what he came up with.

That night, we were invited to attend a special party for everyone picking up their cars that week. I had different customers who were picking up cars that I still had to meet, and would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. We were served cocktails and appetizers. My son Andy took the pictures and gave away the hats to as many people as he could. Here is what he came up with.

Keri-Lynn Shaw: Director of European Delivery for BMW North America

The following morning, we headed out to Dachau to visit one of the infamous concentration camps from the darkest chapter in Germany’s history. The pictures tell a story all their own.

The following morning, we headed out to Dachau to visit one of the infamous concentration camps from the darkest chapter in Germany’s history. The pictures tell a story all their own.

After spending a somber and reflective morning at Dachau, we left our tears behind and headed for Prague. We had a nice three hour ride through the country to shift to a more upbeat mood. We stopped at the border to get the toll sticker and to change our money.

After spending a somber and reflective morning at Dachau, we left our tears behind and headed for Prague. We had a nice three hour ride through the country to shift to a more upbeat mood. We stopped at the border to get the toll sticker and to change our money.

Then we headed for our Hilton hotel in the heart of Prague. The hotel was a short ten minute walk to city center. We walked around downtown Prague for a few hours and had dinner at a very nice outdoor cafe.

While we were at Prague Castle we met a very nice family from the United Kingdom. I had asked them if they wouldn’t mind allowing us to take a picture of them with our sign, which they readily agreed to do. Here are some pictures we took at and around the castle.
	The following morning we came across a tour bus that could give us quick synapses (roughly 2 hours) of Prague and its offerings. Afterword, we were able to spend a little more time on the parts we wanted to see in greater detail.

That afternoon, we began our six hour drive to Cologne, Germany, arriving at about 9 PM. The next morning, when we got up, we knew we had a short drive to Amsterdam (about 2.5 hours) but felt as long as were in Cologne, we might as well see The Dom, the largest church in all of Germany, and still under construction.

Off to Amsterdam to find the Hotel Pulitzer. Once everyone was settled in, I took the car to the drop-off location, about 30 minutes away. After the paperwork was completed, I had the cab driver (who was waiting for me) bring me back to the hotel.

We toured the city by it’s infamous cannel boats. We purchased our 24-hour unlimited ride passes for 18 Euros each, which really allowed us to get a view of the city since we traveled on all of the routes that the boats traveled on. We were able to get on and off at our leisure.

Went to the Van Gogh museum but we couldn’t take any pictures inside, so we took a picture outside instead. It was amazing to see his priceless works art featured in one museum.

Then we were onto the Rijksmuseum. They have the largest collection of Rembrandt’s works of art in the world. We were allowed to take pictures as long as we agreed not to use a flash. Here are just a few.

And then we were on to Anne Frank’s House. It was right in the heart of Amsterdam, and it appeared as if it were untouched by time.

The following morning we had to catch an early flight to Zurich to change planes to come back to the U.S.