Bayerische Motoren Werke

Bavarian Motor Works.

We’ve spent the last three weekends in or around Munich. The last weekend of May we did a quick four day Bavaria trip that will be in a blog to follow soon but for now, our trip last weekend to pick up our new BMW X6. Here’s the images of our trip.

Thursday, 31 May

We hopped on the bus in our town, Weilerbach, for the half hour ride to the Kaiserslautern train station.  Interesting paint job on a bus that runs around the Germany countryside.

On the platform at the Kaiserslautern Hbh, Hauptbahnhof (main train station).

Here’s our ICE train pulling up in KTown.

Forty minutes later we’re in Mannheim.

The platform board in Mannheim showing the details for our train to Munich.

We’re staying at Hotel Schlicker in the heart of Munich, a very short walk to the Hofbrauhaus and Marienplatz. Interesting place, you can a see here a Burger King to the left and a McDonalds to the right. There’s me waving from our room.

After a long train trip it’s always nice to visit the local beer garden and right behind Hotel Schlicker is the Viktualienmarkt and its beer garden. Here’s the Viktualienmarkt Maypole.

Jeff recuperating at the Viktualienmarkt beer garden.

In a German beer garden it’s not ucommon to see folks putting their cardboard beer coaster on top of their beer glass to prevent objects and insects from getting into their beer. Some people even bring a special beer cover with them when they visit a beer garden. The shade trees that are in many beer gardens are chestnut trees that tend to drop a lot of stuff. Here’s the kind of vegetation that falls from those trees. You certainly don't want that in your beer.

Across the street from the Viktualienmarkt is a long line of Metzgerei (butcher) shops. You don't see butcher shops like these in the states. Very pretty.

Just what you want, another picture of us in the Hofbrauhaus. So here it is.

A lot of people that visit the world famous Hofbrauhaus don’t realize that they have an outdoor beer garden. Here’s a video that shows the Hofbrauhaus beer garden which is in a square within the building complex. In Bavaria smoking is forbidden indoors so strangely, inside the beer hall the air is relatively fresh while the air in the beer garden is quite smoky.

Here’s Jeff with another beer coaster game demonstration.

If you read about our last visit to Kloster Andechs you may have watched video that showed Jeff demonstrating the beer coaster flipping game. His skill level on that occasion wasn’t all that great. So here’s his mulligan.

Friday, 1 June

Typical German breakfast at Hotel Schlicker. Eggs, sausage, fresh meats and cheese, brochen and brezel, orange juice and cappuccino.

After a 15 minute U-Bahn ride from the Marienplatz we're at the BMW headquarters in Munich. The headquarters is in this four cylinder tower and the soup bowl shaped building is the BMW museum.

Entrance to the BMW Welt (world). This is just across the street from the headquarters and museum and is the building where the car pick up takes place.

The lounge area where new BMW owners can eat and drink to their heart’s content until it’s time to meet their new car.

This is the area where folks will see their new BMW for the first time.  Each car is placed on a large disc that rotates and allows the new owners to see their car from every angle.

After accepting your new BMW you simply drive down this ramp from the presentation area to the street level and drive on to wherever you’re going.

A video that shows the BMW pick up process at BMW Welt.

BMW Welt from the outside. Behind is the Olympiaturm (Olympia Tower) located within Munich’s Olympic park. You can also just see the top of the Olympic Stadium behind the tower.

The back of BMW Welt and the walk bridge that crosses between the museum and headquarters and BMW Welt. In the background you can see the apartments that made up Olympic Village for the 1972 Munich Olympics. This is the area where Islamic terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage and ultimately resulted in all their deaths.

We took a two-hour tour of the BMW factory and it was amazingly great. No photos were allowed so we don’t have anything for that but now we’re going through the BMW museum. BMW originally was an aircraft engine manufacturer but after WW I they were restricted from that endeavor so they began making motorcycles. This is BMW’s first motorcycle, the R32.

One of BMW’s first cars, the 1929 BMW 315.

1936 BMW 328 Roadster, their first sports car.

The 1939 328.

BMW’s 1955 Isetta, two-seater. The two rear wheels are set very close together, no more than a foot or so. Only one access to the car, through the door which is the entire front of the vehicle.

The very cool 1956 BMW 507.

The beginning of the BMW 3 series. Their best selling car series.

1999 BMW Z9.

So Friday’s BMW activities are done, factory tour and museum. We’re a bit tired and what better way to reinvigorate than a bit of the world’s greatest beer, Kloster Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel, just off the Marienplatz at the Andechser am Dom.

A cute cherub in Andechser am Dom.

An interesting cherub on the door exiting Andechser am Dom. This one is actually the door handle.

Saturday, 2 June

2 June 2012. It’s our pick up date. We arrived at BMW Welt at 0800 for our 0920 schedule pick up time. Here’s the schedule for the first deliveries. We’re at the bottom.

The reception desk where they check all your paperwork; insurance, registration, customs. They also take your license plates so that they can mount them on your car.

After breakfast in the BMW Welt lounge we got a briefing about some of the features of our new car.

0920, first view of our new BMW X6.

Jeff and I with our new BMW X6.

Here’s a video of our experience picking up our new 2013 BMW X6.

Well it was a fun adventure and BMW treated us great!!  All that's left is the autobahn!!