I'm not exactly sure where to start. It was quite a day yesterday and I still wasn't checked into my room by 10pm if that gives you any indication. I guess the beginning would be the best place though.
First thing in the morning after packing all my bags I spent a few minutes calling around to find a place to stay in Salzburg. It wasn't too hard and I was fortunate that the place I called second had good rates, an open room and was willing to stay up to let me in when I arrived that night. So, it was off to Freimann and the delivery center.
The delivery itself went pretty well. I arrived around 10am and was driving by 11am. I had a nice brunch at the bistro at the delivery center and had time to sign the Bimmerfest book and read through some past entrys.
I had some free time after the delivery and before my factory tour so I decided to drive out to Dachau as it seemed like about the right distance and time to fill my time slot. I've been to the holocaust museum in D.C. but it's not quite the same as actually being there. It was a good experience though. The self guided tour was nice and the exhibits were in both german and english (very helpful).
I still had some extra time before the tour so I stopped by the Olympic Park to look around and the temporary BMW Museum. They didn't have a lot of cars but there was a good selection from the entire history. They had quite a few race cars in a side room, an M3 GTR, M1prototype and a Brabham turbo'd F1 car to name a few.
Finding the building I was supposed to be at for the tour was a bit interesting. The address that they gave me at the delivery center wasn't quite right and I ended up at the BMW/Mini service center about 2 blocks from where I was supposed to be. After a few inquirys I found it though. I won't go into the details of the tour here as I doubt many who read this are into lean manufacturing and just in time production but those who know me probably understand the tour was one of my favorite parts so far. The factory really has been organized well to take advantage of the limited space they have available. I would have liked to have someone who knew a little more detail about the process for a tour guide but the tour was still well done.
I was fortunate that this tour went rather quickly as I still had to drive to Salzburg. The nav worked great, for the most part, and even just having the moving map available was a huge help, Thanks Beewang. The tricky part came where they had closed off the A8 about half way to Salzburg. They diverted all the traffic to the B roads where it was slow going. Remember back at the beginning where I said the hotel had agreed to stay up to let me check in late? I was definitely starting to get a bit worried. The nav was pretty quick to update directions for me with my new paths even though for a while after each detour it would try and get my to take a legal u-turn or take some other road that would put me back on the original route.
In the end everything worked out and I got to the hotel and the owner was still there waiting for me. I was very grateful and just went upstairs to bed. Unpacking could wait.
P.S. Seems I only saved this one as a draft and it didn't post. OOPS!
First thing in the morning after packing all my bags I spent a few minutes calling around to find a place to stay in Salzburg. It wasn't too hard and I was fortunate that the place I called second had good rates, an open room and was willing to stay up to let me in when I arrived that night. So, it was off to Freimann and the delivery center.
The delivery itself went pretty well. I arrived around 10am and was driving by 11am. I had a nice brunch at the bistro at the delivery center and had time to sign the Bimmerfest book and read through some past entrys.
I had some free time after the delivery and before my factory tour so I decided to drive out to Dachau as it seemed like about the right distance and time to fill my time slot. I've been to the holocaust museum in D.C. but it's not quite the same as actually being there. It was a good experience though. The self guided tour was nice and the exhibits were in both german and english (very helpful).
I still had some extra time before the tour so I stopped by the Olympic Park to look around and the temporary BMW Museum. They didn't have a lot of cars but there was a good selection from the entire history. They had quite a few race cars in a side room, an M3 GTR, M1prototype and a Brabham turbo'd F1 car to name a few.
Finding the building I was supposed to be at for the tour was a bit interesting. The address that they gave me at the delivery center wasn't quite right and I ended up at the BMW/Mini service center about 2 blocks from where I was supposed to be. After a few inquirys I found it though. I won't go into the details of the tour here as I doubt many who read this are into lean manufacturing and just in time production but those who know me probably understand the tour was one of my favorite parts so far. The factory really has been organized well to take advantage of the limited space they have available. I would have liked to have someone who knew a little more detail about the process for a tour guide but the tour was still well done.
I was fortunate that this tour went rather quickly as I still had to drive to Salzburg. The nav worked great, for the most part, and even just having the moving map available was a huge help, Thanks Beewang. The tricky part came where they had closed off the A8 about half way to Salzburg. They diverted all the traffic to the B roads where it was slow going. Remember back at the beginning where I said the hotel had agreed to stay up to let me check in late? I was definitely starting to get a bit worried. The nav was pretty quick to update directions for me with my new paths even though for a while after each detour it would try and get my to take a legal u-turn or take some other road that would put me back on the original route.
In the end everything worked out and I got to the hotel and the owner was still there waiting for me. I was very grateful and just went upstairs to bed. Unpacking could wait.
P.S. Seems I only saved this one as a draft and it didn't post. OOPS!
posted by Brian Unger at 2:37 AM
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