Oct 16 -- THE CAR!!!

Today was all about the car. We did get off to kind of a bad start in our tiny kitchen. We had found hot chocolate mix for Jim that works with milk or hot water, and of course it's best with milk. I have been using a microwave to heat the milk and put a bowl of milk into the machine today before discovering it was not plugged in AND the closest plugs were at least 5 feet further way than the length of the cord. So we unpiled all the stuff on top of the microwave and while I was putting things away, Jim moved the microwave to a slightly non-horizontal position on a bench, unaware that he had just spilled about half of the milk in the machine and it was running out onto the bench. OOPS. Lesson learned. Tomorrow, hot chocolate with water.

We took the subway to BMW Welt because rain was threatening and although we had planned to walk the approximate 1.5 miles, we were not keen on reliving the Vienna downpour for 40 minutes before getting the car. BMW has MAJORLY upgraded their delivery facility since 2002 when we picked up our 530. Now there is a huge, glorious showroom (BMW Welt is for everyone not just us picker-upers), fancy 'premium lounge' with free food and beer/other beverages (alas, not wine), and a high tech briefing that included fancy table top displays and a simulated driving experience that demonstrated some of the new high tech safety features of our car. It also took 2 hours vs. the 20-30 minutes of intro we got last time. Most of the 40 minute briefing was a waste of time -- a hotshot commercial about how wonderfully BMW does design (ho hum, we were sold on that long ago). I made Jim do the simulated driving, which very quickly became car-sick city for me. At the point when I closed my eyes, Jim had not yet driven off the road, but appeared to be trying. When we actually had to drive the car down a ramp to park it before our factory tour, I had visions of scraping the wall before we left the building. However, I should have had faith, because we emerged unscathed.

Lynn with the new car at BMW Welt.

When we finally got to the car, I felt overwhelmed. The technology is so much further along than 12 years ago (surprise), that even though we got an intro when we test drove the 3 and 5 series back in July, I can see that there is lots of learning left to do. The new key isn't even a key, its a fob with buttons you don't really need. All you need to do is have it on your body or in your purse and pull the door handle to open the door. Opening the trunk involved sort of kicking under the back of the car. To lock the car, you touch the top of the door handle. No grasping for keys in the rain. If the electronic key goes kafluey (technical term), there is a weeny looking key hiding in the fob.

This time, we also got a key holder that could be engraved on the spot and a 10 Euro credit toward anything in the gift shop. I have to confess that buying a 40 Euro shirt emblazoned with BMW is not on my to-do list. We did find a very nice insulated metal travel cup that had pretty a subtle BMW logo. This will come in handy for breakfasts on the trip -- the cups in our hotels with kitchen options have been on the tiny side, and cool off very quickly, so now I can actually make a decent sized cup of coffee and not have it cool too fast.

We made a quick trip back to the lounge for a lunch snack before heading to our 2-hour factory tour at 11:45am. When the factory was built back in the 1920's it was far outside Munich. Now the city has grown and the factory can only get bigger up, so it has 5 levels inside. We got to see a video of some aspects, then walked about 3km through the factory, looking at almost all the steps of car construction. The factory operates 3 shifts 5 days a week, and it takes about 48 hours to completely build a car, all made to order (either by a client or a dealership). This factory makes our new car, the 435, 3 series coupesg and station wagons. This means our car rolled off the production floor we saw just a few days ago, probably. Somewhere between 90 and 200 people pick up their cars each day here, and the factory completes 900 cars a day. Even the ones delivered at BMW Welt have to be trucked across the street!

After the tour, we got to use the car's navigation system to find our way back to the hotel. It was a bit convoluted, and Jim missed a turn (just like he does when I navigate) and the navigation system was no clearer than I am about how to respond. At least it didn't say 'recomputing' like other cars do. I gave Jim a better option than the car suggested and then the car came back with the same idea. I guess I will not totally be out of a navigation job, because it still is helpful to have someone be able to focus on the map and guess what specific turn one should take, especially in the city. A downside I can see is that we will become less coherent on where we are going and our options for how to get there, but maybe that's okay in areas we won't be back in.

A really odd thing in this car is to save gas when you are stopped, the car automatically turns off, but remains in a 'ready' state til you press the accelerator again. It is totally weird to have the car go completely silent while you are waiting at a stop light!

Now all we have to do is decide where we are heading tomorrow for the start of our great driving adventure!