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This post isn't exactly about a 997, but is for my 997 brethren!
I was in Europe last week on Business and had a weekend available to me. I was in Rome on Friday and had a meeting in the The Hague on Monday and was trying to decide where to spend my weekend. I naturally decided Stuttgart...
I first planned to fly directly into Stuttgart, but remembered that the last time I was in Amsterdam, SixT car rental had Panameras in their fleet. And what better way to arrive in Stuttgart than in a Porsche having driven on the Autobahn for about 500 kilometers. So I arrived in Amsterdam early Saturday morning and went straight to the SixT rental counter. Unfortunately, they no longer had a Panamera in their fleet. So I wen to Avis and rented an Audi Avant S4 with a proper manual gearbox and headed out to Stuttgart. As soon as I got to the Germany boarder and onto an Autobahn, an Audi R8 V10 runs up on me, quickly followed by a C4S (pic attached). The grin on my face lasted the rest of the trip knowing I had definitely made the right decision to drive and know I was headed in the right direction. The fastest I got up to in the Audi was 235kph...and was no where near fast enough to keep sight on the C4S and R8.
After arriving in Stuttgart, I spent the night next to the Porsche Arena. If there were ever a time where I didn't mind having a brightly lit sign outside of my hotel room, it was there in Stuttgart with the Porsche sign staring me in the face!
I spent Sunday at the Museum. I had been to the museum before, but not since they found Ferdinand's first electric car. And they had a limited time display of the secret prototypes from the last 40 years...to include the proto 918. Notice the 997 hood and fenders affixed to the car in the pic below.
They had also recently added a Porsche Drive experience. Where you could rent a Porsche for an hour and drive around Stuttgart. They had a new GTS, and for 119 euros, I had a great time on the autobahn. There's nothing like driving a Porsche in it's homeland on the autobahn!
Thanks for letting me share my fun weekend story and enjoy the few pics below.
Ryan
The C4S just across the German boarder on the autobahn.
The sign outside of my hotel room.
A beautiful Sport Classic in the Museum shop.
Ferdinand's first electric car.
Ferdinand's electric wheel for his gas/electric hybrid.
Nice Pictures. Was there 4 years ago. Phenomenal museum, worth the trip!!!
Was there two summers ago during the week so also arranged for a factory tour. My wife thought the factory tour was the best part of the trip and she's not even into cars. She was asking the guide questions like why during engine assembly, the line stopped. All-in-all tour + museum was great...even got into the museum for free since for the 50th anniversary celebration showing evidence of 911 ownership was the ticket.
Which hotel? Is it the long narrow building between the Porsche Arena and the MB Arena? Did you drive to the Museum and did you park there?
It's the Hilton between the Porsche Arena and the MB Arena. It's a 10-15 minutes drive from the hotel to the museum. And yes, I parked at the museum. They have underground parking, which is validated when you pay admission.
Nice pics! I was just there a few weeks ago and I have tons of pics from the Porsche museum. It's a fun experience.
I ended up renting a 2014 C4S cabriolet from Avis and driving it around Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. It's a great way to explore the area! I hit 260 kph in the C4S, which pretty fast!
Awesome.
I'm able to get to Stuttgart every few years and stay for free with my extended family in Bietigheim just about 30 mins north of Stuttgart.
Its such a blast driving on the autobahn and cars blasting by in the left lane.
Glad you had fun.
Now I'm homesick for Stuttgart.
;-)
I've heard that. I really wanted to visit the Mercedes museum too, but the traffic in Stuttgart was horrendous on the day that I visited the Porsche museum because it was the last weekend of the Oktoberfest.
My wife and I both loved the Porsche Museum. We also went to the Mercedes Museum, but did not enjoy it as much. It has plenty of very interesting cars and displays, but it was a little overwhelming in trying to cover the width and breadth of everything Mercedes (and Daimler) has ever done since the invention of the automobile and is currently doing. To do it over again, I would still plan to spend a large chunk of the day at the Porsche Museum, but would have taken the Mercedes Museum in several smaller bites over several widely-separated days if I had any remaining time and money. I would also like to drop in to the largest dedicated Smart car dealership I have ever seen (there in Stuttgart) just out of curiosity as to what on earth they are doing in that huge building. Interesting, 19VFB19, that you have family in Beitigheim. My wife has cousins there and in Besigheim as well who charm us so much we forget about cars altogether for a few days.
Thanks for letting me share my fun weekend story and enjoy the few pics below.
Ryan - thank you for sharing. The wife keeps hinting that we have to go back to Paris (site of our engagement (I was young and idealistic) now I'm older and enjoy spending the evening in the garage with my guards red mistress), if only I can figure out a way to plan that trip via Stuttgart. Wonder if taking U2's album title to start the conversation would work?
11-08-2014, 10:23 AM
Visit to Stuttgart
