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European Delivery and or Porsche Experience CenterThis forum to ask questions and get answers about collecting your Porsche in Europe or the outstanding Porsche Experience Center.
Itinerary:
Stuttgart
Baden Baden
Nürburgring
Dijon / Beaune wine tasting and culinary splurging.
Gruyeres
Interlaken
German Alpenstraße from Lindau to Berchtesgaden
Hallstatt
Hohe Tauren
Alsace
Yup. Didn't get the memo about not cramming everything in. Oh well. We're eager to see everything in the 3 weeks we have here and we left 4 days to rest and recover in Alsace.
Yup. Didn't get the memo about not cramming everything in. Oh well. We're eager to see everything in the 3 weeks we have here and we left 4 days to rest and recover in Alsace.
Actually doesn't look like too heavy a schedule...you're in Europe with a new GT4, can't expect to sit on your butt!
Ditto. Despite going to GER many, many, times have never dined out (except hotel or pub/Gastshaus) in Stuttgart and also curious.
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Ah we didn't spend much time in Stuttgart.
After landing we were starving and hangry so had a quick bite at Utzel Bretzel or something like that. A weird fusion döner kebab place.
We really only ate at Christophorus. Prime rib is the one to get though pricey. We shared one because it is huge.
We ate at some good places in Burgandy and Lausanne. I'll post the actual places when I get a chance. Sitting in a gasthaus cafe right now.
I'm really glad I got the car wrapped. In Burgandy, eastern France and Switzerland I'm constantly hearing rocks in the wheel wells. The country roads are what make ED worth it but they also ding up your brand new car.
Day 1 - big window chip on windshield
Day 2 - curbed rear left wheel in a secure parking lot exit.
Day 3 - only day with no incident!
Day 4 - scratched left edge of front lip on a pothole trying to buy Swiss toll vignette
Day 5 - scratched right edge of front lip on an exit with a top dip. I'm 1 for 5 driving so far lol.
Burgandy wine country - countryside behind Dijon and Beaune - has some amazing back roads like the ones you see in car reviews. You get some great visibility and some chances to open up the throttle to hear that engine and exhaust. I'll see if I can post my time lapse recording when I get a chance (no audio unfortunately)
We flew into Stuttgart airport, having transferred in FRA. FRA is rather large and it was confusing to transfer from the international flight to the domestic one. Our gate wasn't posted when we landed. Once we figured out the gate, we had to pass through customs, thankfully the line was short and went quickly. Then it was an O'hare like maze of escalators and tunnels to get to the right place.
Once at Stuttgart airport, the taxi office is right outside the baggage claim. It was easy to step into the office to ask for a taxi to take us to Steigenberger. It was wet that day so the journey took about 30 min. It was worth using the voucher on that trip.
We forgot to eat lunch so we dropped off our things in the room and headed to the pedestrian shopping area down the street. We were really hungry so we stopped at the first place that looked ok. Ützel Brützel off of Königstraße. Giant pita wrap thing with slaw filling and döner kebab meat. It was pretty good. There's also a food court with more quick choices in the Köingsbau Passengen, which is an indoor mall further down the street across from the Schlossplatz. Wife looked at some clothing shops - all the usual European brands were on that street. I found an ATM and figured out how to get money for the trip. Lots of banks there too.
We tried to kill time walking around outside to fight jet lag and wait for dinner at Christophorous.
It was difficult to figure out how to buy s-bahn tickets. I just wanted a pack of single ride tickets but it didn't seem like I could buy them individually. My credit cards didn't always work with the machines. So I had to plan about 5 min extra travel time to buy tickets.
We somehow missed the s-bahn to porscheplatz. We took the next one to Zuffenhausen and transferred to the S6 to get to Porscheplatz. I thought the transfer would be simple but the platforms at Zuffenhausen stop were on different levels and we sprinted up two levels to get to the S6 to make sure we didn't miss the second one. We ended up about 30 min late to dinner. Our table was waiting for us, no problem. The prime rib was the most appealing dish on the menu. It is huge so we split it. It was charred as well as roasted. The wines were good too.
I'm glad we did there practice run to get to porscheplatz before the real thing the next day.
Headed back to Steigenberger for a good night's rest. The room was comfortable, roomy and modern.
Prime rib on left. White asparagus appetizer on right.
Woke up early 6am? So we wouldn't be late this time. I couldn't sleep at 5am anyway due to jet lag. We packed all our stuff to bring with us.
Breakfast at Steigenberger is excellent. Lots of cured meats, cheese, eggs of two different boiling times, lox, honey off a honeycomb, etc.
Caught the S6 this time at the stop next door. 4 stops later it's an easy walk across the traffic circle from the porscheplatz stop to the factory gate. The lights at the traffic circle do take a long time to pass though. Leave a few minutes to get across.
At the gate I presented my ED documents but it didn't seem like they were understanding what I was doing. Finally another guard at the gate knew ah I needed a shuttle to the customer reception office. They called a shuttle which was a sporty Cayenne with fluorescent green stitching and sport chrono. I saw the precise motion of the second hand on the clock and thought maybe it would have been worth $2000 for that clock on the GT4... Nah...
At the customer center they took our luggage to a locker room and we went inside to the waiting room.
There were a few other factory collection customers waiting. We were the only Americans. There is a little breakfast bar with coffee, water, fruit and some pastries. There is a Porsche experience video looping on the TV. The next room over has color sample and a couple of cars you can sit in. I tried the boxster to get a feel for the shifter and clutch.
Ronnie greeted us for the handover. He helped us with our luggage as we could load the car while it was still indoors. As he brought us into the handover room, I noticed lots of GT4s, the demo 911R, and several GT3rs as documented in the GT4 forum. Ronnie explained the car to my wife who would be the primary driver at home, while I was distracted taking those photos. We signed the papers and my wife fired up the car for the first time while I set up the dash cam and we decided to take the car to Schwabenfolia to see what ppf options were available in my cash budget. Schwabenfolia is 10 minutes down the highway in a quiet residential neighborhood. It was again rainy that day so we took it easy while getting familiar with the car
We decided to get the full front package - hood, bumper, fenders, mirrors, rear bumper debris impact area, and rockers. We walked down to the bank on the main street 5 min away and I discovered I could withdraw enough money to pay for the whole thing. So we decided to go for it. In retrospect with the kinds of roads we drove, it was worth it. There's lots of construction in France and Switzerland and we frequently hear rocks bouncing around in the wheel wells. The high alpine passes are often in bad shape and under repair, with the occasional pothole. If you don't know the roads, you easily end up in these places.
Sandro, the owner, gave us a ride back to catch lunch at the "Guest casino"
Lunch took longer than we expected so we had to skip dessert to make the factory tour in time. Flo, an automotive engineering student, gave us a fine tour and explained things about the process and Porsche cars that I didn't know before. We were the only English speaking tour we we basically had a private tour. It was neat to see the robots driving around. It's interesting that engine parts cross the street on the bridge to be put together and the completed engine comes back across the street to be assembled into the chassis. No photos though. The wireless in phones supposedly can interfere with the robots communications.
After the tour we went to the museum shop to look for gifts, see the cars and wait for the wrap to be done. It felt like the museum had a lot more 944 exhibits than 911. The race cars were neat to see as well. They also had a full size version of the Carrera from Pixar's Cars.
At 5 pm Sandro came with a driver to drop off the car with us at the museum. He's totally fine with you leaving a dashcam in the car so it was pretty uneventful. He provided a nice touch with a box of chocolate and some Schwabenfolia stickers for us.
We then hit the road to Baden-Baden. We stayed at Schwartzwaldhotel Sonne
Geroldsauer Str.145, 76534, Baden-Baden. I liked them because I could contact them to reserve the garage ahead of time and I'm glad I did because the parking lot ended up being pretty full with tourists and rental cars. We walked to the next hotel for a casual dinner and called it a night.
Very nice. I will be there in two weeks to pick up my Boxter Spyder. I was there two years ago doing a factory tour and ate at Christophers The museum and the factory tour was great. I will probably go on the factory tour again.
Any one toured the original Porsche location in Austria. Private Porsche museum located on the site where the first cars were made. Hope to stop there next month.
Day 3:the fun begins Baden-Baden and drive to Nürburgring
Spent the morning in Baden Baden. Since the hotel was right next to Geroldsauer wasserfall we went there first. Should have put on hiking boots as it was wet and rocky and muddy. The waterfall is little but it is a nice relaxing hike by the stream and through the forest.
Next we went to Baden Baden centrum. We parked the car underground by the casino next to Lichtentaler Allee which is a romantic pedestrian walk. There was plenty of underground parking this time of year though I think scraped the front lip lightly on the way out.
We went to the pedestrian old town with its many shops. Got some chocolate. It was lunch time so we found a French Alsatian restaurant on tripadvisor called Casserole. We had their tarte flambé - kind of a grilled tomatoless and cheese less pizza. Dessert involved some kind of ice cream and Armagnac. One for the road.
The goal is to get to Nürburg by evening. We hit the autobahn and had fun going 100 mph in bursts which is 4000 rpm on the GT4. Not super fast but fast enough to get you arrested in California.
We stopped by Speyer along to way to find the weinmuseum to see the oldest wine bottle in the world from Roman times. It's actually in the basement of the history museum.
We took A61 to Koblenz with my wife driving. Somewhere along the way we got the first blemish on the car - a substantial rock chip on the windshield. We were shocked since this wasn't supposed to happen in Germany on the autobahn. We were feeling the full frontal wrap was a good idea now. Looking at dashcam footage the semi truck was in the far right lane and we were passing in the far left lane. I don't think we were going faster than 75-80 mph
We turned into b258 which is the route to Nürburg. This is where you start to see exotic cars and prepped sporty cars of all kinds coming back the other way from a day at the ring.
We stayed at hotel Garni Retterath in Wiesemschied 5 minutes west of the ring. Highly recommended. The rooms are new and clean. The bed is firm and comfortable. The owner also offers the one garage space for reservation. Parking is behind the hotel if you don't use the garage and he sloped the ramp to be suitable for race cars. We got up at 6am for the 7am rent 4 ring appointment. The owner was kind enough to get up early to get breakfast ready for us 30 min earlier than usual and also made us coffee and sunny side eggs with bacon. It's a terrific place to stay for the ring.
We had a casual dinner at the Weber hotel down the street.
Geroldsauer falls
Tarte flambé at Casserole in Baden Baden
Pedestrian walk in Baden baden
Oldest bottle of wine in the world with liquid still in it
I woke up at 3:30 because of jet lag and anticipation of driving the Nordschlieffe. We survived without incident despite the rain and cold. My wife took 2 laps and I did 2 laps. By the time we were done it was lunch time so we went to the gas station there to buy some 0w40 just in case and also picked up Nürburgring stickers and some sandwiches.
The drive to Dijon is pretty long. About 4 hours, 450km. The countryside is beautiful, rolling green hills, fields of mustard, brown, white, and black speckled cows grazing in the fields, sheep.
We actually stayed in Le Castel bnb in Fleurey sur Ouche. It's a little village next to a stream out in the countryside. The Navigon gps provided by Porsche got seriously confused in France. We relied on google maps to get us there. Thank goodness for my company paid international data and also my wife's t-mobile free international roaming.
I highly recommend Le Castel as well. It is close to the race circuit of Dijon so they are used to seeing exotic cars come by. The parking area is gravel but I had no issues. They allowed me to park for free in the garage under the rooms and the guests all appreciated our car.
We arrived on Sunday night so we had to go into Dijon for dinner. Our host made a reservation at Le Gril Laure. They suggested we park our nice car at Parking condorcet. There are plenty of spaces available and the entrances are secured with gates. You must have a ticket to even walk in the structure.
We had escargot in shell, sea bream, and duck skewers. They were turning away guests so we were lucky to have made a reservation in time. Sunday evenings are tough to find food.
Getting out of the garage I curbed the left rear wheel cutting the left turn corner too tightly =(. I must have rushed the turn since I was afraid of the gate closing on me. A real bummer. I've been ultra paranoid about parking garages since then. The lanes are super narrow and surrounded by curbs. Plus it's hard to reach the machine to insert the ticket and make it back in the car before the gate lowers. Too many things to handle. I hate cities.
05-16-2016, 08:01 PM
Zuffenhausen delivery of a winged steed
, and good idea to chill in Alsace. BTW, consider going to Mulhouse and visiting the truly amazing:
