Since we didn't get to drive Nürburgring today (low visibility due to bad weather), I took the boy to the German equivalent of Disneyland. Much smaller, but very similar. This was one very different/interesting thing though...at each of the water rides, there is large dryer outside people can use to dry off. Nifty...and fun!
He's always wrapping himself up in blankets. Literally, wrapping up like a burrito...and the comforters and pillows in this hotel look so fluffy this may very well be his ultimate sleeping situation.
I'm trying to save usage on the iPhone International Data plan so I don't go over my allotted 50mb. Instead of posting them from the iPhone, I'll just post them in a batch using the computer. Here's what they are:
- Dinner at Hotel Alpenstuben in Schwangau: They called it a "Farmers Plate" or something like that.
- Breakfast at Achat Hotel in Stuttgart.
- The next three pics are from dinner at Blaue Ecke Hotel Restaurant in Adenau. This one is another beef soup that Kyle really liked.
- The boy's surf and turf. He gave me the surf and ate the turf.
- My dinner. Viennese Schnitzel (Veal Cutlet)
- Dessert. Crepe and Vanilla Ice Cream, plus misc berries. That was so good.
I'm not sure why I thought it wouldn't be this big, but the main building to the Nürburgring is huge and impressive. Looks like they are building a roller coaster right in front that goes in to to the building. The grandstands are just behind the coaster location. The interior has tons of rooms that house various exhibits, stores, and what look to be misc. street vendors.
It took us a really long time to find parking because there was an actual event going on when we got there. At first, we were going to buy tickets to see that since we were here, but the boy got tired of walking and just wanted to get back to the hotel to rest after we spent an hour or so shopping for souvenirs (another mini die cast car and another key chain for the boy), looking at the various exhibits, and buying our lap tickets for tomorrow.
The last shot is our hotel room. The boy is trying to run away from the camera since, as I explained earlier, he no longer wants to be in pictures. Luckily, I can still be stealth about it every once in a while and get him in some.
Hard to believe it's already been almost a week since we've been here. This is the last "long" drive of our trip. Tomorrow, we drive the Ring (in a rented Renault Clio Sport) and the day after that, we drive to Frankfurt to drop off my new toy and fly home. This has been a fun vacation but I can't believe it's already over. Thankfully, the highlight of the trip (aside from getting the car) is still ahead and is something we're both eagerly anticipating.
Today's drive was very much like yesterdays with one exception: Rain. It gave me a chance to try out the auto wipers which are really cool. You just turn it on and the speed sets itself automatically based on how much rain is coming down. I'm sure there will be some other nice features I'll discover over time. I still haven't had time to hunker down with the Owners' Manual yet (beyond the quick lookups of things I needed to know about right away). I just happened to come across this wiper thing while I was looking for something else and forgot about it until it started raining. The rain also cleaned off my windshield for me...which was getting pretty full of squashed bugs.
Gas in Germany is not cheap. I've filled up 3 times already and each time it's cost me over $100. Of course, it's 95 - 100 Octane so I guess I expect to pay a little premium for that, but still...that's probably twice as much as gas costs back home...maybe more!
Once you get off the Autobahn and into the Nürburgring surrounding areas, it seems ALL of the roads are a lot of fun to drive. I was pleasantly surprised by the hilly, twisty route that took us into Adenau. It felt like a mini, two-way version of what was soon to come, hehe.
I've never been a very big Porche fan, but continuing in the tradition of this trip, it just made sense to visit the Porche Museum in Stuttgart. It's halfway between our previous stop (Neuschwanstein Castle) and our next one (Nürburgring) so I stuck it in the itinerary. I was also able to find a hotel just a couple blocks away so that worked out nicely. However, the hotel (Achat) was probably the smallest/worst one of the entire trip. Pretty happy with all the others, but this one didn't do much for me.
Despite my lack of Porche interest, they definitely have some nice vehicles here. I was especially lovin' the Carrera GT and 911 GT1 (both silver). It was also cool to see how small/low the cars are in person with the boy standing right next to them. In some cases, they looked like the perfect size for him, hehe. My favorite part of Porche's have always been the brown leather interiors. Pics 7 and 15 above reinforce why.
The boy added to a silver Carrera GT to his 1:18 Die Cast Car collection and an RS Spyder keychain. I'm a little bummed that he has now gotten it in his head that he does NOT like being in pictures, so there aren't as many with him now. He keeps running out of the frame if he sees me beginning to take a pic. Another idiosyncrasy he seems to have developed is a distinct dislike for or annoyance with little children. This entire trip he's been complaining when he hears any of them talking or making noise of any sort.
The previous drives were fun and all, but since there was either traffic in the city or we were driving some nice twisties (with speed limits), I hadn't had a chance to open up the car...until today.
Realizing that I'm still in my break-in period, I didn't want to push it too far, but being on the Autobahn and having VW's scream past me just seemed like a lost opportunity if there ever was one. I had to see what this car is capable of...and let me tell you, it's FAST. Not just the regular fast either. I was up to 130 before I even realized it. The car handled amazingly well. Didn't even feel like we were going that fast at all. The ride was smooth and the engine purr sounded great. I only pushed it up to about 5000 RPMs (redline is at 8300) so I didn't even get close to it's potential. Stupid break-in period!