Doug and Bob 2001 European Tour

I went to Europe to meet my new car, a Mercedes C320. Below, the factory rep introduces me to the car at the delivery center in Sindelfingen, Germany.

My friend Bob Bjorge accompanied me around Europe. We flew into Stuttgart, where we a rented a Mercedes A-class for a day and drove to the Schlosshotel Buehlerhoehe in Baden Baden The next day, we returned the rental car and toured the Mercedes factory in Sindelfingen, after which I was introduced to my new car at the customer delivery center.

After another night back at the Schlosshotel, we drove to Goeppingen and toured the Maerklin model train museum. We spent the night at the Goldener Hirsch Hotel in Beyreuth, but they didn't give me any discount for sharing their name. The next morning, we stopped by the Wagner festival theater for a few photos and drove on to Berlin. On the way, we found a small winery, in former East Germany. Bob and the vintnor hit it off, and Bob bought a bottle.

Following Berlin, we drove to Sweden. That's right, drove. There are new bridges and a tunnel, which make it possible to skip all ferries that were formerly necessary for the trip. The bridge in the photo connects the major Denmark islands of Funen and Zealand. After a quick stop in Scanor, Sweden, we returned to Copenhagen for a late lunch. We both liked Cafe RizRaz, which was a tremendous break from all those McDonalds stops we made on the road.

In our final driving day, I was beyond the car's official break-in period, so I was able to enjoy driving back in Germany at serious autobahn speed. Traffic never permitted testing the 130 mph governor, but we did get to 125 mph for a few moments. We got to Bremerhaven in time to tour their splendid maritime museum. In the morning, we dropped the car off at the dock to ship it to America, and worked our way to Amsterdam by a tram, three trains, and a taxi. Bob flew home the next day, and I spent a few more days touring Amsterdam. All in all, a trip of a lifetime.

Updated by Doug Hirsch dhirsch@pobox.com $Date: 2001/03/19 22:37:01 $ (UTC)