Oktoberfest ROCKS!

Ken Ibold

Final Approach
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Ken Ibold
Just got back from Germany very early Sunday morning. Oktoberfest and Munich in general were FABULOSO!!!!

What's this have to do with airplanes? Not a damn thing. Well, I could compare driving the new Beemer through the 2-lane roads of the Black Forest to flying a Pitts...
 
Just got back from Germany very early Sunday morning. Oktoberfest and Munich in general were FABULOSO!!!!

What's this have to do with airplanes? Not a damn thing. Well, I could compare driving the new Beemer through the 2-lane roads of the Black Forest to flying a Pitts...

And if you were to do that, we would probably point out that :needpics: .

Welcome back to the states, Ken, glad you had such a great trip!
 
The drive alone is a pretty neat experience.

By the way, what's the next level above... "You suck!" :D
 
And if you were to do that, we would probably point out that :needpics: .

Welcome back to the states, Ken, glad you had such a great trip!
Cathy named the car "Jaeger", which we presume makes the driver a Jagermeister!

(crappy scan)
 

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Just got back from Germany very early Sunday morning. Oktoberfest and Munich in general were FABULOSO!!!!

What's this have to do with airplanes? Not a damn thing. Well, I could compare driving the new Beemer through the 2-lane roads of the Black Forest to flying a Pitts...

OK, now, I just hafta ask...how did you get the car back across the ocean???? :dunno:
 
OK, now, I just hafta ask...how did you get the car back across the ocean???? :dunno:
The overhead compartments on the new Airbus are REALLY big!

Seriously, we dropped the car off with an exporter and in a few weeks it will be delivered to the local BMW dealer. Well, that's the way it was supposed to work. However, no one told us the day we were planning to drop it off (Friday) was a major German holiday and everything was closed for the weekend -- and we were leaving Saturday. Made for an interesting close to the trip, but that's a story for another day.
 
Ken,

That is a beautuful automobile. Enjoy! :cheerswine:
 
Hey, just like my BMW trip! The Black Forest was a good choice. Munich at Oktoberfest is a great time.

ps. Jaeger is "Hunter". You can be the master of the hunt.
 
Hey, just like my BMW trip! The Black Forest was a good choice. Munich at Oktoberfest is a great time.
I was talking to my 14-year-old one night and said, "You would have loved watching mom dancing on the tables", to which he replied, "Was there beer involved and did she embarrass herself?" Insightful kid! Yes and no.

We did Bodensee to Triberg to Baden-Baden. Threw the map in the trunk and trusted the GPS to keep track for us, and then just blasted around. What a great time! But 500 miles worth of gas in Europe is almost avgas expensive!
 
Yes, I think it cost me 115 bucks a fillup. Germany is one of the more expensive places to buy gas in Europe (and they still have rockin' cars and no speed limits...)

Did you end up getting iDrive? Now that I have NAV in the car, I wouldn't want to be without it. I don't really even use it that much, but it's been nice on a few occasions. Plus it's just fun to have the map on when tooling around. I'm also completely addicted to bluetooth (it syncs my blackberry! yay!) and Comfort Access - this may be my favorite option.

You visited some pretty areas! Hope to see some photos...
 
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Just got back from Germany very early Sunday morning. Oktoberfest and Munich in general were FABULOSO!!!!

What's this have to do with airplanes? Not a damn thing. Well, I could compare driving the new Beemer through the 2-lane roads of the Black Forest to flying a Pitts...

No way -- we just got back from Oktoberfest, too! We went with another couple (also pilots), and had a wonderful time. (I turned 50 in the HB beer tent -- partying with Italians, Croats, Irishmen, Germans and Brits!)

Pictures are coming.

:goofy:
 
Did you end up getting iDrive? Now that I have NAV in the car, I wouldn't want to be without it. I don't really even use it that much, but it's been nice on a few occasions. Plus it's just fun to have the map on when tooling around. I'm also completely addicted to bluetooth (it syncs my blackberry! yay!) and Comfort Access - this may be my favorite option.
Did not get iDrive. I consider it an abomination. Sorry. Did take my trusty Garmin portable StreetPilot with the German database. It was flawless. The comfort access is a nice feature (The keyfob is a transponder that allows you to unlock and operate the car with the key remaining in your pocket, for those who care.) I'm happy to have that.

I thought the autobahn was a little anticlimatic. After 10 minutes, 120 feels a lot like 80, so if you're not in a big hurry what's the point? The twisties, though, were cool.
 
Did not get iDrive. I consider it an abomination. Sorry. Did take my trusty Garmin portable StreetPilot with the German database. It was flawless. The comfort access is a nice feature (The keyfob is a transponder that allows you to unlock and operate the car with the key remaining in your pocket, for those who care.) I'm happy to have that.

I thought the autobahn was a little anticlimatic. After 10 minutes, 120 feels a lot like 80, so if you're not in a big hurry what's the point? The twisties, though, were cool.

actually iDrive is a lot more than just NAV - it controls everything. I like it. I don't mind the "bump" in the dash at all. I think you can only get voice commands with iDrive - that's another nice touch. "Call Mom" (dialing...) "Heat On" (ahhhh).

Yeah, when everyone else is going over 100 you don't feel so fast anymore. I did notice and appreciate that the BMW station wagons were blowing doors off left and right though. Go Soccer ("football") Mom!
 
No way -- we just got back from Oktoberfest, too! We went with another couple (also pilots), and had a wonderful time. (I turned 50 in the HB beer tent -- partying with Italians, Croats, Irishmen, Germans and Brits!)

Pictures are coming.

:goofy:
We did the Armbrustschützen, which was a real hoot. Partied with some Germans and Romanians and Italians. Also visited the Lowenbrau tent another night, which was pretty good, and the Weinzeldt, which was lame.
 
actually iDrive is a lot more than just NAV - it controls everything. I like it. I don't mind the "bump" in the dash at all. I think you can only get voice commands with iDrive - that's another nice touch. "Call Mom" (dialing...) "Heat On" (ahhhh).
I had iDrive in a couple of loaner 5 series. It is just a bit of unnecessary gimmickery, IMO. But I do think that more folks like it than dislike it.
 
Did not get iDrive. I consider it an abomination. Sorry. Did take my trusty Garmin portable StreetPilot with the German database. It was flawless. The comfort access is a nice feature (The keyfob is a transponder that allows you to unlock and operate the car with the key remaining in your pocket, for those who care.) I'm happy to have that.

I thought the autobahn was a little anticlimatic. After 10 minutes, 120 feels a lot like 80, so if you're not in a big hurry what's the point? The twisties, though, were cool.

ps. I hope you drove on some mountain passes! We hit nine - out of around 300! Time to go back...
 
Hmmm I wonder if BMW has a european motorcycle delivery program. Now THAT would be fun!
 
Dah. The autobahn would be tame in anything short of a liter sportbike. But get one of those with unlimited speed limits and hold on!

That said a friend of mine had something ungodly hot on the autobahn and said he got passed by a guy in a suit and tie drinking his morning coffee in a Porshe.
 
I'll see if I can get my German wife to go back over for it! :D :D Of course, the fact that I don't drink will make it more attractive - she has a guaranteed designated driver! :rolleyes:

She grew up smack in the middle of the brewing region, in the Sauerland area!
 
"Ein, zwei,..."

Hey wait, they're calling my name!

Great fun, Ken. That ride over to the Black Forest is a lot of fun (even in a VW).....
 
Munich is great whether Oktoberfest is in progress or not! Bye the way, I'm not thrilled with the navigation system. I do much prefer to have it integrated instead of sitting on the dash bit I think a few hundred dollar Garmin dash top model has more technical capability. Street name recognition is limited and anything off of the main route seems not to have been"digitized" The data base also seems pretty outdated. It doesn't contain some streets that have been in place for a couple of years.
 
We did the Armbrustschützen, which was a real hoot. Partied with some Germans and Romanians and Italians. Also visited the Lowenbrau tent another night, which was pretty good, and the Weinzeldt, which was lame.

Finally got 'round to putting together a webpage with pix from Germany:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/trip_to_germany.htm

It was a great -- if too brief -- way to turn 50!

:yes:

(And, no, I have NO idea who these people are...but they sure were friendly!)

sDay1-66-Jay&GermanGirls&guy.jpg
 
I'd keep my eye on that other guy with the hat, there, Jay... :eek:

:D

Yeah, he looks a little TOO friendly, doesn't he...?

Of course, none of us were feeling any pain by that point in the day. I have NO recollection of this picture even being taken. It was a good party!
 
Just got a call from the dealer. Jaeger is HERE!!

Man, waiting for the delivery from Europe was far more frustrating than I thought it would be. But Cathy is happy because she's planning a road trip tomorrow. And we decided not to sell the old one afterall, so I get something to drive other than an SUV and motorcycle and airplane and boat.
 
I was there a couple of yeas ago, it was fun. I was working on a tv show and we filemd there great times. The best was singing the traditional German songs in the tents.... let me see if I can remember one , oh yes anyone ever heard a bunch of drunks singing this one? County road take me home to the place I belong West Virginia blue ridge mountains take me home county road

Great German song that one would expect to hear at Oktoberfest


John
 
I love Germany (I was born there, I better :D). Someday I want to go back and do this again. Seems beer would make it all that much better.
 
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