Mrs. EXPLAT and I went on the adventure of a lifetime. We deciding to take delivery of our new BMW 640i Gran Coupe at the BMW Welt delivery center in Munich Germany. Our local dealer, Alderson BMW arranged for the delivery and the ED program includes two weeks of auto insurance, shipping back to the states and local re-delivery at home with our dealer.
We've been trading with Al Griggs at Alderson for many years so even though he is their Lexus guy, we ordered the car from him. I'm putting a plug in for the BMW sales guys at Alderson too as they were super helpful and cordial, even though we ordered the car from Al.
After our trip, I can say that this is the only way to purchase a German automobile.
Day 1: Arrive Munich around 3:00pm
On this trip we decided to try British Airways on their 747 between Dallas and London Heathrow. We purchased Economy Plus tickets and were able to upgrade to Business Class using AVIOS points. It was a true pain in the rear to constantly monitor availablilty manually as BA does not publish when their award seats open up so my expertflyer.com subscription was of no use here.
Once on board, the flight attendants were super friendly and attentive and I really enjoyed their service. The seats fold down into a flat bed and we were downstairs in the center of the aircraft where we could sit together side by side. BA uses a seating arrangement where the aisle seats face forward and the two center seats face backwards. I thought this might feel weird but we didn't have the sensation of flying backwards.
The main entree quality was so so but they did have 15 year old scotch which I thoroughly enjoyed! We would fly BA across the pond again in a heart beat.
We stopped of at the Galleries lounge between flights and had some breakfast, stopped off at the Elemis Spa for a back massage and then headed over to our gate.
Our flight from Heathrow to Munich was on a BA Airbus A319 and we were able to select row 4 with my AA status ahead of time. This row was great as it had the same seats as business class where A & C are wider than coach and the B seat is very skinny. So they don't sell the B seat which gives us the same space as Business Class but at the coach price.
Munich Airport Arrival/Train Transfer: Advice: Grab the free cart in baggage claim. You can take this all the way to the train boarding area. I couldn't figure out which ticket to purchase at the machine but a visit with a ticket agent fixed that. We purchased the combo group ticket
(2-people) to include the trip from the airport to Munich with access to the U-bahn and S-bahn for the rest of the day. 20 euros for two.
Got on the train labeled S8 Herrsching
(or you can take the S1). Rode along in the country for a while and wonder if we were going in the wrong direction,
(your not). 30-40 minutes to Hauptbahnhof station.
When you hear the announcement for the Marienplatz station, gather all of your bags because you'll reach Hauptbahnhof station soon. It's Marienplatz, another stop and then Hauptbahnhof. The train stops for only a few seconds so we had to scramble.
Station/Hotel Arrival Tip: We looked for the Starbucks exit. We lost our way as we stayed on the same underground level as the S8 train and went to the surface. We exited on the wrong side of the building. Go to the ground level in the main train station. You will see a lot of shops and on one side along with all of the trains departing the station, all lined up. The Starbucks is in this main area, past all of the trains.
(I couldn't tell you how to get from the underground level to the main ground floor level in the station as we got lost.)
The train station, ground level. From this view, the Starbucks would be on the left side of the photo.
The trains should be to your right when walking and the Starbucks and exit to the Le Meridien will be straight ahead.
You can see the Starbucks on the right. Out the window on top, the Le Meridien is the building on the right.
We checked into the Le Meridien, Munich and with my SPG Platinum status, were upgraded to a nice jr Suite. We selected the breakfast for the Platinum amenity and were given access to their full breakfast buffet. The food selection and quality were excellent. The hotel was in a very convenient location, right across from the train station and two stops away from the Marinplatz, which is the main square in Munich.
Breakfast at the Le Meridien Munich. Quite the nice spread!
We then had dinner at Augustiner-Keller which has good food, great beer and a fun hang out atmosphere.
Dinner Tip: (Augustiner-Keller) Order the sausage variety plate if you like sausages. It was very good. If you like spicy, order the spicy sausage plate, this was also very good. If you want your complete fix of sausages, order the sausage plate with a side of spicy sausages. The pork knuckle was a little dry this night, don't know if this is typically the case. The beer was good and the company was good. Many pet owners here with their dogs. Would come back here to drink and eat again.
Augustiner-Keller Menu
Outdoor seating, if you go in the winter, they also have a large indoor beer hall. The outdoor seating is huge.
Enjoying a beer before dinner.
Their pretzel is crazy big. Warm and soft in the middle.
When you arrive, flag down a waiter/waitress as we stood around for a while trying to figure out what to do and how to get a table. There are multiple outdoor seating areas with tables divided into dinner service or self service. We opted for full service and asked a waiter where we could sit, he thought for a moment and then gave us a previously reserved table.
It started to sprinkle and we got an umbrella with the help of a german fellow and then we invited the five of them to sit at our table under the umbrella. Nice to visit with people from Munich while enjoying our Munich beer and food.
Tomorrow we head over to the Welt for the factory tour and museum tour. We'll pick up the car the following day.
After last weeks reports of rain the entire week, it was nice and sunny today. Supposed to rain tomorrow, which I am told is the norm.