27 November 2010 - Beginning of Advent

("A Few of My Favorite Things" - I prefer the version by Yo-Yo Ma and friends on his "Songs of Joy and Peace" album)

I had thought that at some point in time I had posted a bit about some of the Christmas traditions in Germany. But there are very few postings in December on the blog and none scream out at me about Christmas, so at the risk of being redundant, here goes....

There are a few things about a German Christmas (Weihnacht) that differ from the traditions in the US, so let me explain them briefly.

Greetings

There is no option for being politically correct. It is the Christmas and New Year's season, not "the holidays." More specifically, there isn't a generic "Happy Holidays" greeting. It's basically only "Merry Christmas." I learned this the first year I was looking at the cards from the firm. The options were "Merry Christmas" cards or the same in German ("Frohe Weihnachten"). When I asked if there was a neutral version as I was sending some cards to client who I either knew were Jewish or I wasn't certain or their religion so I wanted to be safe, I was met with a "deer in the headlights" kind of look. Okay, guess not.... So I ended up sending out the German version and plead ignorance, hoping that the American on the receiving end either wasn't Jewish and/or didn't understand German. If you're looking for a Kwanza card, forget about it.

On a related note, while companies send out "Christmas" cards, there doesn't seem to be the same industry around people sending cards to their families and friends, at least not to the same extent as in the US. In the US, of course, you buy cards by the box and only someone very, very special would get a special Christmas card you hand-picked for him or her. Here, it's mostly just one-off cards and inexpensive they are not!

One other note on greetings, generally. While in the U.S. we would usually say simply, "Happy New Year" or something like that, there is a different/additional phrase in German, "einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr" or, roughly, a good slide into the new year.

Adventskranz

Before some of you start wondering, this has nothing to do with being an Adventist. On the contrary, this delightful tradition is more closely with the Catholic faith or the Lutherans. It is generally a wreath that has four candles. The first candle is lit on the first Sunday of Advent and then you light the first and the second for the second week and so on. In some cases, there is a fifth "Christ" candle that is lit on Christmas. There are also variations on what the color of the candles are. There is more information (Wikipedia is ever helpful), but I had just never seen these before, but here you see them not only in churches but also homes and businesses. So this year I bought my own wreath, pimped it out with some evergreen pieces, stuck in some candle bases and now have a "sustainable" Adventskranz that I can take to the US with me and continue the tradition. (That's what you see in the photo....)

Weihnachtsmarkt

By far, my favorite thing in Germany during the holidays (sorry - old, politically correct habits die hard) is the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt). Most sizable cities (and even many small towns) have them, running from roughly around the first weekend of Advent until a day or two until Christmas itself. One of the best known such markets is in Nürnberg, but there are many other great ones (not surprisingly, I am partial to Frankfurt's market) and I am hoping to do a tour of them this year if my schedule works out. So what's the big deal? Everything. First, they are just crowded with people of good cheer. Second, it's usually cold outside, so you warm up with a mug of Glühwein (mulled wine, though there is a non-alcoholic version available also), served in real ceramic mugs with a low deposit that makes snatching those with the name/year of the market very tempting. There are also plenty of other great things to eat, like Flammkuchen (kind of like thin crust pizza, but with a cream sauce instead of tomato), roasted nuts and Lebkuchen (soft gingerbread with a light chocolate coating) and many other goodies.

There is nothing like a Weihnachtsmarkt. Nothing! But if you want to get a taste of it and have the good fortune of living in Chicago, visit the Christkindlmarkt, which is based on the concept of a Weihnachtsmarkt, features some German vendors, is sponsored by Lufthansa (natürlich!) serves currywurst (!!!!) and also has significant input/participation from Nürnberg itself. Highly, highly recommend it. It's located at the Daley Center and the website is even bilingual. Love it!

A weekend in Zurich - November 2011

I headed to Zürich this past weekend as part of a friend's destination birthday celebration. She had lived there for more than a decade and visits frequently, so itwas like being shown around the town by a local. At least I am quite sure that as a non-local I would have missed
two of the primary events we caught.

The first event is the Neue Räume event, which is a sort of an interior design and furniture show. I say "sort of" as all the information (see www.neueraeume.ch) is in German and I am so clueless on these types of things I wouldn't know the proper terminology if it hit me in the face. It's just not something I spend much time thinking about, which is apparently painfully evident to those who have visited my various homes over the years. (But for one brief week or two before I had to pack up for my move to Germany, my place in Chicago was pretty amazing - after I finally enlisted the assistance of a professional. See the pictures here of the transformation pics for a den, loft and great room and you'll see why I needed help!

http://www.creativehavenbymichele.com/gallery_new.html ).

Anyway, the Neue Räume event was in a former ABB factory building near the Oerlikon train and tram station. The stark concrete and metal and high ceilings provided a nice contrast against the items that were on display. There was an interesting combination of furniture, lighting, floor coverings, kitchen and baths. None of the exhibits were particularly large and they didn't really seem to flow together, but perhaps that is some of the charm. And because most had quite modern tables and things, it was hard to determine whether the furniture was the point or if they were the platform for something else entirely.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that there weren't more "green" offerings. Perhaps if you can afford this stuff you would have no desire to save the earth and use recycled materials and the like. For example, one of the vendors was focused on admittedly interesting wooden tables and chairs fashioned out of whole pieces of wood that could only come from a really big (read: "old") tree. Another was all about leather flooring. Really?

The second interesting event was Expovina (see http

://www.expovina.ch/neu/index.php?page=Willkommen-Expovina). Or if you ask the locals about the "wine boats" that may be even more readily recognized. Essentially, about a dozen boats that offer cruises on Lake Zurich during the summer months are pressed into service at the pier for about 10 days in autumn.

A CHF 20 tickets gains you admittance to all of the ships as well as a well-organized catalog of the over 120 wine vendors on site. The vendors were primarily importer and distributors, but there were also apparently a

limited number of producers. Each of the identically sized booths in turn offers numerous wines, all free for the tasting. (There were also some food vendors, including fondue and raclette, but the food there was an additional charge. If you are not familiar with raclette, let me know and I might devote a posting about that - it's THAT GOOD!)

So how do you approach this? An American colleague of mine who is based in Switzerland recommended choosing one weapon and sticking with it (e.g. Spanish reds, German whites, champagne, ice wine). Seemed like a sensible strategy and significantly helped focus the plan of attack. What I also learned from the birthday friend who is quite the wine connoisseur was that most of the vendors had more wine than what they put in the

catalog. So if you showed some knowledge of wine, they would pull out some other things they were holding back (primarily because some people would just show up and demand to taste the most expensive wine on the list). So these under-the-counter wines were often on a second list. But in some cases, such as what we encountered with a CHF 98 bottle of Canadian red (who knew?! - Le Veiux Pin 2007 Merlot Reserve from British Columbia for those wondering), the truly special bottles aren't even on the second list, but are things they "write in" on your order form. Fascinating. Overall, a really interesting experience, though I might recommend going with someone who really knows wine so that you can enjoy the under-the-counter wines! But all that said, sometimes the judging-the-book-by-the-cover or wine-by-the-label method also works as El Tractor with its picture of a tractor was easily my favorite.

On a related note, if you do enjoy wine and good food, I would highly recommend a visit to Caduff's Wine Loft (www.wineloft.ch). In addition to tasty staples throughout the year (their vegetarian ravioli are lovely) they have seaso

nal specials, such as the venison four or five course menus during this trip. But the best part is that after you order, you get to go down into their wine cellar to choose your wine. When you enter, you are nearly transported to somewhere else entirely as it is primarily lit by candles adding a romantic atmosphere to the experience. You can also organize wine tastings down there, which I think would be quite fun.

The third noteworthy event (that I think I might have happened upon, even as a non-local) was the Miro, Monet and Matisse exhibit in the Nahmad Collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich. Apparently the Nahmad family had their own collection in addition to being art dealers, but it really is quite amazing. While the M, M & M exhibit was interesting, I was amazed at the number of Picasso's (easily more than 15 on display and many more in the collection based on the catalog) works there. Highly recommend a visit to all who are in the area. You can buy a pass just to the Nahmad Collection and the audio guide is included.

29 October 2011 - Autoworld Brussels

I had a meeting in Brussels this past Friday so when I learned one of my peeps working in London and a colleague were planning on spending a weekend in Brussels, it wasn't a difficult decision to decided to stay a bit longer (on my own dime, of course). They didn't arrive until around noon on Saturday, so I wandered about a bit on Saturday morning, including one of my favorite places from previous visits - Cinquantenaire Park. The last time I was in the park, I had kind of stumbled across it, I believe. Didn't know much about it and most assuredly did not have an "app" for the city. So as I was wandering about, I decided to see if there was anything about the park that I should know.

Well, there was a very significant change from the last time I had visited - Autoworld. Oh, now just stop!! And stop indeed I did, particularly since I was quite certain that my chick friends would not be interested in automobile goodness.

The museum itself is in a building that looks a bit like a rounded hangar but with a glass and iron structure overhead, giving it the feel of a greenhouse. There is amusing signage out front (though I suppose it is not meant to be amusing) indicating parking for "Oldtimers" (I can only assume that they mean the cars, not their drivers.) Inside, there was a ticket counter, albeit not with great controls to prevent people from entering or for validating their tickets and/or counting the number of visitors. There were no audio guides.

Inside, there were two levels. The first was relatively well marked, both in terms of flow and of the models of the vehicles. This level generally contained cars up until around the time of World War II. There was also a small separate section with carriages and other horse-drawn means of transport. I would say that the general focus was on European-produced vehicles and I learned quite a bit about brands that have faded or disappeared through the years. I also learned a few new tidbits that perhaps if I were a better automotive enthusiast I would have known, including:

• Vespa produced not only scooters but also a vehicle targeted toward women that included Brigitte Bardot in the marketing of the vehicles.
• Rolls Royce vehicles were initially produced just as an engine and chassis and then individuals would hire coachmakers to "pimp them out" (pretty sure they didn't use that term back then) with the driver/passenger cabin.
• The museum included an old 1920s Ford that was, in the manner described above, pimped out as a camper by a Belgian coachmaker. I guess this was the beginning of the european mobile home camping phenomena?
• Ferdinand Porsche (yes, THAT Porsche) designed the Volkswagen Beetle.
• The British monarchy relied on Daimler, not Rolls Royce, for its vehicles until the early 50s.
• Apparently the Swiss were involved in cars, given the 1935 Hispano-Suiza on display. Who knew?

The second floor was just a bit odd and erased some of the positive thoughts I had had of the first floor - essentially either a new or underfunded museum but moving in the right direction. Because this was a giant open space with two levels, one could see signs indicating the decades from 1960-2000. The other side was a bit of a mystery. When I got up to the second floor, it took on the character of a large garage where car afficionados liked to keep cars or where a bunch of guys (sorry ladies) who love cars decided they should open a museum. Many more private collection cars, fewer signs regarding progeny or significance of the vehicles.

Live plants significantly in need of watering. Empty spaces. And a sort of cafe in the making. Generally disappointing, other than the surprise appearance among high-end or sporty vehicles of the lowly AMC Pacer. My grandfather had one of these "fishbowls-on-wheels" and, of course, it was immortalized in the movie, "Wayne's World."

Overall, for €6, I would go again. And then demand more Audi vehicles. ;-)

22 October 2011 - Ringeltaube

In my question to find the perfect cabriolet, a colleague of mine volunteered to let me driver her Boxster S. We met at my apartment, which of course is in the middle of the city, and we were trying to figure out where to drive so that I could let the car stretch its legs, so to speak. She suggested we go to the airport. Well, you know how I love going to airports (especially a major Lufthansa hub), but I have never thought of doing so when I am not flying somewhere. But she said something about access to some store that was nearby, so off we went.

(Yes, the Boxster S was lovely. It's a very nice size, not as many blind spots as an Audi TT roadster with the roof up, more than spunky enough (think just the plain Boxster would be fine), more cargo space than the 911 and it really is cute. Good chick sportscar.)

We arrived at the store that is not at all well-marked. You'd have to know it was there to end up there. In fact, I'm not quite sure I could find it again if I tried. A smallish white wooden building with no apparent windows and only very small signs. But oh, the treasure trove that waited inside.

Apparently, the store is a sort of "company store" for Lufthansa. Be still my heart. There were a few pilots inside and, well, what chick doesn't like a handsome man in a uniform, especially a Lufthansa uniform! The store seemed to be something like a cross between what I think one of the US military PX stores must be like (never been....) and a duty free catalog brought to life. There were things for children, luggage, airplane models (including one of Air Force One!), a Lufthansa flight attendant action figure (yes, I was so tempted to buy her for travels with Sarah Palin), kitchen goods, fragrance and cosmetics, some clothing (mostly for men) and a really large display of high-quality wine, other alcohol and chocolates that were ridiculously low-priced.

Fascinating place. Don't think I'll ever get to go again since I don't have the employee card to get in, but worst case, I could try to find it and scope out good looking pilots. ;-)

Oh, Lufthansa....

16 October 2011 - Buchmesse

The Frankfurt Book Fair (Buchmesse) is one of the large events here each year and is a big deal (both locally and internationally) in much the same way as the International Auto Show. I remember when I was apartment hunting here and the relocation consultant and I were driving by the Messe (the convention center) she mentioned both of these events and I was wondering what in the world a book fair was. Though its importance was reinforced later when I read John Irving's book, "A Widow for One Year" (which I highly recommend).

As history, you might find it interesting to know that it dates back to the 15th century. Why the 15th century and why Frankfurt? Well, apparently Gutenberg's movable type was invented not far from here. It grew, though political and other reasons, Leipzig was the center in the 18th century. Nevertheless, after World War II, the book far resumed in Frankfurt and has been here ever since.

So I headed there today, the last of the two days that it is open to the general public, to check it out. I looked at their website in advance (wwww.buchmesse.de) and was a bit mystified by the whole thing. I downloaded the free app, hoping that might provide some insight, but it was also not so helpful. I guess if you have to ask what the book fair is all about, it might not be designed for you. But nevertheless, I went. And noted on the website that the ticket included free public transportation, which from my location is a €4,80 value and convenient as I can pick up the right Straßenbahn (street car/tram) on my own block and it takes me right there.

The book fair was only slightly smaller in scale (in terms of number of buildings) than the International Auto Show, and the individual exhibits were certainly much smaller. Essentially, each publisher had an exhibit and there are an awful lot more publishers than there are automobile manufacturers, as you can imagine. Many of them looked like small bookstores - a wall with some shelves and books on them. In most of them (but I don't think all), you can purchase the books that are on display. Apparently this was frustrating in previous years as you could see an interesting book, but would then have to write down the title and try to figure out how/where to buy it later. However, for those of us prone to read our books as eBooks, this remains a bit of a challenge.

The very noticeable thing about this fair versus the auto show, however, was that nearly every booth also had comfortable chairs or chairs and tables where readers could just sit down and read books. It was also relatively quiet. Like a combination between the Library of Congress and a gigantic bookstore with cafe. The majority of the exhibits were related to German language books, so I whizzed through them. I did, however, take a bit of time in the Tourism section to see the largest selection of Marco Polo travel guides (my favorite!) I have ever seen (and confirmed that there is not a travel guide to Bergen, Norway, which would have made that trip even better). There were also areas where they had presentations and interviews and an area (in the Audi building built specifically for the 2011 International Auto Show, I must note) where they discussed new media.

There were three buildings specifically for international publishers. One of the three was for countries where English is the native tongue - and Israel. This was also the only building that I visited where there was security and bag searches at the entrance. Terrorism at a book fair? Really? But I guess you can never be too safe. After, knowledge IS a dangerous thing. I have to say, though, that I was really disappointed in many of the American publishers, though. It was just before 14:30 when I arrived, and they were already in tear-down mode. Penguin and Simon & Schuster had already stopped selling books though you could still browse, but Random House had literally closed its gate. If I were an author who were being promoted there, I would be a little peeved that they were closed/closing a full 3 hours before the end of the event.

Overall, a very interesting experience. But I still have no idea why there were so many young people dressed in costume and roaming about outside. At first, I thought maybe it was like a Harry Potter thing where people dress up in costumes to meet their favorite SciFi authors or something, but they were quite wide-ranging. Odd.... As far as I know there isn't an early Halloween here that might explain this, either.

15 October 2011 - Another (not quite) typical Saturday in Frankfurt

("We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister)

Today started like any other day - an anim

al nosing me awake followed by a quick look at email, Words with Friends and the Financial Times on my iPhone. In addition to a fascinating piece in the FT of a lunch interview with Mitsuko Uchida (who knew German was her second language?) which I highly recommend reading, there was mention that the Occupy Wall Street movement / protest / demonstration or whatever it is called was spreading beyond the United States and there were planned "occupy" events in financial centers around the world today. Including one certain city that happens to be home to both Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and a certain European Central Bank. That's right - potential unrest was coming to Frankfurt! Soooo exciting!!

Of course the article didn't give specifics on where the action was going to be in each of the cities and it wasn't as if it was announced in the papers either and I'm not all that plugged into that type of social media (which likely would have required a greater command of the German language than I have), but Frankfurt's not that big of a town, so I just started walking towards the city center.

Along the way, I happened across two interesting things. The first is the flea market along the Main River that happens monthly, I believe. I have never seen anything there that I want to buy (usually a lot of old junk and strange clothes), but I enjoy wandering through it and doing some people-watching of vendors and shoppers. And I am quite enamored with the little booth that sells fresh waffles with powdered sugar. So tasty on a sunny, crisp autumn today as today was. (Would have been perfect football weather, but if I start thinking about that I am going to get distracted by thoughts of my Badgers - which would then distract me thinking about the honey badger video on YouTube.)

The other interesting

thing was on the other side of the Main - demolition of a building or series of buildings. I haven't seen an active building rip-down in Germany, so it was fascinating to watch. I was particularly surprised that A) they were working on a Saturday and B) they had not taken the doors out of the elevators before they began demolition. Seemed odd. Anyway, I was not the only one fascinated by this scene of destruction

(though most of the others ogling this were little boys tagging along with their dads).

Given recent coverage of and conflict over the Eurozone, I thought that the European Central Bank would be a good place to start looking for the demonstration. There were a few police officers around, but otherwise quite typical of a Saturday morning (other than the odd guy walking his ferret). Hmmm.... I was thinking of heading to the Deutsche Börse building when I heard drums in the distance and noticed the drummers and people wielding banners approaching. So I followed them and found a large group forming near the Zeil area. I wandered around taking some pictures of some of the signs I saw and just trying to take in the mood.

I admit that I wasn't quite sure what I expected to find, so what I saw didn't overly excite or disappoint. Generally, everyone seemed to be in good spirits, rather than full of anger. There were homemade signs (both of the on-a-stick and sandwich varieties) in both English and in German as well as more professional-looking printed banners from organizations. While most focused on the financial crisis (both in terms of bankers as well as the Eurozone), there were also people there protesting Stuttgart 21 (the new train station) as well

as nuclear energy, for example. I wandered around for about 10 minutes and then noticed that the crowd was starting to move. So I followed along, on what became a rambling walk (calling it a "march" would lend more of a sense of a unity and common purpose than may have been the case) to the European Central Bank. You can see a bit of difference between the first and second pictures, even though not even an hour separated the two.

I have never been involved in a protest of any kind, and would only say that I observed this one. But I would have expected it to be louder. While there were some drummers, as noted earlier, for the most part the only noise were some peoples with whistles, a few with noisemakers and the regular hum of people talking. I expected more chanting or something. Then wondered if it was difficult to get people to chant along in unison in German because the words are so long? The only chant I really heard was near the end where the chant was in English, which I captured a bit of in this very homemade iPhone video (and in which you can see a fascinating U.S. flag where the states have been replaced with corporate logos, which I think is actually interesting commentary sheerly from the perspectives of the Citizens United decision that allows corporations essentially unlimited campaign donations).

Once everyone was gathered around the ECB, some speeches began. It was a very homegrown type of event. There was a little station wagon that was serving as the "headquarters" of sorts, with two large speakers mounted on top and a small stage behind it with a microphone. There seemed to be a youngish guy organizing things and there were a few people with prepared speeches, none of which I recognized but, again, I'm not a member of this dissident community, so....

While of course my understanding of the speeches was limited both by the poor audio quality, loud audience and my limited German, it seemed like they were discussing topics much more broad than those that seem to be the focus of the U.S. Occupy Wall Street efforts. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of discussion about the Eurozone and questions over why Germany was essentially underwriting weaker countries rather than paying attention to domestic issues. But there were also mentions of the US and I don't think they were entirely positive - more that the US bankers and housing crisis had forced this on the rest of us around the world. There were also mentions of the Arab Spring, which I'm pretty sure was not a focus in the U.S. All in all, though fascinating to watch and to see the reactions of the crowd to the message. I should note that it was an interesting cross-section of the population - certainly a lot of young people, but also more people in their 50s and beyond than I might have expected and hardly any children.

Once they turned over the microphone to anyone who wanted to speak, I lost interest and wandered back home. Fortunately or unfortunately, nothing interesting happened on the way home. But I am glad I made the trip to find some well-controlled and respectful unrest in Frankfurt.

BMW Welt - München, Deutschland

Those of you who have been following this blog from the early days know that I, well, had a brief fling with Bonnie shortly after I moved to Germany. We had some communication issues (who doesn't?) but we came to a certain understanding and she was instrumental in helping me get settled. She had a pleasant personality, a nice body, kept me safe and warm, was loyal to a fault and I will always have a special place in my heart for her. But like far too many good things, it came to an end. And one day she just left and went back to BMW Leasing without so much as an electronic security system chirp or headlight wink.

I relived some of our time together this past weekend when I went to BMW Welt (BMW World) in Munich. It is, if I haven't already mentioned it, one of my goals to visit the museums of the major German auto manufacturers before I am sent back to the US. So far, I have been to Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. So all that remains after the BMW visit is Porsche. Since I consider Opel to kind of be like GM in drag, I haven't searched to see whether they have a museum.

BMW Welt is a huge complex, including the BMW Tower (think of four cylinders joined kind of like a four-leaf clover of an office building), the BMW Welt visitor center (in which the current models are on display), BMW Museum (self-explanatory) and a production plant. I believe that, like Audi and probably the others, you can also pick up your vehicle somewhere here and there will be special VIP treatment when you meet your Bonnie (you should BE so lucky! she's mine!! do you hear me?! MINE!!) for the first time.

The BMW Welt visitor center is, architecturally, a very interesting building. Its rather swoopy design reminds me a bit of the Audi building that was specially constructed this year for the International Auto Show in Frankfurt, but augmented by an additional double/inverted cone thing that I didn't quite understand from a structural or design perspective. There are two levels of underground parking, which was convenient, but not free (it's free at Audi, in case you're wondering....). It really is an impressive structure, though, and the first floor is like a very high-end showroom for the cars with a restaurant, a lounge area and, of course, a shop. What I found most interesting in the shop, though, is what is pictured here - in addition to the BMW merchandise, there was a Mini store on the second floor - and an Apple shop. Hmmm.... Maybe this checked off the "something for everyone" qualities they were looking for in their

merchandise?

The visitor center is connected via (uncovered) bridge to the BMW Museum, which isn't much to look at from the outside. Inside, though, it is more interesting. Throughout most of the museum are opaque white/glass walls that somehow remind me of an Apple store (not to be confused with the second story of the visitor center gift shop)

and periodically images (some moving, some still) are projected on them, often with accompanying sound effects.

The flow of the museum seemed a bit awkward to me. There were often rooms where you walked in, looked about, but then had to retrace your steps to get back out, rather than another open walkway to the next item. And in some of these rooms, there was only material on one wall, so it's not as if you could see something different on the way out. The various exhibits also didn't seem to fit together - for example, they weren't in chronological or other apparent order and the motorcycle coverage was mixed in among the cars. It was more like a collection of disparate rooms - here are some motorcycles, here are some M-series vehicles, here are some of our old ads, here are some concept cars, have you seen our motorcycles with sidecars for racing? Overall, particularly as compared to the Mercedes-Benz (my favorite) and Audi museums (the Volkswagen museum was pitiful), I was very disappointed. And I didn't come out of it feeling like I was an idiot for not having a BMW (or maybe that's because my separation from Bonnie is still so raw?).

That said, here are my favorite features:

• View from the rear. A kind of artwork made out of the model numbers as you would see them from the back of a badged vehicle.
• An exhibit of enginesthroughout the years. Headphones were hanging from the ceiling and you could pull them down and hear the engine sounds from the respective engines revving and going through your head in stereo.
• 
  
• The infamous bubble car. I had not seen one in person before, but I particularly enjoyed their display of pictures of people taken with their bubble cars on vacation, in snowstorms, etc. Seems kind of like a pre-curser to the Mini.

All in all, not a bad experience for €6 plus parking fees if you love cars or BMWs and are in Munich.

And Hudson - I never said I loved Bonnie. You are my one and only. Until you leave me for Audi Leasing....