EUROPE 2008 May 9th - 12th Germany

[DennisGardiner]

Originally Posted by opeljohn Took a little trip through the country side to see what I have been told was the biggest tourist trap in Europe. The little lady wants to go see a castle you go see a castle.

So, what were your impressions of Neuschwanstein?

[tomking]

Or Hohenschwanstein? See one, see them both.

[opeljohn]

Actually the castle was pretty neat. There was a whole bunch of folks there. Seeing a picture is one thing standing in front of it quite another. Made for a nice side trip and we spent the night in a small hotel in Lehr outside of Ulm. No problem with the Autobahn it"s the damn little streets in Town the were a pain. Of course when I was lost there was always someone on my butt letting me know I was the pain. Back home now so all's well that ends well.

[newman27]

I am so jealous - what an awesome event. I really wanted to go but couldn't swing it this year with so many other things going on.

Originally Posted by opeljohn As of this posting we are at the Hotel in Stuttgart the evening before we leave. Took a little trip through the country side to see what I have been told was the biggest tourist trap in Europe. The little lady wants to go see a castle you go see a castle...

It's funny how locals view their own attractions. When I went to Neuschwanstein I spent a whole day there soaking it up. Same thing happened at Stonehenge. I wanted to stay for hours but the tour bus driver said "It's just a bunch of rocks" and gave us 30 minutes... .

Glad to see it was a big success!

Matt

[DennisGardiner]

Originally Posted by opeljohn Seeing a picture is one thing standing in front of it quite another. No problem with the Autobahn it"s the damn little streets in Town...

Yes, I agree, seeing a tourist attraction in person, or going to an Opel event (be it in the USA or Europe),... the first hand experiences can not sufficiently be conveyed in pictures or words.

I do concur: Last year when I was driving downtown Berlin (not knowing any of the streets) it felt like the first time I drove in downtown San Francisco...
You'd "BETTER" make a quick decision! Or Mr. Wheeler will honk at you!

If it was not for the Opel Zafira's in-car sat-nav I would have never found the Brandenburg Gate or the Museum at Check-Point Charlie.

Going to last weekends 40th anniversary GT event in Leinfleden and seeing you, Connie, Rick, Marty, Ron and all the rest of the Texas Opel group was icing on the cake!

Also I want to thank the Dutch GT club who made all of us feel welcome and went out of their way to make sure we got included. Special thanks goes out to Louis Van Steen made sure we had translation and arrangement help.
Louis helped and made sure all of us who wanted/needed a ride in a GT on Sunday's outing on the former Solitude race track got one.

There is so much more to tell over the three days with all of you... What can I say, it was a blast!

[opelenvy]

Originally Posted by Mike Siegel THANKS again to Gil Wesson and Richard Rust for participating in the GT-Film!! (footage came out fine).

Glad to help out. If I make it into the credits, Richard is spelled "G-e-o-r-g-e".

The rest of my vacation went great, except for that part where It cost me about $90 to fill up the gas tank on my 1.2L Opel Corsa rental car.
Cruised along at 160 kph (100 mph) very happily on the autobahn. Pretty much topped out at 180 kph.
The Getrag 240 that I picked up at the swap meet made it home safe and sound! It was fun at customs telling the guy "I picked up a couple shirts, a hat, some wine and a gear box." So for all those wondering, yes it is still doable. New in flying, tickets sold after May 12 the second checked bag is $25. Over 50 lbs goes up to $50. It was free for me, but that still beats shipping. I took about 500 pictures as well, but I see that the meet has already been covered pretty well. I may post a couple later. I went on the Opel Factory tour in Russelsheim. Very cool! Wish I could have understood what was being said. I had to get onto them when I saw the pre-production red GT they had there was sporting a set of '73 rims. The guy that worked in the Oldtimer shop admitted they were the wrong wheels. Unfortunately the prototype was in the line up to get worked on and not in the display. I could only see it from a distance. I picked up some swag at the gift shop.
Also checked out the V-6 turbo that is coming out in some of the new Opel lineup like the Signum. Wonder what that would do to a GT??
I saw one Speedster in a parking lot and took some pix of it. Very nice!

Much thanks to all those over there that made us feel very welcome. Looking at over 150 GT's was awsome, but making so many new friends was the highlight of my trip.

[opelenvy]

Wait, I get it. Did you overhear someone call me "Dick" and think my name is Richard??

[Mike Siegel]

Oh, forgive me George !
I was just talking about filmmaker Richard Rush earlier on, and the name
stuck in my mind too long

mike

[2 Fast 4 U]

Originally Posted by opelenvy Wait, I get it. Did you overhear someone call me "Dick" and think my name is Richard??

"Tricky Dick"??

[opelenvy]

I finally got around to uploading my pictures from my trip to Germany. I spared you all the castles and family shots. Here are the Stuttgart meet and my trip to the Opel Factory in Russelsheim.
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