My wife and I will be heading to Santander, Spain to visit my sister June 1st - 15th. From there we'll work our way through France and then to Germany. What is there to check out automotive or motorcycle related? Museums? Events? I am a big fan of history and art. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
If your going to be near Dresden, the VW glass factory is there and they give a tour. they build (or used to im not sure what they build there now) the Volkswagen Phaeton. Very interesting. huge silo/garage for new car storage, cutaway's and when i was there, a 30's Auto Union touring car, a precursor to Audi. I your closer to Nurburg, south i think. you should check out the Nurburgring. the most grueling racetrack in the world. it is a toll road and you can drive it in your rental or take a ring taxi (bmw m cars!!) ive never done the 'ring but would love to someday, sorry i dont have any more "hot rod" type stuff but cars are cars. dang you miss Le Mans by a week! matt
Santander - you're near Bilbao which has a branch of the Guggenheim Art Museum, but I don't know if there's a lot of other motor-related stuff there. Just relax, enjoy the cider, wine and tapas, the pretty girls and the heat.
Have fun and good luck. Remember to stand way away from any "Rag Head" with a smoking suit case.!!!! LOL
Bottrop Kustom Kulture Forever is May 31 & June 1, 2013. Location: Zeche Ewald Werner-Heisenberg-Str. 2-4 45699 Herten Germany http://www.kustom-kulture-forever.com/english/index.html
Yeah, it's quite interesting. On the French/German border down south. As for driving the Nordschleife (the historic 13-mile North Circuit, not the modern GP Track), be prepared, know the schedule, make sure if you're driving a typical street rental that the rental company isn't going to pull your plug (I recall reading either that the rentacar outfits were spying or that they'd gotten the track to keep most rentals out) and be prepared for laughter from your insurance company if something happens. If you go out on a tourist day you may be out there with everything from tour buses to some very seriously driven fast-movers lapping at near-race speeds and, sometimes, gaggles of motorcycles of all kinds. People DO die there. Good UK-based site with lots of up-to-date info: http://nurburgring.org.uk/ Oh man, I haven't been out there for a decade and now you've got me drooling again. There's some useful food at the restaurants in the towns inside the track, too...can't recall the name but there's a bakery in Adenau with magnificent cherry streusel...
Check to see if Friedrichshafen is anywhere near your itinery. The Zeppelin museum is well worth a visit. Incredible engineering. The factory museum at Mercedes Benz Stuttgart is very good too. There is another place with big engines I can't remember the name though. Mart.
There's rather impressive museums all over Germany, the Deutsches Museum in Munich is a very large science and engineering museum (cars, including an Auto Union GP car - when was the last time you saw Ackermann steering explained in a museum? - but not just cars, like shaft-and-belt driven shop tools? Steam engines? Pneumatic rock drills? Funicular railways? And that's just the big hardware, before you get to the electronics and etc. on the upper floors) and well worth the time. That's as of a dozen years ago, obviously the exhibits might have changed a bit, but I'm pretty confident any gearhead could get lost for at least a day and a half in there. Zeppelin Museum is smaller, lots of video presentations and some interior and structure mockups, some engines but don't expect a full-scale Graf Zeppelin in a hangar, it's fun if you're into airships or just old machinery, fine with me but it went over less well with the spouse. Daimler-Benz in the Stuttgart area was very pretty, nice modern facility, lots of pretty eye candy but maybe a little too modern.
You should really come to the Kustome Kulture Forever Show (formerly known as Bottrop Kustom Kulture), one of Europe's biggest traditional Hot Rod & Kustom shows....many cars, bands, artists etc... This is the video from our last year's Roadtrip to Bottrop Kustom Kulture: <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/47582647" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/47582647">Bottrop Kustom Kulture Hot Rod Tour 2012</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user12977368">Mark Reimsdorf</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
Don´t miss the AUDI Museum in Ingolstadt ! They have the original 16 cyl Auto union silverarrow and a replica of the 1937 Streamliner "Rekordwagen" and many more....
When you are on 5. and 6. July still in Europe, then come to the Hangar Rockin in Switzerland. You find treats here on the Hamp about the Hangar or on youtube. The site is www.crazyeventik.ch
Car & Technology Museum in Sinsheim -- the Big one . click on the Union Jack http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/
through out Northern Spain is very nice to see., "La Concha" beach San Sebastian, about 25 km from Bilbao village called Mondaka, perfect beaches for surfing.,
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