Thanks to the many on this forum who offered advice, and to the excellent DVD/Nav service of beewang, our first European delivery was a truly great experience. We did our own tour starting in Munich, through Bayreuth (Richard Wagner Opera buffs) and a jaunt in East Germany to visit long-separated relatives near Magdeburg, to Hamburg, a thriving, sophisticated port city in the north that just got direct flights to and from New York. This was just sort of a highlights tour, but next time we plan to base our stay in Munich for the entire week, taking day trips to places like Mittenwald, Fussen, Rothenburg, and a two or three day stay in Bayreuth for the Wagner Ring Festival.

Below are pictures of the BMW Delivery Center and our Oxford Green 545i ZSP. I left the staff my copy of Motor Trend's first drive of the 650...they loved it, especially because they don't see American magazines often. After checking in, we went upstairs for lunch and a Coke on the voucher included in the Euro Delivery packet, and got to sign the bimmerfest guest book. After all the legal paperwork, we were escorted to an adjacent garage sporting many beautiful, parked BMWs acquainting their new owners for the first time. Love at first sight! (Sounds mushy, but just wait till it's your turn!). We tried to learn all about the multiple technical features of this machine (I had driven a friend's M3 SMG, which turned out to be different, but still helpful). Then we exited the squeeky clean garage to the sound of screeching new tires, turned right, and took a picture of the plant's alley (below). Autobahn time! I only did about 120 mph at about 3300 rpm in 6th , which is as fast as I have ever driven. The car just took the curves at this speed so naturally, it really wasn't as dramatic as I expected....the feel of the road is just unmatched in my experience.

More later....