Hello All,
Memorial Day weekend is coming to a close and thankfully, I didn't not waste it by sitting in my hotel room staring out the window. I started Sat off by making my way to the Porsche Museum
which is located in Stuttgart. The Porsche Museum is more of collection of historical or noteworthy cars then a proper museum. I am a big fan of sports car racing (yeah, it's a lot different then NASCAR) as well as the brand. Porsche have been a strong supporter of racing through its factory run programs and through its support of privateers. I you are like me and love the brand then this is a must if you visit. Otherwise, it will appear to be a collection of really nice cars.
The #17 car you see above is a Porsche 962 C and was the overall winner of the 1987 24 Hours At Le Mans, which is considered the greatest spectacle in motor sports and has been an annual event since 1923. It is the oldest endurance sports car race and the only years the race was not held was 1936 (depression) and 1940-48 (WWII and its aftermath).
Next stop was the Mercedes Benz Museum.
Just the architecture of the building is worth seeing. This is buildings has 8 level and you descend from one level to the next via spiraling walkways that are on the perimeter of the building. The internal area of the museum is an open floor plan and has no stanchions for support. You can kind of make out these spiraling walkways in the picture above (building next to car #17).
Each level of the museum documents Mercedes-Benz during a certain area. Each floor loosely corresponds to a decade. This is not so much the case on the higher levels but certainly the rule as you descend to the floor of the museum. As you walk down the spiral walkway the wall to your left documents the important events that happened during the period in which you are descending to.
This is a self-guided walking audio tour. Mercedes has really hit a home run with their audio guide system. As you descend a level, general period specific audio introduces the area. As you approach a display that contains an audio icon, you push a button to sync you audio device to that display. You then choose between model specific info, social trends of the period, or technical innovation of the era.
There were many noteworthy display of museum quality vehicles to include a replica of the first horseless carriage (auto) ever produce, the oldest surviving Mercedes, and many very famous and priceless race cars. You can see them all in my flickr photo gallery (click on "sets"). You have to be invited to join. If you would like to join, set an email to mk1802@yahoo.com and I will forward an invite link.
On a side note, I drove my rental to the museums as they are not within walking distance of a train stop (I used to say "Any distance is walking distance if you have enough time and energy." I find I do not have enough of either as time marches on.).
I'll be the first to admit that I am so focused on signs and yielding the right of way (which way to we yield?). That it is hard to focus on street signs that name the road I am on, especially now that they are in German. I really rely on my navigation system and I can tell you that the nav system in a late model Audi TT does not keep up with the competition. I know they have better system as found in some of their other models. This one has no scrolling may at all and is not very user friendly or intuitive. Just a pleasant voice that tells me to turn occasionally (usually a u-turn to get me back on track). Like Reagan, I trust by verify by bringing along a mapquest. Thankfully, the voice did not let me down and got me where I needed to be. I guess it must be an engineering thing.
Coming up tomorrow: the Eagle's Nest.
Cheers.
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