4 weeks road and track European adventure
Discussion
Toronto Canada July 14 2024
It was time once again to plan a European Driving trip with some road and track events. The plans was to ship the 992RS to Europe for an event in Zell am See Austria followed by some time at the Nürburgring.
This is a deeply impractical car for any kind of touring- essentially zero luggage capacity.
The plan was to rent a sensible car for a few weeks and to cover off some really good driving in the Black Forest, the Swiss mountain passes not already driven, and the Stelvio Pass. A lot of the driving will be rural, so the plan is to book comfortable hotels with restaurants, skip lunch and eat at the hotels.
Last pic before loading up.:
The truck arrived at the house bang on time, and the car was loaded up. I use C.A.R.S. international who handle door to door pick and delivery, customs brokerage and transit insurance. I had to arrange road insurance for Europe separately.
Loading took not more that ten minutes and the car was gone, headed for Montreal by truck where it would be containerized, moved by rail to Haiifax and over to Rotterdam by boat where it would eventually be delivered by truck to the hotel in Germany.
Aug 17:
The car is now in the Netherlands per the Apple tracker, so on schedule. There is a fair bit of paperwork to getting it through the temporary importation process.
Aug 30
Arrive into Frankfurt and pick up a rental Volvo XC90 Hybrid, a largish but fairly comfortable SUV. Coming off a transatlantic flight the plan is for a fairly short drive out to Darmstadt. Only real surprise on the Volvo is that it has a limiter at 185 km/h which meant that I had to keep out of the way of faster LH lane traffic.
Stayed at a nice old hunting lodge, called Jagdschloss Kranichstein comfortable and clean. Like everything around here there are of course lots of antlers everywhere. What is it with Antlers? Still, good food and and very quiet.
The main objective of going to Darmstadt is that it was a centre of the Jugendstil
movement in architecture and design in the turn of the 20th century. German has a vyery strong tradition of innovative art and architecture and the movement certainly influenced the Art Deco stuff that emerged at that time
The buildings are very distinctive and some of the interior decoration is glorious:
Aug 31- Time to depart for Baden-Baden, a spa town renowned for its baths. On the way over came across a surprising German military monument honouring the protectors of the homeland. Not sure when this is constructed but I believe it honours WW.1 veterans.
It was time once again to plan a European Driving trip with some road and track events. The plans was to ship the 992RS to Europe for an event in Zell am See Austria followed by some time at the Nürburgring.
This is a deeply impractical car for any kind of touring- essentially zero luggage capacity.
The plan was to rent a sensible car for a few weeks and to cover off some really good driving in the Black Forest, the Swiss mountain passes not already driven, and the Stelvio Pass. A lot of the driving will be rural, so the plan is to book comfortable hotels with restaurants, skip lunch and eat at the hotels.
Last pic before loading up.:
The truck arrived at the house bang on time, and the car was loaded up. I use C.A.R.S. international who handle door to door pick and delivery, customs brokerage and transit insurance. I had to arrange road insurance for Europe separately.
Loading took not more that ten minutes and the car was gone, headed for Montreal by truck where it would be containerized, moved by rail to Haiifax and over to Rotterdam by boat where it would eventually be delivered by truck to the hotel in Germany.
Aug 17:
The car is now in the Netherlands per the Apple tracker, so on schedule. There is a fair bit of paperwork to getting it through the temporary importation process.
Aug 30
Arrive into Frankfurt and pick up a rental Volvo XC90 Hybrid, a largish but fairly comfortable SUV. Coming off a transatlantic flight the plan is for a fairly short drive out to Darmstadt. Only real surprise on the Volvo is that it has a limiter at 185 km/h which meant that I had to keep out of the way of faster LH lane traffic.
Stayed at a nice old hunting lodge, called Jagdschloss Kranichstein comfortable and clean. Like everything around here there are of course lots of antlers everywhere. What is it with Antlers? Still, good food and and very quiet.
The main objective of going to Darmstadt is that it was a centre of the Jugendstil
movement in architecture and design in the turn of the 20th century. German has a vyery strong tradition of innovative art and architecture and the movement certainly influenced the Art Deco stuff that emerged at that time
The buildings are very distinctive and some of the interior decoration is glorious:
Aug 31- Time to depart for Baden-Baden, a spa town renowned for its baths. On the way over came across a surprising German military monument honouring the protectors of the homeland. Not sure when this is constructed but I believe it honours WW.1 veterans.
Baden-Baden is a walking town with huge beer gardens, theatre and of course numerous health spas.
Nice central Hotel ( Maison Messmer). I noticed a Maser MC20 outside, first I had seen. It looked quite elegant and tidy to me.
Looked like a good idea to take a drive round the old area. Took a turn behind a bus. What I did not know is that the central area is pedestrian only; the bus has a remote that lowers the bollards to allow it to travel in. They then pop back up. Suddenly I realized I was trapped in the pedestrian area having followed the bus in.
Aargh.
Nobody seemed to have an idea who to get the idiot tourist back out ; luckily another bus stopped, lowered the bollards and the idiot tourist escaped.
Dinner was excellent on a low-key veranda at the hotel.
Next day it was time to visit an unusual (sort of kind of) industrial park called Vitra:an extraordinary place where world-famous architects were invited to build any commercial building they wished to; it is a who’s who of modern architects. Some of the buildings are in commercial use, making modern furniture and other art objects.
A Claes Oldenburg sculpture stands alone in a field.
A Frank Gehry building that is an active factory
The drive over to the next hotel has a series of delightful villages.......
[
Nice central Hotel ( Maison Messmer). I noticed a Maser MC20 outside, first I had seen. It looked quite elegant and tidy to me.
Looked like a good idea to take a drive round the old area. Took a turn behind a bus. What I did not know is that the central area is pedestrian only; the bus has a remote that lowers the bollards to allow it to travel in. They then pop back up. Suddenly I realized I was trapped in the pedestrian area having followed the bus in.
Aargh.
Nobody seemed to have an idea who to get the idiot tourist back out ; luckily another bus stopped, lowered the bollards and the idiot tourist escaped.
Dinner was excellent on a low-key veranda at the hotel.
Next day it was time to visit an unusual (sort of kind of) industrial park called Vitra:an extraordinary place where world-famous architects were invited to build any commercial building they wished to; it is a who’s who of modern architects. Some of the buildings are in commercial use, making modern furniture and other art objects.
A Claes Oldenburg sculpture stands alone in a field.
A Frank Gehry building that is an active factory
The drive over to the next hotel has a series of delightful villages.......
[
Time to head for Switzerland and the town of Basel to see a small art installation in the town. Arrived at the Trois Rois hotel after a nightmare of one-way streets. After the Baden-Baden experience I am not going to get trapped in another pedestrian maze so do a U-turn to get to the hotel.
I give the hotel full marks for best hotel car, a Bentley which they had local schoolkids decorate. I did not use it but was fun to see.
Rooms and public spaces are very good:
Grabbed an Uber over to the Art Foundation which has been established privately in a quiet part of town. It is housed in a stunning building by Renzo Piano and contains a small collection
of the greatest modern artists fro Matisse and Picasso to Francis Bacon as well as more recent artists added since the death of the founders. Well worth a visit if you are interested.
Back at the hotel on the room balcony later I noted an odd sight. People were swimming down the Rhine holding some kind of small flotation bags. Turns out that these are garment bags and people swim home from work. Given how difficult it is to drive in Basel this is an excellent solution. A police boat monitors the swim.
This was a great , beautifully decorated, great service, great rooms, great restaurant and patio dining overlooking the Rhine.
The night view was also beautiful.
Next day the Alpine trip really gets going, hitting a number of the Swiss Passes not previously travelled. Hotel will be in Andermatt which is more or less at an intersection of several alpine drives.
I give the hotel full marks for best hotel car, a Bentley which they had local schoolkids decorate. I did not use it but was fun to see.
Rooms and public spaces are very good:
Grabbed an Uber over to the Art Foundation which has been established privately in a quiet part of town. It is housed in a stunning building by Renzo Piano and contains a small collection
of the greatest modern artists fro Matisse and Picasso to Francis Bacon as well as more recent artists added since the death of the founders. Well worth a visit if you are interested.
Back at the hotel on the room balcony later I noted an odd sight. People were swimming down the Rhine holding some kind of small flotation bags. Turns out that these are garment bags and people swim home from work. Given how difficult it is to drive in Basel this is an excellent solution. A police boat monitors the swim.
This was a great , beautifully decorated, great service, great rooms, great restaurant and patio dining overlooking the Rhine.
The night view was also beautiful.
Next day the Alpine trip really gets going, hitting a number of the Swiss Passes not previously travelled. Hotel will be in Andermatt which is more or less at an intersection of several alpine drives.
Set out in the morning for the Furkha Pass; this was where a famous scene of a James Bond Alpine pursuit was filmed in Goldfinger ( YT clip here).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1KZOSGIOUM
The foothills are classic Swiss greenery and quite lush.
However, soon the car was above the tree line and the glacial lakes appeared. The tiny dot in the shot below is a cable car.
The roads become more and more convoluted though not particularly difficult to drive on, and there are many car rallies and drive clubs. The Volvo is just fine or this kind of cruise.
[url]
|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/77298/202410046743587[
/url]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1KZOSGIOUM
The foothills are classic Swiss greenery and quite lush.
However, soon the car was above the tree line and the glacial lakes appeared. The tiny dot in the shot below is a cable car.
The roads become more and more convoluted though not particularly difficult to drive on, and there are many car rallies and drive clubs. The Volvo is just fine or this kind of cruise.
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As the day went on the weather began to deteriorate, though there was only light rain here and there.
Arriving in Andermatt into an ultramodern hotel complex which had been designed for skiers mainly, but in the shoulder season is only moderately full. In the parking lot there there are two cars of interest-
A beautiful Mercedes 280SE 3.5, to me one of the most elegant coupés and which would be delightful for a European cruise.
A manual Morgan +8, not much more practical than my 992RS though at least it is possible to strap a suitcase to it. Would be a lot of fun in the mountains.
My own car would arrive from the Netherlands in four days time. and meet me near Munich.
Arriving in Andermatt into an ultramodern hotel complex which had been designed for skiers mainly, but in the shoulder season is only moderately full. In the parking lot there there are two cars of interest-
A beautiful Mercedes 280SE 3.5, to me one of the most elegant coupés and which would be delightful for a European cruise.
A manual Morgan +8, not much more practical than my 992RS though at least it is possible to strap a suitcase to it. Would be a lot of fun in the mountains.
My own car would arrive from the Netherlands in four days time. and meet me near Munich.
Edited by RDMcG on Friday 4th October 02:04
The hotel has an impressive lobby , and gets a two antler acknowledgment even if they are not real
However, the big surprise is the greatest free upgrade I have ever experienced. The room could host a cocktail party for 40, has two bathrooms, two dressing rooms, a dining table for six and a nice view from the balcony.
Dinner is OK in therestaurant though service is bad.
Next morning we hit the road again for another series of mountain passes and the weather slowly worsens during the day, but the scenery is magnificent
[url]
|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/77298/202410044761443[/url
Returning in the evening have dinner in the Japanese restaurant at the hotel, very good food and decor but nobody in Japan would recognize it as Japanese. Still, great service and ambiance.
However, the big surprise is the greatest free upgrade I have ever experienced. The room could host a cocktail party for 40, has two bathrooms, two dressing rooms, a dining table for six and a nice view from the balcony.
Dinner is OK in therestaurant though service is bad.
Next morning we hit the road again for another series of mountain passes and the weather slowly worsens during the day, but the scenery is magnificent
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Returning in the evening have dinner in the Japanese restaurant at the hotel, very good food and decor but nobody in Japan would recognize it as Japanese. Still, great service and ambiance.
By evening we are in St Moritz ( I assume it is only famous for skiing as the town is nothing amazing). The Suvreta House is an old line hotel, feels like the thirties, but has been refurbished and is comfortable. View from the room balcony is excellent and dinner in the restaurant is traditional and good.
Next morning it is time to hit the best pass of all.
Stelvio.
Next morning it is time to hit the best pass of all.
Stelvio.
It is much different and more difficult than the previous passes with steeper turns, so a right hand turn requires you to go into the opposing lane or the car will clip the inside corner. There are numerous motorbikes and cyclists ,with the latter at walking pace on the ascent and 50 km/h on the drop.
The weather is sublime. Three days later it will suddenly turn and the pass will close for the season as the winter snow settles in. Very lucky break.
The weather is sublime. Three days later it will suddenly turn and the pass will close for the season as the winter snow settles in. Very lucky break.
From Stelvio there is excellent wine country in the Alto Adige- I have some favourite wines from this region. The area has changed jurisdictions many times. All of the signage is bilingual in Italian and German.
The hotel sits about a kilometre up a steep hill with narrow roads- a very small place called Castel Fragsburg. Arriving at parking, the lot was full of Porsche 992s. Looking at the registrations they were all Stuttgart plates. Turned out it was a Porsche Drive for the American club.
Two antler award for the hotel.
Also special mention for the ceramic aiming flies in the urinals.
This is an excellent little place, stunning views and dining on a very nice patio with great food and very nice rooms.
In nearby Bolzano is a strange exhibit. In the foothills here a frozen mummified man was discovered from about 3500BC, the oldest discovered in Europe. He was fully clothed. He has been preserved in a special viewing chamber. He was killed by a spear in the back but lived for some time before finally expiring. Named Öti he is in a special exhibition space. Direct photography of the body is not permitted understandably but there is a very accurate reconstruction on display. Te body was well preserved enough to get DNA, hair, clothing, shoes and so on.
Then, things begin to go sideways a little. Returning to the hotel the weather finally catches up up with us. The clouds descend and a heavy rain begins to fall., so dinner is inside but still very good.
Headed out to the next destination, a place called Das Achental in Grassau, Germany which is mostly a golf resort but quite comfortable in a resort sort of way. We will meet the Porsche there.
The hotel sits about a kilometre up a steep hill with narrow roads- a very small place called Castel Fragsburg. Arriving at parking, the lot was full of Porsche 992s. Looking at the registrations they were all Stuttgart plates. Turned out it was a Porsche Drive for the American club.
Two antler award for the hotel.
Also special mention for the ceramic aiming flies in the urinals.
This is an excellent little place, stunning views and dining on a very nice patio with great food and very nice rooms.
In nearby Bolzano is a strange exhibit. In the foothills here a frozen mummified man was discovered from about 3500BC, the oldest discovered in Europe. He was fully clothed. He has been preserved in a special viewing chamber. He was killed by a spear in the back but lived for some time before finally expiring. Named Öti he is in a special exhibition space. Direct photography of the body is not permitted understandably but there is a very accurate reconstruction on display. Te body was well preserved enough to get DNA, hair, clothing, shoes and so on.
Then, things begin to go sideways a little. Returning to the hotel the weather finally catches up up with us. The clouds descend and a heavy rain begins to fall., so dinner is inside but still very good.
Headed out to the next destination, a place called Das Achental in Grassau, Germany which is mostly a golf resort but quite comfortable in a resort sort of way. We will meet the Porsche there.
The drive over to Das Achantal is quite scenic though steep:
Das Achental is mostly a golf resort but quite comfortable in a resort sort of way. We will meet the Porsche there.??
This gets the Grand Antler award of all hotels. They love them here and they are everywhere.
Food’s quite good here and the breakfast buffet is excellent as usual with all the hotels.
The weather looked promising:
Next morning the car is due for delivery at 8am. At 7:50 the driver called and indicated he had arrived. Unloading is amazingly efficient and he leaves the hotel at 8:05am. Perfect service, car is perfect shape, I called the shipping company to express my satisfaction with the driver, and they asked if I wanted the same driver to do the pickup for the return journey.
Definitely.
Das Achental is mostly a golf resort but quite comfortable in a resort sort of way. We will meet the Porsche there.??
This gets the Grand Antler award of all hotels. They love them here and they are everywhere.
Food’s quite good here and the breakfast buffet is excellent as usual with all the hotels.
The weather looked promising:
Next morning the car is due for delivery at 8am. At 7:50 the driver called and indicated he had arrived. Unloading is amazingly efficient and he leaves the hotel at 8:05am. Perfect service, car is perfect shape, I called the shipping company to express my satisfaction with the driver, and they asked if I wanted the same driver to do the pickup for the return journey.
Definitely.
Edited by RDMcG on Friday 4th October 18:48
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