June 3-4 – Disneyland & Paris
Disneyland Paris was a bit of a disappointment for me. Many of the big rides were closed, apparently for refurbishment because of the upcoming 25th anniversary in 2017. However for real Disney fans, like my son and daughter in-law, it was still great!
My wife & I aren’t quite the Disney fanatics my son and daughter in-law are, so we decided to take the train into Paris the following day. Neither of us had ever been there before. It was an amazing place to walk around. So many old fancy buildings and monuments. The city itself was like a work of art. It was a nice day to stroll around a beautiful city. We exited at a train station right by the Arc de Triomphe.
Because the trip into Paris wasn’t really planned, we hadn’t made reservations for the Eiffel Tower. The wait for standbys was 2-3 hours just to get to the first level, without any guarantee to go higher. Since we didn’t want to spend our whole time here waiting in line, we decided to just look from the ground and then walk around to see more things.
The Seine was running very high while we were there. It was nearly to the bottom of the bridges and submerged the walkway along the banks. Many boats were stuck were they were tied as they could no longer pass under the bridges, so no river tours. (Some boats you would have swim to even get to!)
I was surprised how really big the Louvre is. Seeing it on the map is one thing, but actually seeing it is another. I knew it was several buildings, but the buildings are HUGE. Unfortunately, it was closed due to possible flooding.
Luckily we were able to go into Notre-Dame. It is amazing.
On the way back to the train station to head back to Disney, we came across a very colorful parade.
June 5 – Flight Home
Our trip to the airport ended up being quite the nerve-wracking adventure. The plan was to take the RER train to Disneyland, then the TGV high-speed train to the airport (only 10 minutes!). We went to the train station with plenty of time to spare, but it never arrived. After waiting for about 30 minutes, during which two trains to Disneyland should have arrived, an announcement was made that there was some sort of mechanical problem that would delay trains for an unknown time. We raced back to the hotel and had them call a taxi. That took another 15 minutes and we arrived at the Disneyland station with just a few minutes to catch the TGV train to the airport. As we were running to catch the train, we stopped to ask which track it was on and were told the train had been cancelled due to a work stoppage (strike)! After walking outside, we noticed the taxi that had driven us from the hotel. I ran to ask if he could take us to the airport and was told it would cost 120 euros. We didn’t have much choice if we were going to catch our plane, so loaded up the luggage, hopped in, and headed to the airport. The TGV would have taken 10 minutes, but the taxi took nearly an hour, so we wouldn’t be getting to the airport with much time to spare. But France wasn’t quite done with us yet… Just as we got to the airport, some guy in a personal car tried to go in the entrance for taxis and busses. The entrance had a gate, and the guy didn’t have the card to open it. It took several minutes for enough taxis and busses in the lane behind him to backup far enough for him to get out. Thankfully, we had arrived in time to catch our flight and the remaining trip home was completely uneventful.
The Wait and Redelivery
Then the waiting began again. In some respects, it was just as bad as expected, but in others not so much. Sometimes it was almost like the M3 was just a vacation rental and wasn’t really mine. Anyway, the wait ended up being about a month shorter than I was expecting. It got loaded on the ship a week after dropping it off in Munich. After spending 5 weeks on the ship, a week in the VPC to replace the front bumper I scraped in Zandvoort, it was loaded on the truck for the trip to Tacoma. I monitored the United Road several times a day and finally noticed it had been delivered! I immediately called my CA. He was off that day, but said he would check into it and get back with me in a couple hours. Forget that! I then called the dealership. I was told they would find out and call me right back. I got a call a few minutes later asking when I would like to pick it up. I asked "Is now good?"
We set the time for late that afternoon. So on the afternoon of July 26th, just less than 8 weeks after dropping it off in Munich, I was able to pick up my M3.
When Doing It Again...
A European Delivery is the perfect way to get a car. I would do it again it a heartbeat. I would however drive a whole lot less and spend more time in fewer places. 3200 miles in two weeks was a bit too much. This trip was about the cars and track days, and that added a lot of driving. I’m glad we were able to do and see everything we did, but it was a whole lot of going and not much relaxing. I think 2 or 3 days at each stop would be a lot more enjoyable and not nearly as hurried. And a much better way to actually SEE Europe.
Why Backseat Passengers?
I realize from a couple comments to the first posts here I didn’t mention why my son and daughter in-law were riding around with us. It wasn’t only that we all thought it would be fun to go on the trip together. When he originally contacted me about the tour, it was because he wanted to do it with a European Delivery of an M2. As the tour dates approached, he ended up buying his airplane tickets before the cost went up if he waited for the last minute. We had both already paid for the tour and he was #1 & #2 at two dealers, so he expected to get one. But the very slow allocation release never got to either dealer in time. So, since tickets were bought, vacation planned, and rental cars were available at the tracks, they got to ride around in the back seat.
Luckily the trunk on the M3 was big enough for all our luggage!
My son finally did get his M2 and did his own European Delivery in mid-October. He also did a Performance Center Delivery in late December.
