We had a group of friends planning to surprise our friend, Monte, with a birthday party at Oktoberfest. It’s always great to meet up with friends while on the road in far away places, so we naturally coordinated schedules to spend a whirlwind weekend in Germany at two of the largest beer festivals in the world—Oktoberfest in Munich and Volksfest in Stuttgart.
Besides beer festivals, Germany is also known for luxury car engineering. So, to complete the German experience, we also spent time touring the Mercedes car museum and, of course, taking a drive on the autobahns.
Our friend, Chris, was excited to rent a BMW for the weekend and “open it up” on the autobahn. As you probably know by now, I am not always the greatest car passenger. So, I was less than excited about driving on the autobahn. Let’s just say driving the autobahn was NOT on my bucket list so I had a bit of anxiety. Nevertheless, Chris and his wife, Vanessa, were kind enough to provide transportation for us while in Germany, so as a passenger I was just along for the ride. There was no avoiding the autobahn.
After a fun-filled night at Oktoberfest, we hit the road in the morning to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. On the way out of town, traffic slowed us down initially, but we finally hit an open stretch of highway which gave Chris his first chance to test the limits of his BMW. To his chagrin, we were only able to accelerate for a short period of time to a speed of 180 km/hr. This was plenty fast for me, especially since I was riding in the center back with full view of the road and speedometer. Chris, however, was quite disappointed as was my brother, who was egging him on the whole time. They both knew the car could do much more. They just needed a longer stretch of open road.
Luckily, Chris did get another chance later in the day on our way to Stuttgart. This time it was dark which added to my anxiety. But, when all was said and done, he “maxed out” at about 226 km/hr! It was faster than I ever anticipated traveling by car and I found myself taking some deep breathes and letting out a few sighs of relief once we returned to a sane speed. I can’t say it was my favorite moment of the weekend, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and one that I will not be repeating again anytime soon!
