1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia – Germany (Part 7)

Germany is a great and large country with lots to see. We only spent 1 night! Tick. Been there – seen it – done it.

The reason we stay so little as we only have a limited time on this trip and too many places to stop and see friends. For Germany, we focused on seeing Aey’s family in Darmstadt.

Before we start the trip to Germany, if you want to see the other locations that our family and the Alfa Romeo made it to. Here they are:

1966 Alfa Romeo – Road Trip
1966 Alfa Romeo – Vesuvius and Pomepii
1966 Alfa Romeo – Perugia
1966 Alfa Romeo – Pisa & Manarola
1966 Alfa Romeo – Varese, Italy
1966 Alfa Romeo – Lausanne, Switzerland

Here is a map to remind you where Darmstadt, Germany is located.

Map of Darmstadt, Germany.

The drive from Switzerland was uneventful, except for a hitchhiker that approached me at a petrol station and wanted a short ride ‘just across the border, to Germany, as I want to go shopping there and it is cheaper’. The border was only 5 minutes away. I said ‘heck yeah’. Aey looked me like I was crazy. I did ask if he was a murderer, and he said no. We got to the border, and the German border guard made us stop, and said ‘great car’ and waved us on. 2 minutes later the passenger said ‘you can let me out here’, at an exit with nothing around. Aey said I smuggled a guy across the border. I prefer to think I helped him save money on his shopping.

[irp posts=”583″ name=”Creaform Metra car scan at Riding Cafe”]

The only thing I wanted to see in Germany was the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart and it was right on the way! I then looked it up on a website and noticed that they are open 6 days a week and closed on Mondays. Ohhhhhh darnnnnn it is Monday! As you can imagine, I grumbled about this for a few hours. Of all days, they close on a Monday? Sunday, easy to imagine – but a Monday?

Heartbroken I did not make it to the Porsche Museum.

The drive from Lausanne to Darmstadt is a rather long drive of 5+ hours, all at 110-120 km/h (75mph). Checking our fuel consumption, we were getting 13.9 km/l (38 mpg). The Alfa Romeo seems to really hit a sweet spot at this speed.

Happy family. Jake goofing around.

Don’t feed the animals.

Snacks. Smile.

Jake took this picture of our reflection in the milk truck.

We are closing in on Darmstadt.

We stayed at the Hotel Jagdschloss Kranichstein. Try saying that 5 times. It was a truly world class hotel, huge modern rooms, and a bed from heaven.

[irp posts=”659″ name=”3D laser scan of King Naresuan”]

Hotel entrance. Peaceful.

Hotel entrance, where you unload the bags.

Aey’s sister and some cousins live in Darmstadt. We were to meet at the Darmstadt Ratskeller Hausbrauerei. That is a code word for “beer-a-plenty”.

Aey’s family in Germany. Amazing how people move all over the world.

Jake’s Thai/German cousin and friend.

They keep track of your beers with ‘X’ on the beer coasters.

[irp posts=”637″ name=”Reverse engineering an Aermacchi CRTT frame”]

Well, there you go. Our immersion into German culture was complete and we checked out of the Hotel Jagdschloss Kranichstein in the morning.

Sweet hotel, wife, boy and car.

Hotel guest allowed me to get into the picture.

The drive to the Netherlands was easy. Straight. Flat. Good friends were at the end of the rainbow.

On this trip, was the only time I got stopped by the police. 2 times, both on this morning drive. In Germany, I ran a yellow light. They told me to stop on yellow, and let me go. At the Netherlands border, I was pulled over for no apparent reason and was let go with a wave and a smile. I was surprised I did not get pulled over more, as I have an odd car and strange license plates.