First order of business was to get to the BMW factory and organize a tour.
That did not go so well.
No-one on the gate had a clue, but they dug up a phone# and web-site.
The web-site was the one that I had already looked at, to no avail. How bad is it? I was lucky to find the address of the factory. As for organising at tour, no calendar of availability, no “shopping basket”, no clear instructions 🙁
The phone# worked better, though you do have to try several times. No queue. Just time out after 7mins and then you are cut off. Seems random. But after a while got through and found a real live person.
Sad news. No space till September 5th.
Still. I was given an email address so that I could send a request for the link to the online booking page. Still trying to get that to work.
Next stop was to refuel both me and the bike. Nice pita, baklava and coffee took care of me. Ethanol free petrol, chain-lube and general TLC took care of the bike.
Off to BMW dealer for a check on the bike. As suspected brakes and chain need some TLC. I will bring the bike in tomorrow.
A ride downtown Berlin, showed lots of green space. And a few of the sights.
The space, and greenery, was not what I was expecting from a major city.
Then onto my airbnb stop.
Rapha is my young host. And once I unloaded my gear, we went to the local brewpub.
A couple of nice pints in the beer garden.
Chatted about how Berlin does not have a concentrated downtown like most cities. But has this large area defined by the “circle” line (underground/subway).
Been a long hot day on the bike. The cool evening and beers with chat made a perfect end.