Today unfolded better than we could have expected. I got up at 6 a.m. to get us all packed up and out the door as early as possible so we could visit Autostadt. As we were leaving the Ritz Carlton the amazing Carina the Concierge asked us where we were heading today. We let her know that after we picked up our rental at Hertz we were headed to Autostadt. She got excited and told us there was a Ritz Carlton there and said she would call them and let them know we were coming. I didn't realize the hotel was literally right in the park, the only one in the park, it was technically part of the park.
We picked up our car just a few miles from the hotel at Hertz. We were psyched that they gave us a Mercedes CLA350. It has a big trunk for our bags, sunroof, navigation and looks fast. We will find out once we are on the Autobahn! Well it proved to be plenty fast as we got to around 135 mph/200kmph today....so fun! And, we weren't breaking any laws at that speed, I might add. Love Germany!
We found the hotel and a couple folks Martin and the GM Edith met us. They had organized a tour of the park for us and then we asked if it was possible for us to book a tour of the factory. We would love to see how VW is made. This is the home of VW and as you enter the park you are greeted by 2 huge silos of cars- over 800 cars stacked into silos ready for pickup that day. People make it a part of their experience and tour this "Theme Park" before being shown the whole car and everything and picking it up at Autostadt. The silos move cars like how the high tech book movers in libraries move cars. There are two elevator arms essentially that move these cars, all without drivers. It is a technology wonder.
We toured through the high tech Audi Pavillion and saw their latest cars and everyone and anyone can climb behind the drivers seat and checkout the cars. We wandered into the Porsche Pavilion which I believe is made out of aluminum or steel and looks like a wave almost. We went into the Lamborghini Pavillion which just had one older Lambo in it and a laser light show and then by far my favorite was the Bugatti Pavillion which was so modern and was all mirrored with a mirrored Bugatti Veyron. It was simply like art. I could have that in my entry hall if I had a modern house. It was just beautiful. There were many other buildings too including one of the most visited car museums in the world which essentially captures their favorite cars over the past 120 years, from the first tricycle type vehicle in the late 1800s. Not only are the structures beautiful designed, but they are then filled with works of arts - the cars, and then everything is displayed so artistically. We just loved it all.
The hotel was generous enough to organize a tour of the factory. We drove over to the factory which runs 1.5 miles long and has 50 miles of road inside. We were taken around in a car especially designed for tours which was like a convertible VW minivan. We saw how the sheet metal is cut and shaped, then how they puncture holes in it, they weld it together- by the way...all with machines/huge robots. We couldn't see where they are painted because that has to be in a dustfree environment, but saw how the engine is mounted into the car, the dashboard attached and screwed in by the robots and then how it keeps going down the line and the assembly and how everyone has a job as it gets to assembly and they each sign off their part they do. Each car made in the factory has been purchased and has special rims, interior, color,...that is particular to that order and the machines keep track of that all through production. It was amazing!!! I felt like I was watching Transformers and was mind boggled how these machines were created and what they were capable of producing in a day. Each car has over 6000 pieces, takes around 20 hours from start to finish to build and assemble. The factory runs 24 hours a day and builds over 4000 cars a day.
All through the factory they had bikes everywhere. The plant is miles long and to get between areas the workers take bicycles. They all have licensees on them and each person is assigned a bike. They have over 25,000 people just working in the factory and over half of the town of 100,000 working for VW. It is really funny everywhere you look someone is driving either a VW or an Audi and that's understandable when 1/2 the town works for the company.
We loved our tour, there was so much more we learned and saw, but too much for most people to be interested in. But, we loved it. Sam ate it up and I did too. When we left the gentleman that took us around gave Sam a miniature UP! a car they don't have in America. Great time in the factory and after taking a bit of a rest once we returned, we took in the last 45 of the park at the design and building display which was state of the art and showed how they design the cars and originally build them out of a firm clay putty like material. We saw closer up the steps to assembly and looked at cross-sections of several cars. We finished with their exhibit on sustainability and how the emissions that our cars put out needs to be reduced by nearly 90% before 2050 to stop the thinning of the earth's ozone. That the CO2 that is being put out in the world is raising the temperature by .8 Celsius, I assume. VW is the number 2 manufacturer of cars, only behind Toyota and they are finding ways to minimize the CO2 output of their cars. They have several electric cars now and more sustainable cars each year.
We said our goodbyes and expressed our gratitude for being treated so well and all the VIP treatment we were showered with today and then amazing tours and enthusiasm over Autostadt and their beautiful modern hotel and we were off to the Vogel BirdPark, about 1:45 mins for most, but with our speedy car and fast motor speedway- we mad it in about 1:20 mins. The hotel is literally right next to the Bird Park and Sam is already planning his early bedtime and early wakeup to be the first in the park tomorrow. He has been excited for weeks now and I hope he can sleep!
We picked up our car just a few miles from the hotel at Hertz. We were psyched that they gave us a Mercedes CLA350. It has a big trunk for our bags, sunroof, navigation and looks fast. We will find out once we are on the Autobahn! Well it proved to be plenty fast as we got to around 135 mph/200kmph today....so fun! And, we weren't breaking any laws at that speed, I might add. Love Germany!
We found the hotel and a couple folks Martin and the GM Edith met us. They had organized a tour of the park for us and then we asked if it was possible for us to book a tour of the factory. We would love to see how VW is made. This is the home of VW and as you enter the park you are greeted by 2 huge silos of cars- over 800 cars stacked into silos ready for pickup that day. People make it a part of their experience and tour this "Theme Park" before being shown the whole car and everything and picking it up at Autostadt. The silos move cars like how the high tech book movers in libraries move cars. There are two elevator arms essentially that move these cars, all without drivers. It is a technology wonder.
We toured through the high tech Audi Pavillion and saw their latest cars and everyone and anyone can climb behind the drivers seat and checkout the cars. We wandered into the Porsche Pavilion which I believe is made out of aluminum or steel and looks like a wave almost. We went into the Lamborghini Pavillion which just had one older Lambo in it and a laser light show and then by far my favorite was the Bugatti Pavillion which was so modern and was all mirrored with a mirrored Bugatti Veyron. It was simply like art. I could have that in my entry hall if I had a modern house. It was just beautiful. There were many other buildings too including one of the most visited car museums in the world which essentially captures their favorite cars over the past 120 years, from the first tricycle type vehicle in the late 1800s. Not only are the structures beautiful designed, but they are then filled with works of arts - the cars, and then everything is displayed so artistically. We just loved it all.
The hotel was generous enough to organize a tour of the factory. We drove over to the factory which runs 1.5 miles long and has 50 miles of road inside. We were taken around in a car especially designed for tours which was like a convertible VW minivan. We saw how the sheet metal is cut and shaped, then how they puncture holes in it, they weld it together- by the way...all with machines/huge robots. We couldn't see where they are painted because that has to be in a dustfree environment, but saw how the engine is mounted into the car, the dashboard attached and screwed in by the robots and then how it keeps going down the line and the assembly and how everyone has a job as it gets to assembly and they each sign off their part they do. Each car made in the factory has been purchased and has special rims, interior, color,...that is particular to that order and the machines keep track of that all through production. It was amazing!!! I felt like I was watching Transformers and was mind boggled how these machines were created and what they were capable of producing in a day. Each car has over 6000 pieces, takes around 20 hours from start to finish to build and assemble. The factory runs 24 hours a day and builds over 4000 cars a day.
All through the factory they had bikes everywhere. The plant is miles long and to get between areas the workers take bicycles. They all have licensees on them and each person is assigned a bike. They have over 25,000 people just working in the factory and over half of the town of 100,000 working for VW. It is really funny everywhere you look someone is driving either a VW or an Audi and that's understandable when 1/2 the town works for the company.
We loved our tour, there was so much more we learned and saw, but too much for most people to be interested in. But, we loved it. Sam ate it up and I did too. When we left the gentleman that took us around gave Sam a miniature UP! a car they don't have in America. Great time in the factory and after taking a bit of a rest once we returned, we took in the last 45 of the park at the design and building display which was state of the art and showed how they design the cars and originally build them out of a firm clay putty like material. We saw closer up the steps to assembly and looked at cross-sections of several cars. We finished with their exhibit on sustainability and how the emissions that our cars put out needs to be reduced by nearly 90% before 2050 to stop the thinning of the earth's ozone. That the CO2 that is being put out in the world is raising the temperature by .8 Celsius, I assume. VW is the number 2 manufacturer of cars, only behind Toyota and they are finding ways to minimize the CO2 output of their cars. They have several electric cars now and more sustainable cars each year.
We said our goodbyes and expressed our gratitude for being treated so well and all the VIP treatment we were showered with today and then amazing tours and enthusiasm over Autostadt and their beautiful modern hotel and we were off to the Vogel BirdPark, about 1:45 mins for most, but with our speedy car and fast motor speedway- we mad it in about 1:20 mins. The hotel is literally right next to the Bird Park and Sam is already planning his early bedtime and early wakeup to be the first in the park tomorrow. He has been excited for weeks now and I hope he can sleep!
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