Seeing the sights

Yesterday we visited the BMW WELT and the BMW museum and the Olympic Park which is nearby.

BMW stands for Bayerischer Motoren Werken.

They started business providing engines for aircraft for the first German Air Force but in 1929 took over another car company in Thuringen and went into car production. By the sixties their sleek, reliable middle and upper range dominated the market. They now own 2 well known British Marques: Rolls Royce and the Mini.

The success story is revealed in the BMW Welt with all the latest models on display. It’s not just auto models either, a most ravishing dark-haired beauty with a winning smile showed me the Mini cabriolet. As ever her English was perfect and like a true salesman/ woman she was quoting favourable leasing deals and the strong second hand market.

The museum over the road dealt more with the BMW history. In the archive section there were large books of photographs  of the past with a commentary. To be fair they did not gloss over their shameful war time when 50% of the work force was slave labour from the camps with no comforts and required to sleep by the machine they worked all day. They have paid reparations too.

By having a numbered range from the first 1.5 to the 7 series they maintain the brand and its reputation for high performance, comfort and elan.

After this Tom and I strolled over to the Olympic Park which was 5 minutes away. I will let him tell the story.