(c)Tero Virta, 1995-2009

Monday, July 14, 2008

Autostadt


Smile? Me? Yeah, right.. While I liked the Mercedes Museum and the old Volkswagen Museum, this automotive Disney Land wasn't for me.

I love Beetles and Buses and Ghias etc due to their styling, awkward mechanics like the air-cooled engine, Cal Look and Resto Cal etc. I'm not into modern cars no matter what the brand is (except perhaps Porsche) and Volkswagen or Audi today are like German Toyota, so not really interesting. As Volkswagen factory very rarely backed motor sport it lacks the same racing heritage Porsche and Mercedes may have (Auto-Union did but that was pre-war stuff and before the merger anyway). And the other brands the corporation had more recently acquired, I don't know.. I didn't simply find enough interesting stuff per acre (yeah, it's large) in AutoStadt.

Autostadt is a happy place, you can stay at nice Carlton-Ritz hotel, spend a nice day in the theme park (or at the old museum), have a nice meal or coffee and it hides the Wolfsburg City, which isn't attractive like many of the other German cities are. No need to go out to the City when all you need to your visit is nicely tucked in same area (bit like the Casinos in Las Vegas).

Nicest place to visit in Autostadt was the ZeitHaus displaying vintage cars and automotive milestones from various brands. Also some of the most presentable vintage Volkswagens had been moved there from the old museum.

















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