Waiting for the baby

Only a few of you knew, that J and I have been expecting a new arrival.  We have been working on this for over a year. The doctors assured me that if I worked hard I would be ready for the delivery, we have known the delivery date since February.  Well the big day arrived on August 17th.  We took a taxi out to the delivery room from the center of Stuttgart that morning and checked in with reception.  We were scheduled for an orientation tour at 10:30, followed by lunch and an introduction to little Sigfried at 1:15.  We will know when he is ready, he will stand out in the mass of black, white and brown.  Sigfried, like his distant uncle Ben is red.

A red 4-door CLA - Oh there he is, how exciting!

I really was an amazing experience.  Mercedes provided the taxi, an E-Class Mercedes of course. The driver knew exactly where to take us, he has done this before.  Mercedes also provided the hotel for the night before, the Graf Zeppelin in Stuttgart - nice - very nice.  We were moving on to Ludwigsberg, so we had all of our luggage with us.  I was not sure how that would work.  No need to worry, by the time I got out of the Taxi at the factory delivery center there was a man with a cart ready to check the bags.  We were ushered into check in.  The final paperwork for temporary registration and insurance were signed and we were confirmed for a guided tour of the factory, lunch and a delivery time.  The tour and lunch were wonderful and precisely on time, what else can you expect from the people who build the finest cars in the world.  We went to the delivery desk after lunch and I looked over the rail, and there was one red car on the floor in a sea of black, grey, white, and brown.  The delivery specialist spent 20 minutes showing us around the car. While we were doing that a guy arrived with our luggage and loaded it into the trunk. The delivery guy synced J's phone to the car and we were on our way.

We had the car for up to two weeks, with a drop it off at the airport in Munich.  It will be shipped home and we will take delivery a second time in 10-12 weeks. To head off the comments about money, it is a really good deal.  For US customers, there is a 7% discount on the car and they waive the trans-Atlantic shipping charge. And Mercedes provides two weeks of insurance and registration.  J had a conference at Oxford, so we were planning a vacation in Europe anyway.  The experience of taking factory delivery of your new baby, priceless.

I now know why German's build the finest cars in the world, drive the Autobahn, the finest roads in the world and you know why.  That story will come soon.  Hint, fast, very-very fast.