The Bamas Meet Bruno the Beamer!

Yours truly is proud to report that I am now the rightful owner of a German driver's license.  Yup, after 3 days studying, taking an agonizing 4 hour class on how German driving is different from American (its all about the Right-of-Way), and completing a 100 question test, I'm legal!  Itching to get on the road, I put my energy into finding a car that was afforable (read under $3,000), reliable and not a gas guzzler.  Enter Bruno:

this is Bruno

Bruno is a  German spec 1995 BMW 320i who was for sale because his owner bikes to work and didn't have a need for him any longer.  He's not as snazzy as the BMW's we test drove Saturday (more about that later...) but he's something that I can drive without worrying.  HOWEVER (and this is big), Bruno has a manual transmission.  Not usually an issue, but when you don't know how to drive manual., it's a big deal.  

So not only am I dealing with a whole new set of road rules, but I'm faced with the challenge of learning how to drive a car that can't figure out on its own what gear to be in!  

Mr. Bama took me around a rarely traveled loop of road near our Inn to train me in this new adventure.  After lots of stalling and swearing, I've finally gotten a hang of it.  But in short: clutches are stupid and I DESPISE hills.  But I do like the sense of control.....

story of my standard transmission life

While we're still on the topic of BMWs, guess what I got to do last Saturday:

(source)

We test drove brand new BMW's at the Schweinfurt dealership -- The autobahn made it so I was able to drive my  personal record speed of 100mph while Mr. Bama clocked out this bad boy at 160 mph

The BMW M3.  Its prettier in real life.  I promise

Next blog post:  Eating healthy when you a) live in a hotel and b) theres a *slight* produce shortage.  And by slight I mean substantial.  Yay E.Coli!  Fun fun times, I tell yah.