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Tech Talk Bill RogeRs Roge Dateline Stuttgart. Here it is December 4th as I write this in my hotel room in Stuttgart, Germany. Am I dedicated or what? Must be why I get the big bucks for writing this column. This all started when Sheryl and I took a drive to Leavenworth with the Koontz's one fall day. When we got there I said it was nice but I wanted to see the real thing again. I convinced Sheryl we could go over and shop at the Kris Krindl Markt. Of course as long as we're there we should take in a car museum or two or three. So, on a cold and snowy Thanksgiving morning we were on our way. Our first flight was to Chicago, then connecting to flight 906 to Munich. Now when you have a flight number like that and you're going to end up in Stuttgart, how can you possibly go wrong? Arriving in Munich we found it was colder and there was more snow on the ground than we had in Seattle. After getting settled in to our hotel and a quick nap to refresh us, we were off to town. The Christmas Market in Munich is held on the Marienplatz right under the Glockenspiel. The weather was cold but the gluhwein was warm and helped keep us warm and toasty. On Saturday the market was gridlock so I suggested the only rational alternative - go to the BMW Museum. They have redone it since my last visit and had lots of nice cars on display. The featured display were the BMW art cars. The new BMW Welt (World) located across the street is also interesting. It is a combination mega dealership, tourist delivery center and all other things BMW including a nice boutique and several restaurants. 14 January 2011 On Sunday we were off to Garmisch for the day. This is the town that Leavenworth used for a pattern to reinvent themselves. On Tuesday we took the train to Stuttgart to visit with our friend Sven Jonsson and his family. Sven works for Porsche at Weissach and tried to get us a tour but was unable to accomplish that one. He was able to get us into a factory tour one morning and that was great. This was our third tour and it sure has changed since the first one in 1969! We weren't able to see the metal or paint shops but watched final assembly and toured the engine shops. It is amazing how the right color door shows up at the right time to be reinstalled on the car. After a quick lunch we did the museum, what a treat that was! The new facility is beautiful and well laid out. Seeing all of those 917s lined up is awe