MM in Stuttgart (Horse Garden) is now History. All survived...all Lancia & all Attendees.
Only 1 Gamma stayed at home with its driver....due to a "discovered at last-minute, just prior to leaving" oil leak...all over garage floor!! " It was good that it was discovered b4 leaving, it was bad that it occured:X.
Team(s) Norway
couldn't fly in as planned; due to volcanic-issue that was out of their
area of control...so they ferried to Continent, then drove...straight from Nord-See to Stuttgart. Applause Guys!!
3 members of Fiat 131 Consortium added to # of Teams attending ! Thanks Guys, for being the
local-VIP's ; see you at the 131 Rallye, we in a Gamma, what else ?
1 red XKE graced the Hotel parking lot, but it wasn't a MM person !
2 new Delta + 1 new Alpha (that 'other, lesser, Ital Marque') graced the parking lot as well
, 2 were driven by MM persons. No 1 looked at (vry nce) Alpha ; everyone looked at, sat in, fell in love with new Delta .. mee too
All 'Events within Event' went well; with different Teams sometimes taking different routes in different directions to different Museums on different days; since some different Teams had previously visited some of these different Museums & chose to visit a new different museum on some different days than the others who visited different museums. No 1 visited all Museums on this trip; every 1 made it back to Hotel in time for "Parties" !
Concensus of those who visited
Meilenwerk Museum....
great place to visit. It will be even better when construction is finished; there are lot of nice things to look at, including cars. No entrance fee (tu), great Cafe, easy to find.
Porsche Museum ..where we paid no parking fee..., where we received a Group rate w/ extra-discount for Seniors 
& where we allowed to park in front of Museum for photos.... we parked in front of a fleet of just arriving & parking-in-rows fleet ... of bigger & little'er red-tractors produced by......yes, of course .... produced by the Porsche Diesel Factory ! Which was never located in Stuttgart.
Concensus of Porsche Museum: aaahhh ! what ? wow ! how ? why did they insist on building cars w/ engines in the wrong place ? Why do they still build cars with engines in the wrong place ? excellentexcellentexcellent.......wonderfully done, exciting...but not Lancia
-D
Concensus of Mercedes Museum: most MM Teams were in-Museum for 4 hours, some Teams added additional hours to time spent there .... because there was so much to see & so much to learn & because there was a F1 car to sit in & lots of other things to do...like gliding up uo uhe top floor, where the "Tour" begins. ! Free "your language" headphones.
Consensus of all Teams:
Lancia built better & more advanced cars long before these guys were !!!; they (Mercedes) cribbed the Monte Carlo from Pininfarina, oh,,,they rusted too !
Rest of Mercedes Consensus: throughly enjoyable, very very well done & beautifully presented; just too much to take in in such a short time. German & European Culture & German / World History presented + aaahhh ! what ? wow ! how ? why ? excellentexcellentexcellent
other highlights:
driving tour to & lunch in
Rothenberg on the Neckar (Red Mountain on Neckar River)), a Village high up in the Vineyards.At least 10 minutes of driving up the hills from the Valley ! OK, OK...it is not so high up, because the hills are rather small....
Rotenberg a.d.N. is above Stuttgart City & gives visitors a lovely Panorama of the City; except for those parts of the City that are hidden behind other hills.
This Roternerg is not to be confused the famous walled-city of Rothenberg on the Tauber !
Note: Stuttgart is a hodge-podge of connected or seperated villages, located in valleys or on sides of hills or even on top of hills- The City is split by Neckar River & split even more by forests. It is also totally surrounded by hills & is a city of green green hills & steep steep valleys. I believe 7 hills, but it may be 5. It is not a 'planned ´by plan city' nor is it an easy city to cross in a short time !! Traffic can be 'frustrating' to say the least.
Excellent wine, simple, tasty, robust Swabian-Cuisine, in 2 different Grandma's-Hands Restaurants.
A colorful Celebration was taking place in the old-town of Esslingen on Neckar; a celebration celebrating (our arrival ! not really...I AM just kidding) Esslingen's repulsing foreign-Invaders from Stuttgart , who invaded from all of 6km away & attacked Esslingen (surrounded by walls) for months, before going home to Grandma's kitchen! Esslingen remained independent of Stuttgart 200 yrs ago and is still independent today ! We, the latest foriegn Invaders, are still convinced that Esslingen was celebrating the Invasion of Lancia Gammisti !
We were welcomed; not replused !
more highlights:
not furgetting "good luck gifts" brought from Japan, by (who else) Team Japan !!
friendliness of the Abbacco Hotel Staff, not forgetting the excellence of the Abb-Hotel itself.
not firgetting a visual-demonstration of how well a Lancia Gamma Berlina can negotiate unmarked trails leading to the Hotel through & over forest, vinyard & fields... Trails that were probably laid out (thousand of years ago) especially for Lancia Integrale Rallye 4wd'ers with huge ground clearance ! Thank you navigation-system, for finding the shortest route from Highway to Hotel ! Thank you big strong Gamma for getting through it all. No, I was not in the car
not fargetting the lovely Artwork of Gamma, what else?) provided by Gamma Chris, an Artist of many different languages & many different nationalities. Wonderful !! Thank You !
<, in your Gamma