Driving in Germany and the Autobahn
I just thought that I would write a little post on what driving is like here in Germany, and to mention that I had my first experience with the famous Autobahn. I had this experience as I was driving to church this afternoon.The first thing that surprised me is that there are no signs saying that you are on the autobahn. I just seems like any other highway. So for me, not knowing that the highway that I was going on was the autobahn, I was a little surprised. You see signs on the side that look like normal speed limit signs and it isn't until you reach those speeds, 130 km/h in my case, and are getting passed by cars going much much faster that you think that you might be on the autobahn. It was fun...made me wish that I had a better car. I got the Opel up to about 160, maybe a little higher, but I didn't know where I was headed, I didn't know the road, and I don't know the car very well, so that was fast enough for this time. I am sure that I will have opportunity again in the future to go faster. What I really would have liked would to have been in one of the Mercedes, BMW's, or Audi's that were blowing by me doing at least 200. Probably higher than that. They looked so smooth. I was actually quite impressed that the Opel did what it did, and it still felt like it had legs for more, so we'll see how far I push it in the future.
There are a couple of other things that I like about the driving over here too. First is that driving seems almost like an artform that people take pride in. I have read that it is an extremely difficult process to even get licensed, so people take pride in safety. But I don't mean slow, annoying, unpredictable safety. I mean comfortably paced, smart thinking safety. It is a breath of fresh air after coming from Wichita...You would have fun, Keith.
Secondly, the traffic lights work just like in North America except for the following really great improvement. When you are waiting at a red light, the yellow light will turn on for and instant immediately before the light turns green. This is so great, because it means that there isn't that annoying 5 second wait like in Wichita where the slowpoke infront of you remembers what the colour green looks like and then decides to go.
The final thing that I like about the driving here is the roads. They are beautiful. The trees line the sides of them, the small city streets wind entertainly, and most of the houses have hedges in front of them. It is great. Not nearly as dull looking as in North America. You can see why companies like Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes originated over here. Driving just has that added flair and like I mentioned earlier, it's kind of an artform. It's not just utilitarian, a commodity that is used and not valued, as it seems to be in N.A. But that is just my feeling. Don't get me wrong, I love so many things about N.A. and I'm not sure that I could ever become comfortable in Europe, but driving is definitely better over here.
Peace and blessings,
JZ
posted by JZ @ 11:37 AM
Comments: 4
