Surviving the autobahn

Veteran readers of the blog will remember when I rented a car in England last fall to take my visitors around the country for fun excursions.  I had driven in the UK when my family lived in England for six months in 1972, but I was 18 and foolish.  As an adult, this seemed like a pretty risky undertaking.  Regardless, I weighed the options about how my friends and, later, my husband and I, would manage to see the things we wanted to see in the brief time we had available.  Driving a car made the most sense.  Many, many places are not convenient train trips.  For example, if I recall correctly, taking a train from Worcester to Stratford upon Avon, was a ridiculous number of hours, in contrast with the mere 45 minutes it took by car.    The same situation exists here on the continent.

This trip has served many purposes.  I visited Anne Frank's house, a museum dedicated to the memory of the Jews in Elburg and the Jewish quarter/museum/Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam.  I visited Rotterdam University in the hopes of opening some doors for faculty and student exchanges.  I visited with my dear friend for her 85th birthday, and now I am about to visit two concentration camps.  I will end this trip with a visit to the birthplace of my great grandfather.  The first part of the trip was accessible by bus, tram, train and chauffeured car.  The visit to the camps is not accessible by way of trains.  Renting a car made the most sense. 

As I planned this trip with my friend Leonore, we discussed the pros and cons of schedules and means of transportation.  The car seemed an inevitability.  Leonore's son Robert always rents a car when he comes to Germany for a visit.  Leonore had every confidence that I could make this work.  I listened to her arguments and agreed it made the most sense.

Well...sense, schmense.  I was terrified.  We've all heard stories about the crazy speeds autobahn drivers can achieve.  The one refrain I heard over and over again was "KEEP TO THE RIGHT".  I've been a bundle of nerves for the last 24 hours. Unfortunately, I think I managed to share that anxiety with everyone around me.  My dear friends reassured me the best they could, and I am grateful for their support.  I want to apologize here for my Nervous Nellie Nonsense.  I'm fine.  I have miles and miles to go, but truly, I'm just fine.

I teared up a bit as I said my goodbyes, got behind the wheel of my VW Passat and promptly screwed something up.  Robert had helped me program the Navi and gave me a little pep talk.  I finally managed to turn left and head to the autobahn.  Really...it was all pretty easy.  Yes, there were some major speed demons along the way, but I got the feel for it and moved along with the traffic.  I actually passed a few times and got the speed up pretty high myself, but mostly I stayed at a rational 120 km/h. 

The roads were in great condition, and I noticed only two billboards the whole trip--and that includes the A70 and the A73!  My grand impression was--clean.  The countryside was beautiful--the colors were high, and there was lots of green in Franconia.  The Thüringener Wald was also quite lovely.  My biggest surprise
were the tunnels--silly me, I had no idea! Here's what I learned from the internet:  "Rennsteigtunnel.



This longest tunnel in Germany has a length of about 8 km (5 miles) and is considered to be one of the safest tunnels. The tunnel cuts through mountains with the famous hiking pass called the Rennsteig."  You learn something new every day.

I'm now safely holed up in my lovely Weimar B & B, about ready to settle down for the night. The innkeeper speaks absolutely NO English, so she has to put up with my schreckliche Deutsch.  Poor dear, she's looked rather baffled a few times--mirroring my own incomprehension, I'm sure.