Boy, we sure had a blast in Berlin, but now it was time to head to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) to pick up our rental car. Unfortunately 99% of the cars here in Germany are standard, not automatic…. I haven’t been driving a standard in over ten years, so not sure how I will manage through the crazy city of Berlin and then the Autobahn without my ohh so beloved automatic car.
We arrived at the car rental place and got our keys and everything else we needed without a problem; of course we got lost again finding the rental car, we went up and down and over and under in that entire Train Station; it is HUGE!!! Once we finally arrived, our bright red station wagon, which was the largest car I could get, was waiting for us in the parking garage.
We had a little problem loading 5 suitcases into the Station wagon, sooo miss my Mini Van, I had no problem at all…but we will manage…. once we squeezed all the suitcases along with the kids into the car, I tried to hit the road…. well… my standard transmission experience was anything but fun.. I couldn’t even get the car to start and I freaked out just thinking that I now have to maneuver the streets of Berlin, with ALL the maniac drivers…. finally hubby said he would drive. In the US I drive everywhere, all the time, so it was a change; I agreed and told him I would translate the traffic signs, the navigation system and tell him what exits to take…worked really well until the navigation system told us “Stay left, stay left” and we missed our first exit, so we went around the block like 5 more times till we managed to make the exit…lol…. and then finally, on the road again…. we hit the Autobahn…..
To my surprise, the Autobahn looks just like an Interstate in the US. mostly 3 lanes and the only difference, you have to drive in the farthest right lane and are only allowed to use the other two lanes to pass slower cars…speed limit was almost none existent, a few parts had a limit of 90 miles an hour, but for the most part no limit…. was kind of scary actually seeing, or wait, all I saw was a flash passing us on the left, they must have gone 130 or 150 miles and hour if not more… I freaked out once we got more then 95 miles and hour and told hubby to just keep that “low” speed we are not in a hurry to get home….of course all the German’s thought we where way too slow and passed us in a heartbeat.
We kind of joked in the car, that we should get a sticker on the back “We are from Florida”…so people would know why we are so “Slow”…lol.. and we also decided that all the people that hit the US Interstate like on I4 that are always in and out of traffic on the left lanes must be Germans, since that’s the only way they are allowed to pass…looked just like on our I4 traffic…lol…. that’s our story and we are sticking to it…lol
We also hit a traffic jam… boy from 90 miles and hour to 0 in a matter of seconds and we sat there and sat there and sat there for a good 45 minutes…. no idea what had happened, must have been an accident, but by the time we started to roll again, the road was clear…who knows…. 
We loved the scenery on the Autobahn, seeing all the little towns, woods and mountains.. just breath taking….. after a 5 hour drive, it was finally time to get off the Autobahn and head to our vacation rental home….whohoooo we made it and we made the Crazy Autobahn, we are still alive and are able to talk about it…..lol….. Hubby did a great job getting us to our destination safely and he had a blast…..
Have you ever driven on the Autobahns in Europe??? How was your experience???
Welcome Home…..
Teresa Moore says
Back in my early 20’s, over twenty years ago, my ex husband was stationed in Germany. I remember the first time on the autobahn was when I first got to Germany. That experience was not too bad because a fellow American was driving. But my then husband and I had to take a cab from one kaserne to another on the autobahn…thought I was going to die that day! The cab driver was driving over 110 miles an hour! I remember hanging on for dear life! Needless to say, the year I was over there, I never drove on the autobahn!