Things I Learned While Driving in Europe

*This post was written last Thursday but I never published it before we left Germany.  We're home now and trying to adjust to the jet lag!

Here's a little teaser to what will, I'm sure, be a picture overload of our 10 day adventure in Europe.  We are still here in Germany and will be heading to Prague tomorrow before flying home on Saturday but I thought I would get a headstart on blogging about our grand European vacation.  Here are a few things I learned while driving in Europe.

#1:  After 10 years of not driving a stick shift, it's good to know I've still got skills!  I guess it's like riding a bike.

#2:  Driving on the autobahn would be so much more fun if you were driving a car that went more than 135 kmh (approx. 80 mph).  That is, unless you enjoy the rattling and shaking that commences once the speedometer reaches that speed.

#3:  It would also be alot cooler to drive on the autobahn if you had a convertible and definitely much more cool if you were driving a car with AC.

#4:  Fields of rolling green hills dotted with clusters of towns with white or yellow (and sometimes lime green, light blue, orange, pink or red) houses with red tiled roofs and with a church in the middle of town is indeed a beautiful sight.  The smell is something else.  On the way to Dusty and Mary Anne's house from the airport, I would catch a whiff.  At first I thought it was Sadie's stinky feet when she took off her rainboots but then Dusty kindly explained that the smell we were probably wondering about was the result of (in Dusty's words) "trucks spraying the fields with liquid manure."  Kinda like passing a dairy farm x10 about every 10 or so kilometers.  Oh so pleasant.

#5:  If you decide at the last minute while driving from Belgium to France to take a quick 15 minute detour to see the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg, just know that it's a bad idea to do it during rush hour.  The GPS will take you on the scenic route through downtown where it might take 10 minutes to get through one intersection.  If you happen to get stuck a little into an intersection where you can no longer see the stoplight (they aren't located on the opposite side of the intersection like in the U.S. but are actually right next to the crosswalk on your side of the intersection), it's nice to know that the person behind you will be kind enough to honk to let you know when your light turns green.

#6:  When the GPS tells you to turn down a street that you are pretty sure can't fit your car, go ahead and follow it's directions.  It's not sending you down a tiny walkway in between buildings but it is in fact a two way street.  There's probably a reason you don't see many Suburbans driving around Europe.