Am Autobahn!!!

So at the beginning of my Germany adventure was some difficulty.  Kathrine and her dad were nice enough to drive me to Flensburg, GE so I could pick up my rental car.  There was an accident about 45 minutes north of the border and it stopped traffic for 1.5 hours.  Thus we were 1.5 hours late picking up my car.  I had to rebook the rental in Kiel, which was another hour south.  Luckily I still had a ride and after a little while, the keys to an Opal 4-banger were in my hand.

I drove from Kiel to Munich in one day.  There was a bad traffic jam in Hamsburg, so I got off to go look for a German cell phone.  Everything in Germany seems to be closed on Sundays!  I ended up dozing off in a parking deck for a few hours, then hitting the road again.   I had to put 2.5 tanks of gas in the car for the 1000km drive, and my speeds were 160km/h or above when there weren't speed limits.

Yes, that might surprise some of my readers.  There are speed limits on the Autobahn.  They are 80, 100, or 120 km/h depending on the reasons, such as windy bridges, city limits where there is a lot of traffic merging, and construction areas.  The speed limits weren't really enforced as I saw only one police car in my 10 or 12 hours of driving.  It was wonderful- at that point there wasn't a speed limit so I blew past him.  I got paranoid but didn't get chased!  

My car was an economy, small 2 door hatchback.  The speedometer maxed out at 200km/h, yet no matter how hard I tried I couldn't quite reach that speed.  My fastest was ~195.  Even with the expensive gas, this was definitely worth the money for the experience.  I have something to one up my Dad!!!  Even with his gimpy foot, he likes to refer to himself as 'Fast Bob.'  For those of you who don't know, he is a BMW Club Driving Instructor and has taught many people how to drive fast.  I've never had the money to get into the track circuits with him, but now I can say, 'Hahaha I've driven on the Autobahn!'  I called him from the road to let him know that, and my dad gave me a classic quote: "Drive fast and be safe."  :)