my pleasure - I actually found the last part about the share of unlimited speeding zones rather interesting myself!

Have a great weekend - and Gute Fahrt for your travels, too!

We rented from AutoEurope last year, got a great deal on a Volvo with GPS (highly recommend this, one of the best inventions ever!). It seems the quality of cars you rent in Germany are better than elsewhere?

As other posters have mentioned, driving on the Autobahn is not so scary if you understand the rules. Stay to the right and if you're going to pass, you really look carefully - that speck in the distance is going awfully fast and will be next to you sooner than you can imagine! The roads are well-maintained, efficient and the German restrooms are the cleanest you've ever seen! And the slow lane is reasonable, you'll make great timing and do stay within the speed limits because the overpasses have cameras.

Go for it; you'll love Germany! And the Christmas markets I've been gushing about since last year ... enjoy!

>you didn't dare go a km above it.
And if you did, there was a big chance of your car falling apart into pieces . Wonder what all those VoPos are doing today?

Just wanted to add that we did fine without a navigation system. But do print out directions you need from viamichelin.com before you go. Just do any scenario you might need and bring them. Also, we rented with National through gemut and no map was included. So either bring one or plan to buy on in the store right near the counter. We would have had trouble using just the map with no directions printed beforehand. Not all roads are clearly labelled on the maps.

Scubapuppies,
Which Christmas markets did you visit and which was your favorite?

I have family in Ludwigshafen, so we stayed with them (not a tourist destination, BTW). We also were with friends so we went to the Christmas markets in Heidelburg; Mannheim; a wine town in the Pfalz area that I can't remember the name that was gorgeous and very off the beaten track, all Germans there; Rothenburg ob der Tauber and in the Alsace region of France, Colmar, Riquewihr, Kayserburg and Strasbourg.

All were excellent; but my favorite in Germany was Rothenburg because the town is so quaint & medieval, perfectly preserved - some accuse this of being so touristy but we really enjoyed it. After all, aren't we tourists? Stay a few nights there because the crowds leave at dark and there is a magical feeling about this gorgeous old town with gingerbread architecture and the Christmas scents of tiny pine trees and gluhwein or our preference, hot chocolate with amaretto - listening to choirs of children sing Christmas songs in German and amicably chatting with friendly vendors, one who spoke perfect German until he listened to our obviously-not German accents and informed us with a charming American accent he was from California (you can't fake that, no matter how good you are), which thus led to a "How did you end up here selling hot drinks conversation?" (He had been in the military, stationed in Germany and fell in love with a German girl, thus many years later, he's still there and happy)... I believe almost all the Christmas Markets are really good, depending on the town, some will be bigger & some smaller; it's just a fun, different way to enjoy the holiday season. We're going again this year!

Just got back from Germany, where we did both car and train. The driving was fine, but we did use a navigation system and it really helped.

The freedom of the car was really nice and the Autobahn is great. Just study up on what the different road signs mean.

In the towns, we sometimes found it hard to find the right street signs and the names were confusing to our English-only brains. That's when the navigation system really helped.

We turned in the car before we headed to Munich, which has a fantastic public transportation system.

It seems to me that the architecture and design of the road system Germany is more similar to that in the US than any other country in Europe thus making it easy for US drivers deal with.

Forite Christmas markets? Bad Wimpfen, Michelstadt, and Bamburg.

hsv, I remember doing about 180 kph on the autobahn in my Porsche 911 some years ago, and still being overtaken by other drivers. Perhaps you were one of them. I always felt safe on the autobahn, but didn't care to drive when the visibility was poor - too many drivers don't slow down in the fog. I also saw lots of cars (usually Mercedes) turned over on the exits - I guess when they had been doing 200 kph for a while, they didn't realize how fast they were still going when they turned off the autobahn.

aggiegirl, driving in Germany is a pleasure, even if you don't like to go quickly. Just keep in the slow lane and use your rear view mirror.

I just got back from Germany and found the autobahn not much different than our local freeways, except that I had to be ultra alert to cars coming up fast behind me whenever I wanted to pass a truck. I did not have a GPS and found myself having problems getting back to the autobahn after stopping in a few small towns. Also, I had not driven stick shift in many years and continually kept stalling the car. Although I was generally comfortable driving on the autobahn, the cities drove me nuts. I was glad to get rid of the car after three days. Finding the drop off point in Heidelberg was frustrating because of the one way streets and construction and luckily I met a local at a gas station who was dropping off her car and let me follow her.

I'm planning a driving trip in Germany for January and one thing I've noticed is that the estimated times between Google Maps and ViaMichelin vary greatly (by a couple of hours between Munich and Frankfurt for example).

Can anyone (Dohlice?) tell me from experience how accruate the calculations are.

Including pit stops my average is about 100 km/hr on most expressways in Europe.

Despite the unlimited speeds on Autobahns, you can be delayed by construction and traffic jams. For example, the A3 westbound south of Frankfurt is a very busy road. I have seen it as a parking lot with people getting out of their cars and walking around.

enjaycee--we use Michelin. We usually get places a little faster than Michelin estimates. But it would depend on your driving style and road/weather/traffic conditions on the particular day you are driving.

Hi PB,

>... the U.S. which i think consumes more than half the world's energy and probably emits as much dangerous emissions.<

You might wish to check your numbers.

Last time I looked the US produced about 25% of the world's power and produced about 25% of the world's GDP.

In addition, US energy use per unit of GDP was about 15% lower than the world average.

No wonder we refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty.

<Last time I looked the US produced about 25% of the world's power and produced about 25% of the world's GDP.>

not disputing your figures but how much of the world's energy do we consume - you don't say so is my guesstimate of about half right?

Whatever your figures we are a global hog of energy - with all these needless SUVs running around - i believe gas mile has decreased in past decade with popularity of SUVs and trucks. At the neighboring school there is a parade of SUVs with a driver and one kid being dropped off even though every kid can board a school bus - it's this type of incredible gluttonous use of the world's declining fossil fuels that is totally indefensible and when they look back 50 years from now they will say "What the Hell were you doing" to allow that!

I certainly agree with your observation, PalenqueBob, but what can be done about it that would be politically acceptable. The auto companies will fight any attempt to reduce their high profit SUV sales.

IMO, the size of the vehicle is inversely proportional to the driver's IQ and self esteem. The huge vehicle makes up for these failings. Did you ever see the "Frontline" TV show titled "The Persuaders" where the marketing genius for Hummer was interviewed? Very interesting insight behind the vehicle and the reason that this monstrosity exists.

Hop - i agree - and the height of ludicrously is that SUVs i think for businesses get tax breaks or did!

Oil companies report record profits.