Hello from Kassel Germany Part 2
Saturday Evening – June 11, 2016 (sixteenth post of this travelogue)
Wow, so much to say, so little time. As a bit of a teaser, the past two days we have driven the eastern route that Pat’s dad traveled in 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge.
But for now, let’s catch up on a few things. We made it to Kassel as planned. As mentioned in our last post, we chose not to stay in Berlin, so this gave us an extra day in Kassel. Unfortunately, our Airbnb was not available, so for the first night we stayed in the InterCity Hotel next to the train station. It was an OK room and not too expensive, but we have sure been spoiled with the Airbnb apartments (at less cost). That will be the only night we spend in a hotel on this trip {yea!}
We had reserved a rental car from Enterprise in Kassel. First thing Thursday morning, I took a tram to Enterprise and picked up the car. I then picked up Pat and we started our driving tour (subject of the next two posts). After the end of the first day of touring, we drove at our Airbnb apartment (link)
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As has been the case with all of our Airbnbs so far, this one is great (see photos). This one is located almost on the edge of town in a very nice neighborhood.
At the end of the second day of touring, we dropped the car off (just barely made it there before they closed). I had scouted out the fact that we could pick up the 8 tram at their front door and take it to within a few feet of our front door. That ride across Kassel gave us a bit of a tour of the city. As I read this to Pat, she started laughing about me being concerned about going the right direction and theynwe rode right past our stop {grin} (so much for the scouting)
The car we rented was a very nice Ford S-MAX (link). It is only available in Europe. It is sort of a minivan (photo). It had a turbo diesel engine and automatic transmission. It was very well equipped, pretty darn peppy, and handled very well.
You have heard stories about driving on the Autobahn. They are true! Most of the roads in Germany are very well maintained and are fully capable of high speeds. A very significant part of the Autobahn system (over 8,000 miles in the system) has no speed limit. In certain areas where conditions demand, the speed limit is 130 km/h (81 mph) in open areas and less in congested areas. Where there was no speed limit I drove between 140 and 150 km/hr (87 – 93 mph). Many folks passed me at significantly higher speeds. I finally got up the nerve and went 190 km/h (118 mph) and felt pretty comfortable. The un-nerving thing is that the truck speed limit is something like 60 mph, plus a few cars drive at about that speed – you really have to be careful how fast you are closing on a slow vehicle. Drivers are very courteous and stay out of the high speed lane.
The only other time I drove in Europe was a few miles in Irina’s dad’s car. It had a bit of a steering problem and I never got it up to speed. Total distance driven was maybe 20 miles. On our previous trips to Europe we have relied on trains and taxis. That always worked well. I really did not want to drive here. Perhaps it was the strange language on the control signs, or maybe I want to watch the scenery rather than concentrate on the road. With our plans to tour the route of the Battle of the Bulge, we had no choice. It turned out not to be any problem at all except it took a lot of getting used to the car engine shutting off at each stop. As soon as you lifted your foot off the brake, the engine would start. In total I drove 960 km (598 miles).
We used 70.5 liters or 18.6 gallons of diesel which would be a minimum of 32 mpg if the tank was really full when we got it. I suspect we got closer to 40 mpg. Whatever the real mileage, it was great considering the high driving speeds. Fuel in Europe varies for about 1.15 to 1.30 Euro per liter. With the exchange rate and the conversion from liters to gallons that amounts to just less than $5 per gallon.
Semi trucks in Europe are quite different from those in the USA. In the US almost all trucks have long hoods and at least two rear axles. All of the trucks (never saw an exception) are cab-over configuration. Some are pretty plane Jane and some are pretty fancy (photo). Many have a built narrow sleeper. Most of the trailers are three axles with single tires on each side – a bit like our super singles but not as wide (see photo).
I am finishing this up at about 9:30 at night and it is not dark yet. We are at 51 degrees latitude and that is about the same latitude as Calgary Canada. It takes some getting used to.
Stay tuned for the details of our very special tour of the Battle of The Bulge in the next two posts.
That is all for now.