Missing Germany

Let me go ahead and confess that I already miss Germany. During my recent three months in Paris, I decided it was time to travel. Our first visit was in fact to Italy. We regrettably arrived by plane, taking as much time between all the waiting and transport as we would have if we had taken the train. Afterwards, we rented a car in Paris and drove to Switzerland. This anti-climactic and rather sterile experience was brief. Instead, we took off the next day and drove to Germany, taking a minute to cross over the Austrian border.
 
France is notorious for bleeding its people through various taxes. This might be the case everywhere in Europe, but I am not familiar with everywhere else, so I speak only for France. Consequently, there are tolls everywhere – and expensive tolls at that. They make sure there are radars at every step so people don’t speed and the government can make more money.  We got one of these tickets and paid it before it went up in price.
 
When we arrived in Germany, there was something oddly familiar about it. The roads were big, the cars were nice, and there seemed to be space everywhere. What’s more is there were no tolls in site. I suddenly realized it was closer to the U.S. than what I had been used to in Europe. However, one thing was glaringly different: when we crossed the border into Germany, the speed limit disappeared from our GPS. Judging by the people passing us at high speeds, we realized it was no mistake.
 
It was a breath of fresh air as we approached someone on the left side of the road and s/he immediately moved over. It reminded me of driving in the U.S. when I was a kid, before people developed personal vendettas and attitudes about others passing them. However as we approached a city limit, a speed limit was introduced and everyone automatically slowed down. I was both surprised and impressed to see people dutifully following the law, only to put peddle to the meddle as they left the speed limit zone.
 
I liked this place already. Little did I know how much more fun was in store for me.