Day 21 - In The Fast Lane - Sorta

6 Sept

Rained overnight and it stayed with us for the morning. With the GPS still on fast, it was another session of high speed dodgems with the added adrenaline rush of rain.

We travelled mostly on the 7 and 3 Autobahns all day.

We were headed in the direction of Paderborn when we found the Heinz Nixdorf Museums Forum. The brochure reads “The 5,000-year history of information technology at the world’s biggest computer museum.” The display had examples of the ancient recordings from Mesopotamia, various machines used in offices through to robots. Each floor had a robot guide to guide you if required. There were interactive displays as well. We spent a couple of hours there having a look around.

Charleen interacts with a guide robot

Charming suburban street which also included the museum.

It was time to dive back into the craziness of the autobahns and the roadworks. The roadworks in one area were particularly painful as no sooner had we cleared one set, we were slowed for another set. This went on for some hundreds of kilometres.

Roadworks made the lanes narrow

Check the display. Doing 27 in adaptive cruise but ready to do 150 when she can.

Picked a bad day to go riding.

Something we have noticed since driving in Europe is the distinct lack of billboards framing the freeways and highways. On approach to some cities or towns there may a few small advertisements. The road signs are for providing direction for the traffic. The signs advising of an exit will have the logos of whichever companies can be found there e.g. Total (for fuel) and Segafredo (for coffee).

A little about the toilets.  In Europe they are many and varied from "ordinary" just like home, to weird, like last night which was setup backwards with the hole at the very front (too awful to talk about) to the ones at roadside servos, for which you need pay €0.70.  They look fine but are activated by a movement sensor instead of a button.  Once activated, they flush then an arm comes out and the seat rotates while the arm squirts disinfectant under the seat rim.  Sounds great right?
What the designers obviously forgot was that some need to sit. Then to wipe, you pass your hand to your rear - which activates the flush, the arm extension and the seat rotation.  Great fun when you are still sitting down.

Driving on, there have been minutes of sunshine breaking the monotony of cloud cover and rain throughout the day.

We passed large alternative energy farms consisting of wind turbines and solar panels. Germany is currently decommissioning its nuclear power plants and has adopted a range of energy sources.

 

München peak traffic.

We arrived in Munich right on peak hour. We checked in to our accommodation which is just outside Munich and then headed to a shopping precinct to buy some items for dinner and breakfast. We found an Aldi and bought our food there. We also needed a top up of some paracetamol. Buying even the most ordinary of drug has to be from an apothecary “Apotheke”. Paracetamol and the other straightforward pain killers just aren't available in supermarkets. All manner of supplements and herbal preparations are readily available in the supermarkets.

On the drive back to the hotel, we noticed a shop of “prancing horses” within walking distance. Maybe a walk after dinner … ?