orange turns red and the car in front comes to a halt, but i am looking into the gps system. i realize i am too close for comfort to bring the car to stop without braking hard, so i am hard on the brakes and screeching on the highway, but we are still headed towards the stationary car in front, this calls for more evasive maneuvers. turning the car towards the right. we come to a halt just next to the stationary car.
relieved to have cut it close, just then the car backs up a little and the window is lowered. pointing towards the front of the car, the passenger says its open. a little baffled i understand that she meant that the bonnet was open. but how ? clearly a case of sabotage :). we had driven close to 250kms, with a lid open (thinking it was opened sometime in Berlin before we started) at speeds to 190km/h. so i guess it was not time yet :D.
even though i had a pleasant experience with the hertz rental people, i am little pissed off that they limited the speed of the ford mondeo to 190km/h. a shame that i could not fully use the German autobahn’s as i would have liked.
looking out at the alps, lit in orange and yellow by the setting sun. we make our way back from Italy via Austria via Germany to Czech. spring does not seem to have started as expected but the signs are visible from the early buds of spring, the mountains seems to be growing back to life, from just black white and brown to a more colorful season ahead. the back seat was meant for sleep and somehow i was not able to find sleep other than the occasional dose off, a complete sleep cycle was out of question.
from the plains to the alps and then back to the plains as we entered Germany, on the four lane highway the inner most lane saw all the high speeds. as dinner time beckoned a petrol bunk was the drive inn for us. and it had all sort of alcohol in offer - i found it strange that a petrol bunk had alcohol, it was more of a super market rather than some road side kiosk. after a pastry and some coffee, i was back behind the wheels, and next up was Prague.
the body started of with a slight shiver, as i was slowly letting loose the horses one after the other,we reached cruising speed of 160 and when the speed limits were off, acceleration… and a minute later the needle was hovering above 200 a little more and 220. sounds unheard of started, time to relax and let the car relax, back to a lowered 190 cruising speed in a near straight road. everything was becoming repetitive. for whatever speed i reached, i did not enjoy this drive as much as i enjoyed the Vienna to Venice drive. under the hypnotizing sodium lights, i honed in on the petrol bunk entrance in a vague blur, and a jerk later was back on track to reach the hotel in Prague.
a very unimpressive and uninvolved drive, the bed was ready to comfort my tiring head.
