Parking for Frauen Only!

Well first thing's first, the Autobahn is awesome. Seriously, it's so much more efficient and just plain fun. Today my host mother and I drove into town, which takes about 20 minutes, in her convertible. Instead of searching for license plates from, say Illinois or Louisiana, we were looking for ones from Holland or France. There were probably just as many plates from Belgium as from Aachen.

This is a random plate with the Aachen letters-- AC.

My second car-related discovery today was "Parken für Frauen." There are spots in parking garages reserved specifically for women. The sign says you'll get a big fine if you park there and you're, well, a dude. When I first saw them I was taken aback. I'd heard of South Korea having spots just for women that were more spacious because apparently we're bad drivers. 

The German version makes so much more sense. It's simply for safety. The Frauen Only spots are on the first level and closest to the stairwell, so that when you return to your car alone, you can get there faster. They even have some spots with more room around the car just for people with strollers or other baby mobiles. Both men and women can park in those.

I get super creeped out in parking garages and would love it if more had Frauen Only spots. 

And the final piece to my Auto Abenteuer has to do with the radio. We were listening to the main pop station this afternoon on the way into town and no surprise, most of the music was in English. I'd say 87%. The songs were super random, too. I'll leave you with the delightful, retro tune that was playing as we merged onto the Autobahn. It totally fits because it's from Love Actually, which is what happened today between me and AC 44.