The rental car was a Ford Mondeo Diesel wagon. Quite a big car for just the two of us. Also it was a manual, and remember the stick is on the right! The next ten minutes were stressful as our GPS unit took forever to find satellites, and I kept stalling the car (too many years driving an auto). Eventually we found ourselves driving through long motorway tunnels (where we lost GPS again) and quickly left Brussels on motorways.
We had no idea what the speed limit was, but others seemed to be driving well over 100km/h so we joined them.
Suddenly we crossed into Germany and hit the Autobahn. A couple of cars behind us took off into the distance and then it really hit home to me - WE'RE ON THE AUTOBAHN!!!!! Actually the Autobahn is a little underwelming compared to its legendary status, but overwhelming in terms of how well it is designed. Curves are long and the road surface is perfectly smooth, no bumps. Trucks are speed limited to 90km/h and many cars don't actually travel that fast, many between 100-120km/h. But if you want to go faster, you can. Also many sections do have speed limits, not all is unlimited. We drove for nearly 6 hours and mostly cruised at about 140km/h, and occasionally up to 190km/h. At one point, we were doing 180km/h and a BMW 5 series flew past like we were standing still. Good stuff!
Once in Stuttgart, we parked at the hotel which was just outside the city centre, found our room, then used the Metro to get into the city centre. Here there was another protest, much larger than yesterday's. It seemed to be something about nuclear as the famous nuclear symbol was on everyone's banners.
We walked up and down the pedestrian area, found some dinner, visited the information centre to get our next day planned, took a few photos, then headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow, the plan is to visit the Porsche and Mercedes museums.
(Written by Mike, posted by Helen)
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