That is the amount of instruction time Eric gave me about the Audi A4 combi he had just picked up from the dealership. This is our rental car till our auto comes in at the end of July. Eric jumps in the passenger seat and says, "I'll help you out as you drive me downtown." I have not driven a car since the end of May and he needs to be in the Frankfurt office in 30 minutes. What!!! ( I never drove when we were in Stuttgart either.)
Everyone is in, buckled, the air conditioning is blasting, and off we go to the Autobahn. Good thing my mom taught me how to drive a manual as this was not the time to learn how to drive a 6 speed. A little nervous, but we made it to the Autobahn and were headed into downtown Frankfurt. Of course along the way, I am learning how the car operates, what the posted signs mean, and how to properly drive on the Autobahn.
Once we get into downtown, the streets are narrower, so I am more cautious as it is tighter driving space with the cars parked on the side and the roads have numerous twists and bends. The girls are excited to be in the city and see all of the taxis. They sing out their taxi song they made up along the way. At the left turn intersection, the light says I can turn left, so I do, but it is right in front of a small train that is coming at me and then I look in the mirror and think I almost took out a businessman crossing the street! Yikes! What has Eric gotten me into!? He replies, "Just make sure you do not hit anything, the car is still a saleable car for them as it only has 1500 kilometers on it and pedestrians have the right of way." On to finding his building amongst the tall high rises and we come across the intersection with no lights and a policeman directing traffic. Under 5 minutes till his meeting, we pull onto the street with his building. He states just pull over somewhere and let me off. It is a one way street with no where to pull over except on the sidewalk. Getting nervous and passing his building, we got stopped by the red light. He jumps out to head back to his office, hopefully he is only an elevator ride late to his meeting. I go around the block again and this time learn of a safer area to pull over and let him out next time he wants me to drive him to work. Us gals make it back to Hofheim and stop in at Aldi's to get a few things since the day's temperature is already 80 and it is only 10:40am.
We have already been to the drink market and back in the car. Adeline asks me the entire way home if driving up the hill is so much better than pulling the bike trailer or pushing the stroller. Of course is my reply to her. I then ask her if it is better than her walking up the hill and her reply is yes, as I am not so sweaty. Honestly, I did not realize how steep of a hill we walk till today when I drove it in the car twice. The girls are already done riding in the car after our few errands this morning.
Our town is under major construction directly in front of the train station at the bridge and another major road. They plan for the project to be complete in 6 weeks. They have it routed to just a single lane in each direction at the bus station. Normally it is 3 lanes in one direction that make a loop around from the bus station (which is at a lower street) to the train station (higher street). There are numerous one way streets in the downtown area too, so it is not convienent to get to the train and bus stations by car with the roads being closed and traffic being rerouted.
Thankfully we have our Garmin to keep us going in the right direction. It is nice though after being sick all week to have the car to jump in and get groceries. It is parked on the street for now, waiting till we find another reason for us to go somewhere outside of Hofheim.
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